Sacramento, named by Time Magazine, America's Most Diverse City. Sacramento featured by PBS in a documentary Not In Our Town depicting the overwhelming community support for the Jewish Community when arsonists attacked three Sacramento synagogues. Sacramento, a town that I love to brag about. But today I am ashamed at Sacramento residents for not standing up against a blatant attack by local radio station KRXQ 98.5FM through its hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States, on some of the most vulnerable amongst us, transgendered kids. You can read about this incident here, but you can't listen to the dialog because it has been removed from the internet - maybe that's a blessing!

My friend Jon Schuller alterted me to the incident and wrote this heartfelt blog on the subject.

Was I naive in thinking that Sacramento, home of the brave and land of the free, would be outraged? Was I even more naive in imagining that a giant apology would be sent out immediately by the radio station, at the least, and heads would roll, at the most? Was I incorrect in considering how many sponsors would head for the hills? (I give credit to Chipotle, who did leave and I call upon the local family who owns the Sonic franchise to do the same in short order).

The response from the station was completely inappropriate. Arnie States, one of the DJs, basically said the whole segment was a joke and listeners should have known. (How dumb are we?) The station manager defended the DJs. "The show is filled with hyperbole and they use exaggerations to make a point," Jim Fox said.

Picking on kids who find themselves in the wrong bodies, who are made fun of on a daily basis and have a very high rate of commiting suicide and being murdered is not my idea of any kind of joke. To me it's a clear case of ignorance, irresponsibility and blatant discrimination - at the expense of confused, scared kids.

Come on, Sacramento. We are better than this. Don't just sit there. Stand up and say enough is enough. Write to the Station Manager. Write to the FCC. Write to the Sponsors. John Schuller has some great details on how to make an impact on his blog.

Let's be proud of what we stand for in Sacramento.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I get up at 4:30 every morning, and catch the bus an hour later, all for a job with a company that provides zero health care; My income is low enough that I qualify for a sliding scale plan through my county hospital, where I can go to the clinic for non-emergency issues. The clinics aren't open on the weekends, so I might have to miss work to go. I pay for supplemental hospitalization insurance out of my own pocket. I am able to obtain my anti-depressant medication through a county run mental health clinic system. So even though I have a full time job, I still must go through public assisted agencies for health care.

I have a hearing loss for which I wear hearing aids, provided to me by a state run rehabilitation agency. A week after President Obama's election (for whom I campaigned vigorously), I attended a victory party. I lost one of my hearing aids on the public bus ride home so I immediately began the process of obtaining new hearing aids. Finally at the end of April, I received new aids, after submitting to the same audiological exams I've taken many times, with the same results (my hearing loss has remained at the same level). I had to miss an entire day of work, for which I was not paid, to go through this process. So while it took me over five months to receive new hearing aids, I am thankful for these new ones.

I am thankful I have agencies I can turn to for my health care, but it's exhausting. I just wish I could obtain decent, affordable health care that meets all my needs. I would be willing to pay on a sliding scale for this very sort of health care, provided for me by the federal government. I'm an American citizen and I LOVE my country. I work a full time job and I pay income taxes.

Please President Obama and Congress, we need decent, affordable, easy to use health care. Please don't forget about people like me.

Well said, David. You made so many great points that apply to so many hardworking Americans, just like you.

A person who works a full-time job should be paid enough to have health insurance. Clinics should be open during hours that are convenient for their users. If they were, the emergency rooms might be a little more open for true emergencies. And think of the money that would be saved if people could be treated in neighborhood clinics. And to think that someone, who has been deaf (David corrects me, and I apologize, he is hearing impaired, not deaf - moderate to moderately severe is the classification) since birth, should have to wait 5 months to get a hearing test so he could get a replacement hearing aid is beyond belief. I watched him struggle to hear for 5 months. Imagine the impact on you if you suddenly couldn't hear and there was nothing to be done for 5 months.

David lives very frugally. He has no car. He lives in a very modest apartment. And he doesn't splurge on expensive items. He works fulltime even though he is disabled. Let's fix this system so that everyone gets access to quality healthcare.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Dallas Morning News reports that 'thousands of textbooks and other materials worth an estimated $4.6 million sit unused in an Irving school district warehouse.' "Irving ISD (Independent School District) officlas says the problem stems from two major factors: the increased use of computer-based instructional materials and the reluctance to issue textbooks to each student for fear they might lose or damage them."

Now, let's see - the starting salary for a teacher in Irving is approximately $46,000. $4.6 million dollars of books sitting in a warehouse unused. That's 100 additional teachers that could be in classrooms making a difference in the lives of children in Irving. Someone needs to fire a few administrators!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

People are worried that President Obama and his White House staff are taking on too much at once. One look at this picture and I am assured they are on top of every issue. Technology, the great enabler. This is the A+ wired team.
Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. And where was Gillian? In Dallas at an Ethiopian rally to speak out for the release of UDJP party chair Birtukan Mideksa. Mrs. Mideksa, the only woman leader of an opposition party in Africa and the real winner of the 2005 Ethiopian national election (but overruled by the corrupt regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi), has been imprisoned by the ruling government for the last 60 days. Here is the Gillian's speech:

Thank you for coming today.

My name is Gillian Parrillo. I had the pleasure of meeting many members of the Ethiopian community when I was registering voters prior to the 2008 presidential election. As they supported me then, I stand here today to support them.

As you have learned, Judge Birtukan Mideksa, the 35-year old first female leader of an opposition party in Africa has been held in solitary confinement in jail on trumped up charges since December. The only visitors allowed are her elderly mother and her 4 year old daughter. The International Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations have been denied access. Imagine if this was your daughter, your mother, the leader of your political party!

A group of courageous women have come together under the mantle of the Ethiopian Women’s Human Rights Alliance. They are writing letters to women United States Senators asking for their support. Here, in part, is what they write:

“It is pressure from the international community and specifically from the United States that compels governments such as Ethiopia—that can only survive and be viable based on foreign aid—to conform to international human rights laws. As a US partner in the Global War on Terror, the Ethiopian government must be held to a higher scrutiny in matters of human rights. Our reputation as a nation - a beacon of human rights and a stalwart advocate of freedom - rings hollow whenever we remain silent in the face of grave injustice. We know as advocates of a more just and equitable world, you share our hope for a future where all human rights and the rule of law are respected. We ask you to join us in calling for the unconditional release of Judge Mideksa and for the adherence to human rights standards by the Ethiopian government. It is our obligation as women to tell her story and urge you to take a principled position by raising your voice to demand the immediate release of Judge Birtukan Mideksa”.

I ask each and every one of you who are here today to contact your elected representatives and urge them to stand up for Birtukan and the far too many others in similar circumstances.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive
Originally published on www.sacwomen.com

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

..we need to ensure that the U.S. population is educated to be competitive. How well the U.S. does will do depends on how well the Hispanic population does.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This stunning report from the Pew Charitable Trust caught my eye today in the news media -

Solomon Moore of the New York Times reports: Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid

One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.

Correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data.

Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report today by the Pew Center on the States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years.

The increases in the number of people in some form of correctional control occurred even as crime rates sharply declined, by about 25 percent in the past two decades.

"One in 11 African-Americans are under correctional control, one in 27 Latinos, and one in 45 white people are in prison, jail, or under correctional supervision."

• the correctional popluation has tripled in 25 years;
• 1 in 13 adults in Georgia are under correctional control;
• $52B was spent nationwide last year on Federal and State correctional control;
• 9.3% ($9.7 billion) of California's general funds was spent last year on correctional control;
• 7,232,200 of 229 million American adults (1 in 31) are under correctional control at an average daily cost of $78.95 to incarcerate each adult;
• the daily cost to keep an adult in prison in California is $134.83, up from $46.55 just ten years ago (that's a 190% increase!).

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Just in from "The Phnom Penh Post", Monday February 16 2009:

Page 6 (national news) - "Man Robbed By Street Prostitute"

A 44-year old moto-taxi driver had his bike stolen by street prostitutes on Saturday while he was touching the girls in a Phnom Penh park. The man realized that his bike was stolen and escorted one of the prostitutes to police for questioning. The 21-year old girl admitted she'd passed the bike's key to her friend to steal while the man was busy touching her body.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Day to Remember Garrison Keillor January 21, 2009

One simply wanted to be present. Freezing cold or not, a crowd of 2 million, whatever—solemn warnings about tight security, long lines, traffic jams, cell phones not working. In the end, one wanted to be there on the Mall before the Capitol on Tuesday at noon amid the jubilant throng and see the man take the oath of office—our first genuine author-president.

So I hitchhiked a ride in the middle of the night on a jet heading to Baltimore and got to the train station at 5 a.m. and already the platform was packed. A lot of black people in parkas and scarves and mittens. It was like "The Apollo Goes to the Arctic." There were Obama stocking caps, ski caps, skullcaps and pins with the first family on them, and everyone was beaming, and nobody complained about how cold it was or having to wait in line.

People were being marshaled into waiting areas for each train to Washington, each of us with a Commemorative Train Ticket with a picture of Himself on it—and the marshals, who wore yellow vests, were insistent on us Staying In Our Place, but I just boarded the first train that came through and nobody ever checked my ticket. Big rules, no enforcement.

I rode with a group of black women who had left Portsmouth, Va., at 1 a.m. to be sure to be there on time. They were heavily bundled and so excited they could hardly speak. And then when the conductor called out "Union Station, Washington," one of them looked at the others and she burst into tears. And they all cried. I would have, too, if they'd looked at me.

Long lines at Union Station for coffee and restrooms, but everyone was in such a fine mood that waiting was painless, and the same was true of the line to go through security and be scanned and get onto the Capitol grounds. The line was six blocks long, the longest line I have ever stood in, but there is nothing so pleasant as being in a crowd of happy people when you are happy about the same thing they're happy about. Up above, cops with automatic rifles on parapets and walkways, and down below the mob milled along Louisiana Avenue and the line inched forward and the goodwill radiated up from the crowd just like in Grant Park on Election Night.

It was more than Democrats feeling their oats or African-Americans celebrating the unimaginable, more than revulsion at the gang of bullheads who held power for too long. It was a huge gasp of pleasure at a new America emerging, a country we all tried to believe in, a nation that is curious and venturesome, more openhearted and public-spirited.

All kinds of people, the slim and sleek, the XXXLs, the heavily insulated, the carefree. We moved through ranks of souvenir sellers—whatever else he may accomplish, Obama has been a boon to the pin and T-shirt trade—and in our slow trek toward the Capitol, one felt the enormity of the day for the black people around us. I wouldn't try to express, I simply was grateful to be among it. Old ladies with sore feet hauled themselves along.

The crowd down below the podium had their opinions. There was a profound silence when Laura Bush was announced and walked out. People watched the big screen and when Michelle Obama appeared, there was a roar, and when the Current Occupant and Dick Cheney came out of the Capitol, a low and heartfelt rumble of booing. Dignified booing.

The band tootled on and there were shouts of "O-ba-ma" and also "Yes we can" (and also "Down in front") and then he came out and the place went up. That was the first big moment. The second was when he took the oath and said, "so help me, God" and the cannons boomed and you got a big lump in your throat. And the third was afterward.

But the great moment came later, as the mob flowed slowly across the grounds.
The crowd stopped and stared, a little stunned at the reality of it.

They saw it on a screen in front of the Capitol and it was actually happening on the other side. The Bushes went up the stairs, turned, waved and disappeared into the cabin of the Marine helicopter, and people started to cheer in earnest. It was the most genuine, spontaneous, universal moment of the day. It was like watching the ice go out on the river.

Pierre and I were there - front and center - very lucky to have seats and an amazing view of the proceedings. But the best part of this day and, in fact, the year we spent working on the campaign was the positive, hopeful, respectful interaction between the most diverse crowd of people you could every imagine. This was America truly working together. If we keep it going, we can do anything we set our mind to.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am concerned that my daily newspaper will soon be so lightweight that it will blow away from my driveway before I get a chance to retrieve it. This comment applies to both the content and the actual weight.

Unfortunately, the price for the newspaper continues to climb.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This poem is written by Michael Smith, a 3-strikes prisoner at Solano State Prison. He has never commited a violent crime, he has been an addict for most of his adult life and is in jail for using fake IDs to buy merchandise he could sell to feed his drug habit. He's no angel, but he's smart and with rehab he could easily be a net asset to society instead of a drain.

We met several years ago when he was doing electrical work, a trade he had learned the first time he went to jail. We lost track and then a couple of years ago I heard from his wife that he was back in jail. Since that time, we stay in touch.

A year or so ago, I sent Mike a copy of Barack Obama's autobiography. He was instantly hooked. I think he identified with a guy who came from circumstances not much better than his own that had a white mom and a black dad, just like Mike. Maybe if Mike had had strong and caring grandparents things could have been different. He sure is smart enough.

Over the past year, Mike's passion has become politics. He follows each and every move and make incredibly insightful comments - often much more so that the blowhard commentators on national TV. This might be the first time in his life that he is totally hooked on something legal and positive.

Within days of Obama's November 4th election win, I received a poem that Mike had written to commemerate this auspicious occasion.

YES WE CAN
BY Michael Smith
Thank you, Mr. President. President Obama, we thank you.
You’ve given us hope and promised change, and we know that’s what you’ll do.

Thank you for proving that anyone could be whatever they wanted to be.
With hard work and determination, dreams become reality.

Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for all you’ve done.
Thank you for reaching out your hand to each and everyone.

Thank you for your sincerity, your inspiration and your style.
In desperate times you eased our minds and gave us reason to smile.

Thank you for diminishing stereotypes and opening up our eyes.
Thank you for understanding and listening to our cries.

Thank you for having a vision. Thank you for having a goal.
Thank you for waking us up as people, and reigniting our souls.

Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your cause.
Thank you for your drive and compassion, and we know it’s because…

You believe in a great nation. You believe in mankind.
You believe that hate and racism will soon be left behind.

You believe in education, family values and health care.
You believe that we’re all equal and should be treated just and fair.

You believe in civil rights and have made so many proud.
Like JFK and Martin, your voice rings true and loud.

You’ll regulate and deregulate. You’ll delegate and not discriminate.
You’ll cross party lines and open up closed minds, and unite in our fight for freedom.

And somehow you’ll fix the economy,
bring troops back to their families, create new jobs and energy and orchestrate world harmony.

Thank you, Mr. President because we know that’s what you’ll do.
You’re our leader and our savior and we believe in you.

Thank you, President Obama, sincerely your biggest fan.
God Bless America, God Bless you, and I say….YES WE CAN.

Mike has just finished his first semester in college. He likes learning, really likes it. My hope is that before we leave Mike rotting in jail for the next 13 years, we find within our collective souls the ability to treat people with illnesses, including drug addictions, instead of throwing them in jail and throwing the key away. And if we don't discover big enough souls, maybe our deep pockets will shrink enough to bring us to our senses!

I am so proud of you Mike.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As a cadre of judges try to determine how to fix California's sub-standard prison medical care, they are taking testimony for people with new ideas. The LA Times reported:

... James Austin, a criminologist, testified that other states have reduced sentences and prison population and seen drops in crime as well. There would be no added risk if California shortened prison terms as other states have done, he said.

"In Indiana, if you get your high-school degree, you get 12 months off," he said. "If you get a college degree, you get two years off. The whole idea here is to provide that carrot for prisoners. . . . You lower the risk, you lower the length of stay, you lower the cost for that system."

What a concept! Better prepare prisoners so that upon their release they can become productive members of society with real jobs, real wages, real benefits and a real shot of staying on the outside, thus saving the taxpayers $42,000 per year and climbing. (Or should I say prepare at all, as pretty much any subterfuge that the prisons are actually doing one thing anymore to prepare prisoners to be successful upon release has long since been blown wide open).

This might even be a way of countering the 50% high school drop out rate. A delayed way, for sure, but a way.

Let's hope our new national leadership starts us thinking in new and creative ways to solve long-term debilitating problems.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Angle for Angels (and VCs)
A Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs on Raising Capital

December 10th from 10:00am to 3:00pm in El Dorado Hills

If you are a high growth startup in the Sacramento Region and looking to raise money, this is must-attend boot camp for all early-stage company executives. Come and learn the ins and outs of the fundraising process and enhance your local network. And it's free.

Led by members of the Foothills Angels, a faculty of successful serial entrepreneurs and venture investors conducts a half-day program examining all facets of early-stage capitalization, including:

• Navigating the Current Market Uncertainty
• Understanding the Financing Food Chain
• The Importance of Focusing Your Efforts
• Segmenting Investors by Type
• What Investors Look For
• Golden Rules to Maximize Your Efforts
• Understanding Valuation and How Investors View It
• Term Sheets and Minimizing Mistakes When Closing

If you are interested in participating in the boot camp, please apply here. Space is limited and attendance is by invitation only, so apply early.

This event is sponsored by the Foothills Angels and DFJ Frontier.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The 2008 campaign has just ten days left. Everything is on the line. Elected officials and candidates are pushing and giving it their all. My wife Gillian is in Aurora, Colorado, working the last two weeks of the election cycle to make Colorado a blue state.

One of her co-workers, Chi Wright, wrote an engaging piece on Hillary Clinton's visit to Aurora this last week. Click here for the full read: Lucky Eleven: HRC

I particularly like Chi's quote embedded in her email to my wife - “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -- Mahatma Gandhi

Gillian is being the change Mahatma Gandhi spoke so eloquently about. I am proud of her!

And the world will see the change on November 4!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We are falling far behind in broadband capacity in this country. Without broadband capacity, it's hard to be a technology leader. Today, Geof Lambert sent me an email with great news. Barack Obama has pledged to name a cabinet-level CTO to oversee a job-creating national broadband buildout if he's elected.
One more reason to vote for Barack...he gets it!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Federal Reserve Board data show that:

More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.

Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers that year.

Only one of the top 25 subprime lenders in 2006 was directly subject to the housing law that's being lambasted by conservative critics.

The "turmoil in financial markets clearly was triggered by a dramatic weakening of underwriting standards for U.S. subprime mortgages, beginning in late 2004 and extending into 2007," the President's Working Group on Financial Markets reported Friday.
So Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives, your talking points are completely wrong, as proven by our own Federal Government's statistics. Another reason to choose your news sources carefully for accuracy and honesty.

You can read an article by McClatchy to get the full details.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Seems that 7-11 have predicted correctly the last 2 Presidential election outcomes based on their customers' selection of red or blue cups for their coffee.

See what the results are saying for this year.

You can even check the results by State.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How many American voters proclaim Barack Obama doesn't have the experience to be President of the United States? A lot. What experience does he need to have under his belt in order to quell these claims?

Is it because he's too young? Is eight years in the Illinois state legistature coupled with his three years as U.S. senator not enough? Oh, what about his twelve years as a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, or his tenure as editor of the Harvard Law Review, or his board duties on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (seven years), the Joyce Foundation (eight years), the Woods Fund of Chicago (nine years), and the Lugenis Burns House Center, and the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago? And don't forget his community organization job on the south side of Chicago (fresh out of Harvard Law School).

Or just maybe his "lack of experience" is code for "I can't vote for a black man".

Well, perhaps we should examine his predecessors and their qualifications. Let's start with Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the U.S. What were his credentials?

Harry Truman's biography (source: www.Wikipedia.org):

College Degree: none;

Early Years: Graduated from high school in 1901; worked as a timekeeper on the Santa Fe Railroad, sleeping in hobo camps near the rail lines; moved on to cleircal jobs, returning to the family farm in 1906; spent nine years on the farm until joining the military in 1917; served in World War 1, achieving rank of Captain;

Business Experience: farmer and owner of a haberdashery, which went bankrupt in 1921;

Professional Memberships: Ku Klux Klan, dues paying member 1922 ($10);

Political Office: elected Jackson County Judge, 1922-1934, U.S. Senator 1934-1945; Vice President 1945 (82 days); President 1945 - 1953;

Wikipedia Observations: Truman had been vice president for only 82 days when President Roosevelt died on 12 April, 1945. He had had very little meaningful communication with Roosevelt about world affairs or domestic politics after being sworn in as vice president, and was completely uninformed about major initiatives relating to the successful prosecution of the war—notably the top secret Manhattan Project, which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb;

Miscellaneous: known to frequently use racial slurs to include the "N" word; only person in the history of the world to use nuclear weapons;

Personal Letters: A few days after his presidential swearing in, he wrote to his wife, Bess: "It won't be long until I can sit back and study the whole picture and. . . there'll be no more to this job than there was to running Jackson County and not anymore worry."

How does Truman's experience compare to Obama? Can you see any Sarah Palin in this story line?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John McCain is stooping very low in his bid to overcome Barack Obama's lead. The GOP is running this ad on Google Adsense. I found it on my website.

Despicable! (according to Merriam/Webster - so worthless or obnoxious as to rouse moral indignation).

That's my opinion! Do you agree?

I'm outraged! And indignant!

Pierre Cutler

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night the U.S. Senate passed their version of the bailout plan. I see the bailout as more of the same. Here's why -

The intended result of the bailout is to ease the credit crunch we are experiencing in the markets. How did we get to this credit crisis? By issuing high risk loans, resulting in too many home owners not being able to pay their mortgages, thereby mortgage-backed securities investors ended up holding a lot of bad debt.

News alert:

Credit is debt!

So, by bailing out Wall Street, the Government will ease the credit crunch and Wall Street will issue more debt. Is this not dumb? Will the cycle never end?

Let's face it - Americans love debt. Our economy thrives on it and relies on it.

What's going to change with this bailout? Nothing. I see more of the same.

And Wall Street will be laughing all the way to the bank, while working class folks pay through their noses for the Street's greed and mistakes!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

America is in the midst of several crises - economy, environment, energy, healthcare, education, and the war on terror. Tonight the U.S. Senate is voting on the $700 billion bailout plan. Two days ago the House of Representatives voted down the plan. I hope the Senate does too!

Why? Because I don't believe our government has clearly defined our priorities. And until they do so, we should not agree to spend $700 billion for the plan. We can't afford to bail out Wall Street, and at the same time, spend $10 billion a month for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue with another $500 billion annually for DoD business as usual, maintain our current entitlement programs, make our ongoing interest payments on the mountain of national debt, and attend to all the other pressing programs that need funding.

This wild spending spree has to stop. Haven't we learned anything about the national calamity that we are going through right now? The kind of debt we have is bad. The kind of debt we are about to take on is bad. Homes are being foreclosed on because of the massive debt load home owners have accumulated. What will happen to America with our ever increasing load of debt?

We won't be able to address the really important issues like education, which should be our number one priority. The lack of education is the root of most evil throughout the world.

Did you know that according to Christopher B. Swanson, director of the Education Research Center, the high school graduation rates for the principal school districts of the following cities are all below 50 percent: Detroit (24.9%); Indianapolis (30.5%), Cleveland (34.1%), Baltimore (34.6%), Columbus (40.9%), Minneapolis (43.7%), Dallas (44.4%), New York (45.25), Los Angeles (45.3%), Oakland (45.6%), Kansas City (45.7%), Atlanta (46.0%), Milwaukee (46.1%), Denver (46.3%), Oklahoma City (47.5%), Miami (49%), and Philadelphia (49.6%)?

Folks, theses are big cities. That's a lot of children not getting educated! I contend the failure of our schools to educate its students is the number one crisis in our country. And we are about to approve the expenditure of $700 billion to bail out the failures of Wall Street firms! How dumb is that!

I think we have our priorities upside down. Education leads to good paying jobs, healthcare insurance, tax revenue and big contributions to society. The lack of education more likely leads to entitlements, time in jail, poverty, and big drains on society.

How can we allow 1.4 million kids drop out of high school each year? Because we continue to spend $10 billion a month on ill-conceived wars, and plan to bail out Wall Street.

Does this make sense? Continuing to spend $700 billion a year on defense and taking on another $700 billion as a handout to Wall Street are bad investments. In fact, they are no investments at all.

I think educating our children will provide the best return on investment. Take that investment advice from someone off Wall Street!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Let's look at the educational background of the
candidates and see what they bring to the job:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a
specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna *** Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in
political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899
(meaning that, like George Bush, McCain was at the bottom of
his class)

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire to lead the most
influential nation in the world?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

My son-in-law, Scott Lucas, sent me an email today with a link to a letter to the editor that was published in his local newspaper. He told me my daughter sent one that was even better and he hopes that gets published too. But his is pretty darn good!

When Barack Obama said that if necessary he would make unilateral military strikes against terrorists hiding in Pakistan, John McCain howled about how irresponsible his comments were. But then the Bush administration did just what Obama suggested might be necessary, vindicating Obama’s judgment.

Later, Sen. Obama said that a timetable for bringing our troops home from Iraq made sense. The Iraqi government agreed, but the Bush administration said it was a bad idea. Now, even the Bush administration acknowledges that a timetable is the right idea, and it is working on one that is strikingly similar to what Obama proposed. Only McCain wants to keep our troops in Iraq indefinitely. Amazingly, at one point, McCain even suggested keeping our troops in Iraq for another hundred years.

While I honor and appreciate McCain’s past service, that experience apparently did not give him the ability to make good decisions on the most important issues facing our country. He has been wrong consistently, and as a result he has been forced to backtrack and flip-flop as he tries to defend his record.

Obama, on the other hand, has consistently displayed keen foresight and good judgment on important foreign policy issues. That’s why he will get my vote in November.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Forty-five years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of a dream -

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning.

Dr. King, your dream on that day of August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial has come true!

Tonight I will sing with new meaning for I truly know that all men and women of our country are free.

Free at last! Free at last!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another fantastic breakfast for the Texas delegation this morning. Here's Gillian with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Tim gave the best speech of the morning. Kaine announced the polls in Virginia are at a deadheat for McCain and Obama at 47% each. With Kaine leading the democratic charge in Virginia and delivering passionate and rousing speeches as he did today, I predict Obama will carry Virginia. Thanks Tim Kaine for your leadership!




And here is Gillian with Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, the Chair of the Texas Democratic Delegation. Johnson is our congressional representative and we are proud of her service to the 30th Congressional District of Texas!




Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wow! We started the day with Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and ended with Michelle Obama. It was a great kick-off to a monumental week. And to top it off, I received notice that I got a ticket to the big show at Invesco Stadium for Thursday evening.

Gillian has been hobnobbing with the stars - here she is with Leticia Van de Putte, co-chair of the Democratic National Convention. We met up with Leticia, Texas State Senator from San Antonio, at Mile High Station, the venue for the Texas delegation's evening party.

Did anyone see Gillian on CNN during Jim Leach's speech which immediately followed Ted Kennedy's historic and passionate oratory? Jim was the 15-term Republican from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who lost his seat to Democrat David Loebsack in 2006, and now has crossed party lines to endorse Barack Obama. During the speech, CNN's camera panned the Texas delegation and stopped on Gillian. The shot also included Texas delegates Erin Moore (a Stonewall Democrat from SD 16) and Dr. Winfred Parnell (SD 8).

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

What a day so far for spotting stars at the National Democratic Convention in Denver!

Civil Rights Leader Andrew Young

Former Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson

Nancy Pelosi's choice for Vice President - Texas Congressman Chet Edwards

Former Speaker of the House, Congressman Jim Wright

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius

Texas Super Delegate Bob Slagle and Dallas Fox News Reporter Shaun Rabb

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Today my wife's dream came true. Gillian is a attending the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver as a national delegate for Barack Obama. The week started off with a bang at the Texas delegation breakfast highlighted by keynote speaker Governor Kathleen Sebelius from Kansas. What an amazing woman! And she was introduced by another awesome woman, a young rising Texas democratic party star - Leticia Van de Putte - State Senator from San Antonio.

And the stars kept coming! Next up at breakfast was Nancy Pelosi's recommended Vice President choice Texas Congressman Chet Edwards. It was a good start.

After breakfast we picked up Gillian's credentials for the day. What a thrill it was for me to shoot this photo of Gillian signing for her credentials. It was a great moment.

We were off to our first event - at the Hard Rock Cafe where we met up with the infamous Congressman Charlie Wilson. The crowd included Texas super delegate Bob Slagle, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, former Speaker of the House Jim Wright, and our Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.

Charlie Wilson drew a big applause from the crowd with his remark "Our invasion of Iraq was the world's worst foreign policy blunder since Hitler invaded Russia."

Quickly we moved on to our next event - The Rocky Mountain Roundtable, a conference on philanthropy. As we approached the Boettcher Concert Hall, a black Lincoln Navigator pulled up to the curb and out popped civil rights leader Andrew Young.

Oh my! We are having a blast. And it's just the first morning.

Reporting from the National Democratic Convention in Denver,

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gillian had made her mind up - she wanted to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this year. And so she made it as an at large delegate from the Lone Star State of Texas.

Later this morning we fly to Denver and then on to the White House in January.

I don't know how she does it, but when Gillian sets her mind to something, she almost always gets what she wants.

Obama / Biden

We are loving it!

>br>

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Did you know Barack Obama is a Muslim!" my Republican friend reveals to me with a whisper-like voice.

"Really?" I feign surprise.

"Oh yes. His middle name is Hussein," my Republican friend replies with force, almost as if he played a high scoring trump card.

"And so what if he is a Muslim? Would it matter?" I ask.

"Well you know, Muslims want to annihilate Americans. All Muslims are extremists. They hate us!"

I hear this all the time. It's like a dirty little secret to them. And they delight in spreading the nasty myth.

But to me it is wicked and mean-spirited. It's downright dirty pool. It's despicable and disgusting.

So there I was this morning - a weekend bachelor, sipping my coffee and reading the Sunday New York Times. I spotted it on page A13, "HELLO. My name is HUSSEIN"! I just knew where this was going. I grew excited. Before I started to read, I thought, "Blog material", and headed for my computer, with the Times in tow.

Jodi Kantor's article caught my eye - the title read "Making a Political Statement by Adopting Their Candidate's Middle Name". Kantor writes:

Emily Hussein Nordling, her entry now reads.

With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.

We felt great. People noticed and wanted to take our pictures.

And now, New York Times Sunday readers around the world are noticing. People do care and are fighting back.

I still have the badge and plan to wear it on the plane tomorrow to Sacramento. I'll wear it with pride.

Pierre Hussein Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today Pierre and I went to a local arena where multiple high school graduations were being held throughout the day. We thought that there was one more thing these graduates needed to do on their awesome day - register to vote.

We arrived with clipboards and pens and forms and we got busy. We registered young graduates and family members and friends and anyone else we could. We were excited to watch the parents encourage their kids to sign up.

It was exhilarating, sharing this special day with these beacons of the future. Many of these kids came from very poor neighborhoods. The fact that they had persevered to graduate is celebration enough. But now they are even more empowered. They are voters!

And more ceremonies to come next week.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Obama in Portland with a crowd of 75,000.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This much we know - to be a uniter, one must bring people of diverse backgrounds together.

So, we were working at the Dallas Barack Obama HQ this weekend. We were part of an effort by the Obama campaign to recruit a million volunteers to add to his million donors. More than 150 people showed up to learn how to register new voters and walk neighborhoods signing up new volunteers. Groups of four were set up in random fashion and the 'troops' went out on the streets.

Several hours later, we watched the foursomes return, bonded by the experience. They were energized by their day together. And then we began to notice the true relationship that had been generated during their common purpose. In walked one of the groups, two white women in their late sixties and two young black men in their twenties. They were laughing and joking and exchanging phone numbers and talking about what a great time they had had and how they wanted to do it again soon.

Another foursome, two young black women in their twenties and two white men in their thirties are finishing up their day. As they left, the white guys stick out their hands and do their best to replicate a 'black' handshake, something they have evidently talked about and discussed on their cavassing route. At the same time, the young women are bidding their white companions Shalom, having evidently discused the fact that the guys are Jewish.

Please tell me where else such diverse people would be coming together and really getting to know each other? And this is happening all over America each and every day in the common act of getting Barack Obama elected as President.

Tears come to our eyes, hope returns our hearts. Things are going to be really, really different. A new America.

Oh, by the way, we signed up 48 new voters yesterday. And one of them was an 88 year old woman!

Pierre Cutler and Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The war in Iraq through FY 2007 has cost taxpayers in Sacramento $620.5M.

For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided in Sacramento:

• 255,371 People with Health Care for One Year OR
• 1,105,497 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR
• 11,085 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
• 8,765 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
• 93,245 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
• 62 New Elementary Schools OR
• 1,857 Affordable Housing Units OR
• 231,931 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
• 74,217 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
• 8,911 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
• 7,837 Port Container Inspectors for One year

Would you be willing to trade one of the items above for the war in Iraq?

It's your tax money, you are the decider. Know the facts when you vote and vote for the candidate that most reflects your values and will spend your tax dollars in that way you deem best for your community.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Source: National Priorities Project

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:37 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Submitted by a loyal reader:

Could Paul Allen's Charter Communication be working on a deal here in Sacramento?

It's hard to hide a Boeing 757 at any airport, but Paul Allen's private jet (N757AF) has been spotted at McClellan on two recent occasions, leading us to wonder why it was visiting Sacramento and not using Sacramento International.

The shiny plane first appeared a few weeks ago and spent a couple of days in town and recently returned for a couple more. On both occasions we missed seeing who left and who boarded, but it appears that one of the richest men in America (and the co-founder of Microsoft) rarely allows others to use the plane without him. As Chairman of Charter Communications his interest in a local cable, internet and telephone company with an office at McClellan may just be more than a coincidence.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been working many hours a day on the Obama campaign in Dallas.

Every day - sometimes every hour - there is a new story that turns everything I thought I knew on its head.

Yesterday, a middle-aged, white man came into the office with his teenage daughter. He was looking for a bumper sticker to put on his car. Volunteering at the front desk, along with me, was a black man in his 70's and a black woman in her 50's. The white man began to talk to us. And he revealed that he was a stalwart in the Republican party but had decided to vote for Barack Obama.

I asked him what had made him make the switch believing that if he articulated his reasoning he would be even more likely to embrace it. And out of his mouth came this:

"I decided that we live in America and it is long past time that we had an African-American President. Think of how proud we could be of America with an African-American President."

This is in Texas from a white, male Republican.

This is a movement, not an election.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:09 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Please read the story almost 2 years old now, about how Senator Obama chose a Republican as his mentor and together they passed one of the most important anti-terrorism bill in many years. It's a wonderful example of how Senator Obama works across the aisles, works in different non-standard ways, to get important things done.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Seems that it does. Read the post below:

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:28:51 -0500
To: Northern Virginia for Obama!
From: donnacywinski@comcast.net
Subject: [NorthernVirginiaforObama] Hope in Catlett, VA

According to the Virginia Board of Elections website, Senator Obama won in Catlett, Virginia by one vote. Catlett - a small town in Fauquier County Virginia where we live, is a very conservative place. There are not a lot of Democrats here. Over the years, as our sons have watched us vote for candidates who did not win, they have often asked me whether their vote would make a difference. My response has always been, "How can you hope to change things if you don 't vote?"

When the campaign came to Virginia, we signed up to volunteer with a small group called "Fauquier for Obama '08". Since people in Fauquier County do not live close enough to each other to make canvassing worthwhile, our group got permission from Giant Foods to set up a table outside. We handed out stickers, copies of Senator Obama's policy proposals downloaded from the website and obtained names and contact information from the twenty or so people who were brave enough to come up to our table in front of all of the Republicans who were shopping that day.

Our son manned a table at the local community college. He got about five more volunteers and handed out stickers. He and five other students organized a commuter waive along U.S. Highway 29 where they held up signs and braved lit cigarettes, obscene gestures and spit from passing cars and where they also got thumbs-up signs, smiles, honks and waives. On Election Day our sons voted for the first time . We sat at polls, passed out more stickers, and served coffee and hot chocolate to voters.

Senator Obama won Virginia by a large margin. He won Fauquier County by a smaller margin. He won Catlett, by one vote. We will never know who cast that one vote that put him over the top. But never again will my sons ask me if their vote makes a difference. They know it did.

Senator Obama is winning elections because of one vote at a time. Every person who is inspired to hope that our country could ever be united or that we could have affordable health care or that we could improve educational opportunities for average folks or that we do not have to fight wars just so oil companies, the arms industry and Halliburton can make obscene profits while young Americans die too young, can make a difference. We know this because he won in Catlett by one vote.

Yes We Can!!!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks to the posting on the Sacramento Angels website.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last Sunday, Michelle Obama gave a memorable speech at UCLA. Here are a couple of pearls of wisdom from her speech:

"The greatness of a society is measured by those who are the least."

To whom much is given, much is expected."

Click the image below for the entire speech (includes Stevie Wonder, Caroline Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Maria Shriver).

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A not be missed presentation on the employment law outlook for 2008 and issues facing businesses, in-house counsel, and senior HR professionals.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
8:30–9:00am: Registration and breakfast
9:00–11:00am: Program

Presented by: Thomas N. Makris and Benjamin L. Webster
of Pillsbury Winthrop at their offices at 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 1700, Sacramento, CA 95814

Topics will include:
• Wage and Hour: Status of the Administrative Exemption
• Wrongful Termination and Discrimination: Review of Significant Developments in 2007
• Immigration Issues: How to Respond to No-Match Letters
• Noncompete Covenants: Do Narrow Restraints Work in California?
• Retaliation: Are Supervisors Individually Liable?
• Leaves of Absence: What Every Employer Needs to Know
• Q & A Session


RSVP by February 7 to Jennifer Ramsey at jennifer.ramsey@pillsburylaw.com

CLE Credit—Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is an Accredited Provider of CLE (Continuing Legal Education) programs in California. Pillsbury certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California in the amount of 2.0 credit hours.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Many employees at my company look forward to the first Friday each December because it's bonus payday. Today was no exception.

Like most, for weeks, I waited in anticipation of the announcement as to how we did, planning what I was going to do with the bonus. By mid-November we received the news - my bonus was a bit over 20% of my base annual salary. Very nice! And so I continued to plot and plan, waiting for today, when the company would pay the bonus via direct deposit.

Six of us dined together for lunch today. Much of the conversation centered around what we were doing with our bonuses. Most noted it was perfect timing for the holidays. I listened to everyone's plans. One person was planning to buy a 72" HDTV. Another was talking about a boat. Without exception, each person spoke of what they were going to buy.

As we talked, I shared a story from a colleague who lived in a mid-west town, which is the headquarters of our 20,000-person firm. About 10,000 of the 110,000 people in the community work for my company. A couple of years ago on bonus payday, the community had a run on big-screen TVs at the local Best Buy store. By the end of the weekend the store had run out of TVs.

I was amazed at this account and assume it will happen again this weekend, based on the talk at lunch.

Now here’s what I did with my bonus – after the stock market opened this morning, I used a third of the bonus to buy FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE symbol FTI). I had patiently waited for the right time to buy FTI, based on Phil Town’s Rule #1 approach, and surprisingly, today was the time to make the value play (buying the stock at a margin of safety of 50% off the fair market value).

I am really excited about FTI. I guess I could have bought a TV or maybe even a car. But why should I? These items are depreciating assets. I want appreciating assets - things that can grow and make me rich. I plan to spend my entire bonus buying value stocks, using Phil Town’s approach. I will be patient and wait for the right moment to “spend” the rest of my bonus on stocks, like I did last year, when I put it all on the Procter and Gamble Company (NYSE symbol PG) in March (and have enjoyed a 22.7% return on investment in nine months).

Oh by the way, you might ask, “What is Rule #1?”

Rule #1 is – don’t lose money. Warren Buffett teaches this rule. If it’s good enough for Warren, then it’s good enough for me.

I wonder how many people used their bonus to invest in an appreciating asset today? I bet not many. And that’s what’s sad about Americans – they are not setting themselves up to financially succeed. Can you imagine what Warren Buffett would think about the behaviors of my co-workers on bonus payday?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

About FMC Technologies: FMC Technologies, Inc. (FMC Technologies) is a global provider of technology solutions for the energy industry and other industrial markets. The Company designs, manufactures and services systems and products, such as subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead production systems, high-pressure fluid control equipment, measurement solutions, and marine loading systems for the oil and gas industry. It also produces food processing equipment for the food industry and specialized equipment to service the aviation industry.

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I ran across these sobering and thought provoking words of Kurt Vonnegut on the blog of Tim Ferriss today.

"My country is in ruins. So I’m a fish in a poisoned fishbowl. I’m mostly just heartsick about this. There should have been hope. This should have been a great country. But we are despised all over the world now. I was hoping to build a country and add to its literature. That’s why I served in World War II, and that’s why I wrote books."

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Obesity is costing America an enormous amount, according to Rebecca Ruiz, writer at Forbes.com:

"Obesity's associated costs add $93 billion to the nation's medical bill annually. Each year, 112,000 people die from obesity-related causes, and the condition is responsible for an increased risk of chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease."

Ms. Ruiz identifies the top 20 fattest cities in America. Is your city on the list?

Click here for the full story.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Historically, Real Estate Has Been a Solid, Long Term Investment.

Looking at the last 40 years of real estate in California, we have seen very few times in which real estate values have dropped. In fact, according to the California Association of Realtors, since 1970 the real estate market in California has only dropped seven times, six times under 3.7% and only once at 4.5%.

On the contrary, our market has seen remarkable growth. In 1970, the median cost of a single family home in California was $26,000. Today, 37 years later, homes have seen a 2,165% increase, now selling for $588,970.

Historically, Sacramento County Has Enjoyed Even Stronger Success.

According to the California Association of Realtors, in 1989 the median price of a single-family home in Sacramento County was $95,970. Today, just 18 years later, that same single family home is selling for $332,509 - a 246% increase. Certainly in recent months we have seen a shift from a seller's market to a buyer's market but that switch was necessary to continue a healthy flow of exchange amongst buyers and sellers. The bottom line is that our economy couldn't maintain the double digit increases we saw in home prices in 2003 and 2004 without seeing a shift. If we continued to see an upstream of that magnitude we would nearly eliminate the first-time home buyers which could potentially drastically hinder our economy. Shifts in our market are what keep our economy running smoothly.

Is Now the Time to Buy?

Now may be the time to buy: mortgage rates remain low (certainly by historical standards), prices have stabilized and there is a large selection of homes to choose from. Certainly it makes a more exciting news story for journalists to dwell on the negative, but for smart consumers it is definitely more economically advantageous to seize opportunities as they present themselves. And this market may offer some tremendous opportunities.

While no one can predict the future, if history is any indication, then real estate over the long run will continue to be a solid investment. And that's good news for everyone - buyers, sellers and the real estate industry. If you are ready to make an informed and educated decision about real estate, including upcoming real estate auctions, please contact me today. I would be happy to help you.

CAROLINE JENSEN, Broker, Realtor®, e-Pro
(916) 607-7313
caroline.jensen@camoves.com
www.GoTeamJensen.com
Coldwell Banker Previews Property Specialist

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:50 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A recently released Congressional Buget Office (CBO) report estimates that the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country,
The CBO assumes that 75,000 troops will remain in both countries through 2017. As of Sept. 30, the two wars have cost $604 billion, the CBO says. That is higher than the costs of the Korea and Vietnam conflicts, when adjusted for inflation, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

In the months before the March 2003 Iraq invasion, the Bush administration estimated the Iraq war would cost no more than $50 billion.

Completely out of control is what comes to my mind.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce's PIVOT Program
Building This Region's Future
Monday, October 22, 2007
11:30am - 1:30pm
Vizcaya Hotel (2019 21st Street, Sacramento, CA)

Get involved in "Building This Region's Future" - A discussion series for young professionals and young entrepreneurs in the Sacramento region.

The SACC and Sacramento County Airport, KB Homes and Washington Mutual have recently created an exciting Public Policy luncheon series. The hope is to educate the Sacramento business community about this regions future that will affect both large and small businesses. The series will include: The Sacramento Region’s Changing Landscape, How to make the Sacramento region business friendly through economic development strategies and the Future of Workforce Development in the region.

Register today! It's free.
Contact Lori Soldano at (916) 446-7883 or by e-mail at lsoldano@sacasiancc.org

Sounds like a great way to get your voice heard and give valuable input into this region's way forward.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is a survey I found on the Advanced Leadership Consulting website. I think it is a very good initial screen to measure leadership qualities and then figure out where to spend time strengthening the weaker areas:

Assessing Characteristics of Leadership Effectiveness – Self Report Survey By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2003

Circle Yes or NO - 24 questions.

Comfort with ambiguity:

Y or N: Are you willing to take calculated risks?
Y or N: Are you comfortable with a certain level of disruption and conflict?
Y or N: Are you comfortable making decisions and taking action without having “all the facts?”

Empathy:

Y or N: Do you empathize with other people’s needs, concerns, and goals?
Y or N: Would staff members confirm that you show such empathy?

Insight:

Y or No: Can you accurately understand the needs and motivations of others?
Y or No: Do you have an accurate understanding of your own limitations…not just your strengths?

Persistence; frustration tolerance:

Y or N: When pursuing a goal, do you maintain a positive, focused attitude, despite obstacles?

Excellent communicators:

Y or N: Do you listen closely (rather than have a response ready before the other person finishes)?
Y or N: Are you comfortable running meetings?
Y or N: Are you comfortable making presentations and speaking in public?
Y or N: Do you have the skills needed to negotiate in a variety of settings?

Politically astute:

Y or N: Could you diagram for yourself your organization’s power structure?
Y or N: Can you articulate the concerns of your organization’s most powerful groups?
Y or N: Can you identify those individuals within your organization that will support you when needed?
Y or N: Do you know where to turn for the resources you need?

Able to use humor:

Y or N: Do you know how to use humor to relieve tense or uncomfortable situations?

Emotional self-control:

Y or N: In situations that are full of turmoil and confusion, do you stay calm and levelheaded?
Y or N: Would your colleagues and subordinates say that you are able to acknowledge your mistakes, failures and limitations without being overly defensive?
Y or N: I am able to be flexible in my dealings with others.

Self-aware:

Y or N: Are you aware of and can you describe how your own patterns of behavior impact others?
Y or N: In assessing a situation, I look at my biases and adjust my assessment accordingly.
Y or N: I watch how others react to me to better understand my own behavior.
Y or N: It’s easy for me to recognize what emotions I’m experiencing in a particular situation.

The more questions you answered “yes” the better.
If you answered “no” to some or many of these questions, you may want to consider how you can further develop these effective leadership characteristics.

Remember that this non-validated survey should be used as an “early warning” system only. If you really want to measure your effectiveness as a leader, to get a more granular bead on how well you are doing and to figure out where to put your developmental energy, you’ll need to conduct a formal assessment that uses valid tools and criteria linked to your organization’s particular needs and culture. Leadership characteristics that work at Microsoft may not necessarily work at Washington Mutual.

Please note, that the questions I included in this survey come from my research and experience working with executives and the Harvard continuing education ManageMentor program called “Leading and Motivating.”

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

'Clean technology has moved from vision to reality, and it is now a priority on the CEO agenda of every company from the entrepreneurial growth companies to the multinational market leaders,' said Gil Forer, global director of Ernst & Young's Venture Capital Advisory Group. 'The accelerating venture capital investments reflect the growing importance of the sector. A strong innovation pipeline and confidence in the global drivers supporting growth in the clean technology market - such as government policies, consumer awareness, energy prices and concern about carbon emissions - are driving venture capital investment.'

In the US, venture capital investment in cleantech companies has jumped to $893m across 71 deals in the first half of 2007, from $525m on 49 deals in the first six months of 2006, according to the research.

European investments are set to reach or even exceed 2006 levels, with 19 deals and $80m invested in H1 2007.

Jessica Canning, director of global research with Dow Jones VentureOne, said, 'Although venture capital investments in clean technology companies in China and Israel are still nascent, we expect that they will continue to accelerate.'

Looking at the market segments, solar is dominant in the US and alternative fuels are on the rise. In Europe, alternative fuels are still dominating with wind power having a fair share of the total amount invested.

This is great news for Sacramento that is working hard to be the CleanTech Center of the United States.

And don't forget to attend the upcoming Clean Energy Technology Showcase.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A remarkable study by the National Priorities Project which shows the cost of the Iraq war on each congressional district. For District 5, led by Congresswomen Matsui, the cost is $825M. What would that have bought for the district:

76,931 children could have health care for the length of the war to-date
2,470 affordable housing units could have been built
63 elementary schools could have been built

You can check out the results for Congressmen Lungren and Doolittle or any other district in the nation on the website

I wonder how many bridges we could have inspected and fixed, how many diseases we could have made headway to curing, how many more young people who could have attended college with scholarships, how much progress we could have made toward finding an alternative fuel. The possibilities of alternative spending are enormous.

And let's not forget the human cost:

3,653 U.S. soldiers dead (392 from California)
26,953 U.S. soldiers wounded (2,833 from California)
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead
Over 2 million Iraqis displaced in Iraq
Another 2 million Iraqi refugees in other countries

Gillian Parrillo
Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to the Motley Fool, "The best time to start saving for retirement is yesterday. The second best time is now."

And who's saving? Apparently not many. Facts:

• Fifty-six percent of eligible employees participated in defined contribution plans in 2006;
• 39% of Americans age 55 and older have less than $25,000 saved for retirement;

The Fool's take on the power of time value of money:

If you start contributing $250 a month to a 401(k) at age 20, and match the market's historical annualized return of 10%, your nest egg will reach $1.4 million by the time you're 60. That $1.4 million nest egg assumes no employer match. Include an employer match of 50%, and your retirement account rises to $2.2 million!

Are you making the same mistake as 44% of Americans by not participating in your company's 401K plan? Are you on the path to having less then $25,000 saved for retirement? If so, you need to read The Motley Fool.

Check out The Fool here.

I agree with The Motley Fool ... read how my son Nathan is becoming a millionaire. You can be a millionaire too!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Mike Gravel, Democratic presidential candidate and former Senator, declared that Americans are getting fatter and dumber. Has Mike been reading my blogs? I said the exact same thing in a post on May 3, 2006. Here's what he said to Bill Maher on Tuesday...
Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For far too long, the problem of youth violence has been growing with more deaths and more of our young people sentenced to multi-year prison sentences. Finally, the Governor has appointed an Anti-Gang Director and a 10 member Board of Advisors. The new Director will be Paul Seave, a former US Attorney. He noted that, "Over the last 20 years more than 10,000 Californians have been killed in gang-related violence." The Governor also has released $2.8 million to expand job training for at-risk and gang-involved youth and gang members. Next year $11.5 million is expected to be provided for anti-gang efforts.

The Governor noted that during his discussions with many leaders of various California communities, two common issues kept coming up:

• No. 1, that we can't arrest our way out of this problem. It is very important to acknowledge the fact that we need to do more than just lock people up.
• And No. 2, that it is a local issue, and that the locals know best how to really deal with that. But at the same time it became clear that it needs a coordinated effort, a state effort, and this is why we are getting involved in the state for the first time in history.

Let's hope that California is finally going to do something besides blame gangs, suppress all youth in various targetted communities, and spend millions of dollars locking up young people.

As I have written once before, when there are only bad voices in a community, then bad voices sound good. Let's start getting some good voices going, and some jobs, and some hope, and some great role models...and everything else that will turn this tragic situation around.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Diabetes death rates are about twice as high for Hispanic men and women as for their white counterparts. The diabetes death rate for black women is three times higher than for white women.

Death rates from heart disease are approximately 40 percent higher among black men, and 50 percent higher among black women, than they are among whites.

HIV infection ranks in the top ten causes of death for black and Hispanic men. It is also the 11th leading cause of death for black women, compared to the 29th for white women.

The homicide death rate for black men is nearly 10 times higher, and for Hispanic men nearly two and a half times higher, than it is for white men.

If black men reach age 25, their mortality gap with white men shrinks by more than one year due largely to a decline in homicide deaths after that age.

Asian men have slightly higher death rates than other groups from stroke and stomach cancer. Asian women have the longest life expectancy rates. At 85.2 years, they can expect to live, on average, more than 15 years longer than black men.

White men and women are more likely than any other groups to die of Alzheimer’s disease and suicide.

Source: Public Policy Institute of California

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:31 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

1,800 Iraqis were killed in August. Did you know that? Do you think that's high or low compared to other months? How many Iraqis do you think have been killed since we invaded Iraq? Do you know how many Americans soldiers lost their lives (legs, arms, sight) last month in Iraq?

Don't know?

How many days did Paris Hilton serve in jail? How many hours did Nicole Richie spend in jail? What's the latest with Lindsay Lohan? The Brittany Spears, Kevin Federline custody battle? What was Larry Craig reaching for, according to him, when his hand came under the stall in the men's room in the airport?

If you know more about the second group than the first, it's not surprising. We get a lot more information from every conceivable media source on all of the entertainment gossip, the political scandal, and anything else they can throw in to distract us from the massive human calamity that is occurring every single day in a country that we broke and we bear responsibility for fixing.

Write to your media sources and tell them you want to know more. The gruesome photos from Vietnam on our evening news broadcasts (notice they weren't shows back then!) and the never-ending shots of body bags coming back to America bearing our young soliders were what finally persuaded the American public that a war we couldn't win, must be stopped.

Kudos to Director Brian De Palma whose new film "Redacted" contains photos that newspapers refused to print as well as footage dowloaded from the Internet, including soldiers' home videos. 'The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what's happening in Iraq to the American people," said De Palma, director of movies such as Carrie and Scarface. "Unlike Vietnam, when we saw the destruction and sorrow of the people we were maiming and killing, and soldiers coming home in body bags, we see none of that in this war. 'It's all out there on the Internet, you can find it if you look for it, but it's not in the mainstream media. The media is now part of the corporate establishment. The terrible thing about this war is we don't see these images, we don't have these stories.'

Remember this, probably the most famous image of Vietnam. It worked. The American public were incensed. A picture tells a thousand words.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The sales of units at the new L Streets Lofts project at 18th and K are flying. The 12 penthouses valued from $750K-$1.2M are almost completely sold out. The largest unit is 2092 square feet with a price tag of $1.2M - giving a dollar per square foot price of $574. Is that the highest price paid downtown ever? If not, it must be for a condo.

Check out the website - it's slick and it gives a great idea of what the space will look like and how convenient the building is to everything fun to do in the new urban Sacramento.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today, I am very excited to announce the launch of our latest endeavor, SacWomen. SacWomen is a great new website, dedicated to amplifying the voices of women in Sacramento. SacWomen is also a networking group that will periodically bring together women in Sacramento to meet and support each other through referrals and mentoring. Once in a while we will even throw in a speaker on a topic important to women in Sacramento.

Many of you will remember WebGrrls, a remarkable group in Sacramento a few years ago, founded by Vicky Blocker. It was a place that so many long-lasting valuable connections, both personal and business, were made between women in town. Personally, I still have strong relationships with many of the women I met. I am still a mentor to one of the younger women in the group and take great pride is seeing her career advance as I continue to provide advice. I have invested in a company of one of the women I met during that time and watch as she moves ever closer to being a force to be reckoned with on the national stage. My book club, an important support structure in my life, was formed by members of WebGrrls. Some of the members went on to work on a bond measure in 2004 that won by a remarkable percentage. And lastly, an amazing organization, Sacramento Advocates for Girls Empowerment (SAGE), entirely devoted to the encouragement and empowerment of middle-school and high-school girls in pursuit of careers in computer-related technology, life sciences, engineering, science, math and law, was formed under the auspices of WebGrrls and continues to flourish and grow and make a huge difference in the lives of girls in Sacramento. WebGrrls Sacramento was a magical organization that affected, and continues to affect, so many in a very positive way. SacWomen hopes to recreate that special bond between women in Sacramento.

So, keep an eye on this site for news of our first event –coming in October. Send an email with your name and email address to join our mailing list. Tell your friends. Submit blogs of interest. Comment on the blogs we publish. Be a sponsor. Send ideas for speakers, venues, great philanthropic causes looking for smart women, etc. etc.

Let’s get a buzz going in this town. Let’s be a strong voice in the future of Sacramento. And let’s not forget to support, mentor and nurture the women in our lives.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Flying these days just isn't any fun at all. Airlines are filling their planes to the bursting point. Cancelled and delayed flights are becoming the norm. Holding passengers on flights for hours continues. And getting through security is a joke - just not one that's funny. Even when you are a executive level passenger you get stuck in the back of the plane in the middle seat and the airlines don't seem to care much at all. For those that complain, the airlines send you a few thousand miles, and wash their hands.

And let's not forget, none of the cargo below you on the plane has been screened and the traffic control system is so antiquated it's a wonder that there hasn't been a major tragedy.

And as a consumer, there's not much to be done. All of the airlines seem to have given up on even pretending that customer service is important. Their primary goal is - bums in seats. How many people can they pack on, while controlling costs, including gaining major concessions from pilots and flight attendants (which explains their bad attitudes these days).

Is there a market out there for an airline that provides high quality service, comfortable seating, and reliable schedules? Let's hope so.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today, 62 years later, we remember the 210,000 victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. HBO will show a documentary tonight. Please make time to watch it, or record it for later viewing. We learn so much about how to act in the future based on things that have happened in our past. Or as someone much smarter than I said, “Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” Edmund Burke British Statesman and Philosopher, 1729-1797).

White Light Black Rain:The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki revisits the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and its aftermath in WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN: THE DESTRUCTION OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, premiering August 6th on HBO, providing an unflinching look at the reality of nuclear warfare through first-hand accounts as told by survivors as well as some of the American men who carried out the bombing mission.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I read a lot of magazines. What's the best bang for the buck in magazines? Business 2.0. Hands down. The magazine is published by Business 2.0 Media Inc., a subsidiary of Time, Inc. Invariably each month several items will catch my attention. The August issue is no exception.

Editorial intern Chris Morrison profiled Anthony Page - The Rise of the White-Collar Nomad (subtitled "Want to see the world and collect a healthy paycheck? Just grab your labtop and go").

Anthony, a British citizen, quit his job as a Web developer in 2005, and hit the road, wandering throughout the world. To fund his journey, Anthony created several websites. Today his sites generate over $10,000 a month in revenue.

As I was reading the article, I exclaimed to Gillian, "Wow! Anthony has implemented Tim Ferriss's “4-Hour Workweek”.

After a bit of research, I found out how Anthony did it. And you should too - check out his website - www.workingnomad.com.

This 4-hour workweek concept can be done. I know there are a lot of skeptics about this concept, including several of my friends at work. However, this is a winning formula. How to succeed? Simple - a bias for action. And I will take action. Right now.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday evening I was watching CNN, as I usually do. I heard that we are going to spend 1 trillion dollars on the Iraq war and I immediately thought of all the things we could be doing instead - instead of this totally ill-conceived, indefensible conflict. Health care for everyone, world-class education for everyone, much needed infrastructure repair and so much more - not to mention a return to the civil rights this country was so deservedly proud of. And then the breaking news flash of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Infrastructure repair was my first thought. Later the CNN reporters hastened to reassure the listeners that this was not a terrorist attack, which had probably been their first thought. But that had never occurred to me. Infrastructure repair. And now it is beginning to look as if indeed that was the problem. The bridge was inspected two years ago and scored a 4 on a 1-10 scale. How many other bridges, highways, buildings are barely hanging on? And how much longer are we going to spend a trillion (a million million) on something that wasn't supposed to cost us anything - all to be paid for by oil revenues - and how many more lives are going to be lost on something that is completely indefensible while our own country crumbles, the gap between rich and poor grows ever larger, and our high standards of right and wrong grow ever more blurred.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember a couple of years ago when Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers suggested that the shortage of elite female scientists may stem in part from "innate" differences between men and women. Well, eat your words, Mr. Summers.

Girls in Iceland are kicking butt when it comes to math. Government researchers who tested 15 year-olds in Iceland two years ago found that boys significantly trailed girls - the only place among 41 countries that participated. The difference of 15 points paled in comparison to a small fishing village, Sandgerdi, where the difference was almost 30 points.

The difference - motivation. The boys can't wait to quit school and go to sea. The girls see a good education their ticket out of town.

Seems to me that everytime we agree that girls can't do math, we are chipping away at girls' motivation. Let's start telling them about the girls in Sandgerdi. And explaining to them that all grils need a ticket out of town in their back pocket!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Entrepreneur magazine, in partnership with the Women Presidents' Organization (WPO), announces a search for the Top 50 fastest-growing women-owned/women-led businesses in the U.S. and Canada. With women-owned companies growing at twice the rate of all firms, the results of Entrepreneur's Top 50 search will showcase some of the hottest of these businesses to watch.

The Top 50 businesses will be revealed in the November issue of Entrepreneur magazine and honored at a special event with the WPO in New York City on December 3, 2007. Applications to enter and submission details can be found here; the deadline to enter is August 5, 2007.

To be eligible, companies must:

-- Be privately owned
-- Be women-owned/led
-- Have started generating revenue by the first week of 2002
-- Have reached revenue of $1 million by year-end 2006

Come on, talented Sacramento women, amaze us!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Haven't seen Sicko Yet? You really should. It provides insight on a major issue facing this country. And the director of the movie, Michael Moore, has a special offer this weekend - Take a Republican to 'Sicko!'" Take them this weekend and send the ticket stub and entry form to Michael and he will enter them into a drawing. The lucky winner will get Michael Moore to come to their home and do their laundry - just like in France. As Michael Moore says, "What would make a Republican happier than him working away in their laundry room?"

And talking of Sicko - the debates continue and swirl. One of the issues is whether the fact that this country has, in many cases, worse outcomes in terms of life expectancy or infant mortality, than other countries can be attributed to the American lifestyle and not the American health care system. Well, for sure, the British have higher smoking rates than we do and yet they have much better outcomes. I think it's all about preventative care and free care. If you don't have to make a decision between feeding your 2 year old and getting a prenatal checkup, then you are more likely to go get the check up. Or if you learn to control diabetes by early and regular doctor's visits, you don't end up having your legs amputated. And as for the wait times, I would be perfectly happy to wait a few extra days to get elective surgery if it meant that everyone in this country could have access to good quality, free healthcare. And I think there are many others that would too.

Check out this 5 minute movie on single payer
or read the facts behind a bill that is currently in Congress - HR676 - that would implement single payer healthcare. You will be amazed at the savings even though it will provide insurance to everyone in this country. Take the middleman and the profit factor out of the equation. After that, we can take the lobbyists out of the political process. But one thing at a time!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:34 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

SACRAMENTO—A charter school opening in Sacramento this fall will teach students in three languages from the time they start kindergarten.
Students will be taught in English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese by teachers who are native speakers. They will practice by participating in video conferences with students in Beijing, Shanghai and Mexico City.

The program will teach about 120 students from kindergarten through third grade in the North Sacramento School District, where many students come from poor immigrant families. About 83 percent of the district's students qualify for subsidized lunches, and 39 percent are not fluent in English.

"Kids that don't get out of Sacramento now are going to see people around the world," said Linda Ventriglia, a former Sacramento teacher who started the school. "We're trying to create a 21st century school."

Students at the Lindsay Global Language Academy will spend half the day working in English and the other half in Spanish and Mandarin.

Ventriglia developed the school with federal grant money intended to encourage more schools to teach languages such as Mandarin that are considered vital to commerce and national security.

Source: Associated Press

Studies have shown that children that are taught in more than one language lag initially but ultimately fare better gradewise than their counterparts who only learn in English. This charter school sounds like a great place, especially for the kids who are living in North Sacramento. Imagine being fluent in Mandarin Chinse in 2020. It would be a great benefit businesswise.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Every day your company is doing its own customer satisfaction survey. Every call that comes into your company is full of information to allow you to delight your customers, stop customer problems in the bud, and cut down on your customer service costs. Do you have a mechanism in place to ensure you are on top of the latest results? If not, you are missing a great opportunity.

You could be missing input for the next great product feature, a heads-up that there is an error in your software product that could be quickly fixed, or feedback on something your competitor is doing. And all from a great source, your customer.

Similarly, the hospitality desk of your conference is a great place to take the temperature of your meeting and make instantaneous adjustments. Are the participants confused about the meeting schedule? Are multiple queries coming in about a session? Did you forget to plan for lost and found items? Gather the information quickly and adjust right away.

Make sure you are always checking with your first line of customer service to monitor trends and adjust your plans. It’s the difference between a C grade and an A+ from your customers and shareholders.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The amphibious Golden Dawn tour has come to Sacramento. It starts in Old Sacramento between Joe's Crab Shack and Rio City Cafe. Tours run about 90 minutes and begin at 11 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Until Sunday, the tour is free. After that, the price will be $25 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $15 for children.

On land, the tour travels past the Governor's Mansion, Sutter's Fort, Capitol Mall, the Stanford Mansion, and the Crocker Art Museum. At Discovery Park the bus tour stops, two pontoons inflate and the vehicle splashes into the water.

The Golden Dawn is owned by Sacramento Yacht Charters. Another vehicle wil be added in late August.

All aboard.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Update: The tours were temporarily suspended on July 18th until licensing issues could be resolved. Be sure to check they are back on track before you go.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development and (new British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown's long-time Mini-Me, comes to Washington to bravely speak truth to power. Choosing a suitably establishment venue such as the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr Alexander tells the United States that:

"In the 20th century a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century strength should be measured by what we can build together. And so we must form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world."

And:

"We need to demonstrate by our deeds, words and our actions that we are internationalist, not isolationist, multilateralist, not unilateralist, active and not passive, and driven by core values, consistently applied, not special interests."

The US must be asked:

"to recognise the importance of a rules based international system".

Plus:

"Given the interconnected nature of the challenges we face, I would argue that we have to simultaneously be fighting to end poverty, to secure trade justice and to tackle conflict and climate change, as well as working to defeat terrorism and ensure the preservation of our security."

The speech, obviously intended to assure the British people that things are going to be different under Brown from all those many years of former Prime Minister Tony Blair pandering to President Bush. Of course, once the speech caused a furor in the US, then Brown responded that nothing in the speech showed a different approach and he was amazed at the interpretation that had been given to the speech. Sounds like pandering to me - to both sides of the Atlantic. And I guess I like the message the Brits got better.

Hat tip to: The Debatable Land

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:42 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...but European cities have not offered much in the way of public support for funding the kind of state-of-the-art facilities that the league has come to expect

Courtesy: Evan Weiner, The New York Sun, Least of Stern's Problems This Summer

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Sacramento-based DMGI (Nasdaq: DMGI) has entered into a reverse merger with The Orchard. Local investors in DMGI are waiting to understand how this effects them. After going public February 1 2006, the stock price quickly dwindled, earning DMGI the dubious honor of the 2nd worst IPO of 2006.

As of the date of this transaction, the stock was off more than 50% from its IPO price of $9.75. The Motley Fool's take - "Digital Music (Nasdaq: DMGI) faltered as an IPO last year. It was hoping to cash in on the popularity of digital distribution, but it simply lacked the content library to make a material difference." After the anouncement, the stock was up 12% to close at $4.48. And now the Motley Fool seems much more bullish: 'The makeover it's now getting should give the combined company a clean slate in the minds of burned investors. Clearly, there are many opportunities waiting to be milked in digital distribution. Now with The Orchard on its side, DMGI has some good chances to finally produce a worthy harvest.' Groan at the cheap orchard/harvest connection!

Here is a rundown on the deal from Digital Mediawire

The Orchard, a digital distributor and marketer of independent music, announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to a reverse merger agreement with fellow digital music and video distributor Digital Music Group, Inc.

Under the terms, DMGI will issue 9.1 million shares of common stock and 4.5 million shares of convertible preferred stock to The Orchard, whose shareholders will own about 60% of the merged entity.

The combined business will retain DMGI's Nasdaq listing and change its name to The Orchard, whose president and CEO Greg Scholl will lead the combined company.

Following completion of the deal, The Orchard will control over one million recordings and thousands of hours of film and video programming.

Last year, DMGI reported revenue of $10.2 million and $2.4 million in profit, while The Orchard had revenue of $14.9 million and $4.2 million in profit.

Another potential Sacramento-headquartered company not destined to grow to maturity in our region. Has anyone any ideas as to how we can get them past a certain size - the size where they get snapped up by companies headquartered elsewhere - so they can grow and mature here?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The poem below is written by Michael Smith, a man I know who has just been sentenced to 16 years in jail under a three strikes conviction. He has never commited a violent act, he has been addicted to drugs for a long time, and, although he has been jailed before, he has never once received drug treatment. Now he will spend 80% of 16 years less 3 years credit (10.4 years) in jail at the cost of $43,000 a year ($447,200) to taxpayers because we didn't insist that he take drug treatment at a cost of $4000 (or maybe $8000 as he might have had to go twice because meth is a powerful drug).

Another $6.1B approved earlier this month to build even more prisons. To house even more non-violent, drug addicted people who could well be rehabilitated to be additive to our economy and not a huge drain. (Although frankly, there is a massive industry that lives off those who are in prison, that has no desire to see it shrink!) And the $6.1B approved without any voter involvement due to some fancy footwork of lawyers.

If you are interested in reading some of the three strikes stories, you can visit FACTS

And as for Mike, he has become a poet and a writer of children's books and someone who desperately hopes that he can make the rest of his life productive. Here is his poem:

Righteous Man
by
Michael Smith

I've made the wrong choice many times.

I've made the wrong turn,

said the wrong thing,

hurt many people

And committed crimes . . .

Yet I know I'm a righteous man.

I've shed blood before

and stole before

and hurt the ones

that I adore.

I've took a peek

and turned the other cheek

And stepped on a man

when he was weak.

. . . Yet I know I'm a righteous man.

I've made the wrong decision

when I knew it was wrong

And begged for forgiveness

while I sang my sad song.

And I've had many chances,

yet still I fxxx up.

Am I just stupid or crazy

or just not grown up?

The funny thing is, I know I'm a righteous man.

When will I learn

or what will it take,

To make me think first

with the actions I make.

I know I'm capable,

I know I care,

I know I give a damn

When I walk by in cuffs

and people stare. . .

And I know I'm a righteous man.

I know I like freedom,

yet it seems that I don't.

I know I can be something,

but it seems that I won't.

And believe it or not,

I'm scared and hate pain.

And I know that I'm smart

and not just insane . . .

And I also know I'm a righteous man.

I know how to love

and be loved and share.

I know how to feel,

to trust and be fair.

And I know how it feels

to give and not take.

And deep down I'm sorry

For my every mistake.

I also know I'm a righteous man!

I've even forgiven,

so can't you forgive,

And I know this ain't livin'

So please let me live.

Don't judge me right now,

there's still so much hope.

Don't hang me right now,

Let go of that rope.

Because I swear I'm a righteous man .

Because I will touch somebody

In the right way someday,

And I will make a difference

to somebody in some way.

And when it's all over

and I've taken the last breath that I can. . .

Somebody will say . . .

Now, there's a Righteous Man!

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Arianna Huffington reports that: ..

the White House has decided to close Gitmo. Apparently, it came down to a face-off between the women in Bush's life -- Laura, Barbara, Condi, and Karen Hughes -- who argued that the detention facility is a stain on America's reputation in the world, and the pro-torture tag team of Cheney and Gonzales, who argued that moving enemy combatants to U.S. jails would give them more legal rights. Score one for the ladies. And the rule of law.

I have long been a proponent of the theory that if women ran the world, things would be very, very different. Score one for my side. And thanks to the women named above for doing the right thing and finally getting through.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dear Laura Bush:

Quite frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself. Touting the role of faith based organizations in combating disease in Africa. Speaking before a group of Zambian women and girls who are providing care to family and friends infected with HIV. They are looking to you for real advice that will make the difference between life and death. And you are not telling them the truth.

Condom usage has been shown to be the most effective and realistic prevention for AIDS. Faith based organizations do not promote their use. Their message is based on abstinence and fidelity.

In the United States, 10 states didn't even apply for funding for abstinence only programs, because they don't work. You can read the latest GAO report .
Among other things, results show that the US has high rates of pregnancy and birth among female adolscents when compared to other industrialized nations. And adolescents and young adults ranging in age from 15-24 make up half of the more than 19M new cases of STDs each year. President Bush is requesting that Congress fund another $242 million of taxpayer dollars for his discredited abstinence-only initiative.

Let's stop this handout of taxpayer dollars to religious organizations to promote their own agendas even those that have been discredited. People are dying of AIDS every day, young people are contracting STDs that will adversely affect them for the rest of their lives. Let's get real and promote the real solutions through programs that really work.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The Center for American Progress and Free Press have issued a wide-ranging study on Political Talk Radio.

Key findings:

Our analysis in the spring of 2007 of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners reveals that 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming is conservative, and 9 percent is progressive.

Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk—10 times as much conservative
talk as progressive talk.

A separate analysis of all of the news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets reveals that 76 percent of the programming in these markets is conservative and 24 percent is progressive, although programming is more balanced in markets such as New York and Chicago. This dynamic is repeated over and over again.

The report concludes that:

The gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management.

Ownership diversity is perhaps the single most important variable contributing to the structural imbalance based on the data. Quantitative analysis conducted by Free Press of all 10,506 licensed commercial radio stations reveals that stations owned by women, minorities, or local owners are statistically less likely to air conservative hosts or shows.

In contrast, stations controlled by group owners—those with stations in multiple markets or more than three stations in a single market—were statistically more likely to air conservative talk. Furthermore, markets that aired both conservative and progressive programming were statistically less concentrated than the markets that aired only one type of programming and were more likely to be the markets that had female- and minority-owned stations.

The disparities between conservative and progressive programming reflect the absence of localism in American radio markets. This shortfall results from the consolidation of ownership in radio stations and the corresponding dominance of syndicated programming operating in economies of scale that do not match the local needs of all communities.

This analysis suggests that any effort to encourage more responsive and balanced radio programming will first require steps to increase localism and diversify radio station ownership to better meet local and community needs. We suggest three ways to accomplish this:

Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.

Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.

Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest
obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.

In Sacramento, for a time, we had two progressive talk radio channels, but then the plug got pulled on one, the station was changed to ESPN news, and we were back to one to compete with the many more right wing stations. In Dallas, there is not one progressive talk radio channel. Same in all of Ohio. Long ago, I purchased XM, so I wouldn't have to be at the mercy of the whims and vagaries of the local markets. And I suspect I am not the only one to have done so.

I end with a comment from a post on this subject from The Huffington Post which seems to be one of the most civil I have seen on this overheated dialog:

Luckily, Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) and Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA) just joined Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John McCain (R-AZ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in cosponsoring the Local Community Radio Act of 2007 -- HR 2802, and S 1675. This bill would bring LPFM to almost every major American city, and to hundreds, if not thousands, of other communties.

I want to turn around in 20 years and see vital debate on the airwaves, telling local, regional, and national stories with passion. As Anthony Riddle of the Alliance for Community Media said at this year's National Conference for Media Reform (and I paraphrase) -- if we train a generation of youth to understand that the airwaves belong to them -- and we hand them a microphone so they can learn to effect change in their communities -- they will expect the next generation of communications infrastructure to be theirs, and in the service of diverse local needs, first and foremost. They will not understand why it should be any other way.

You can call your Congressmembers, and ask them to cosponsor the Local Community Radio Act, by getting started at prometheusradio.org or at Free Press' great site. Or sign your name to expandlpfm.org.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Continue reading "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The road to progress can sometimes be a little bumpy. The Towers are no more but yesterday the Sacramento City Council approved a plan for 400,000 Sacramento residents to get access to a wireless connection to the internet. Now that's going to be something an up and coming city that is seriously on the move should have. Click here for more info.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Until now, ovarian cancer has been the silent killer. This year, 22,430 new cases and 15,280 deaths are expected in the United States. And until now the cancer was pretty much symptom free (asymptomatic). If the cancer is found early enough, it can be surgically removed before it spreads and 93% of the patients are still alive after 5 years. But right now, only 19% of these cases are found that early and the 5 year survival rate is only 45%, as opposed to 89% for breast cancer.

But now cancer experts want to try a more aggressive approach and they have identified a set of symptoms that could be an early sign of ovarian cancer. They include: bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and feeling a frequent or urgent need to urinate. If a woman has any of these symptoms nearly every day for more than 2-3 weeks, and especialliy if they are different from her usual daily state, she is advised to see a gynecologosit.

So, please tell every woman you know. This could save one or more lives. And, it's definitely news worth spreading the news.

I remember the sad loss of Gilda Radner so many years ago. Let's try to save all the other Gildas and all the other wonderful women.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus has been named the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Theus played for 13 seasons in the NBA - primarily for Chicago and Kansas City, which became Sacramento in 1985.

His deal is for 3 years and is estimated to be $6M. First thing he is going to do - meet with Artest and Bibby and figure out with them how to make the team work.

Let's hope this pick is a good one and we won't be here a year from now picking another new coach.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Sacramento City Council will consider the proposal of Sacramento Metro Connect LLC to make 100 square miles of Sacramento wireless. Sacramento Metro Connect is a consortium of IBM, Cisco, Intel, Seakay and Azulstar. Basic service would be free. Higher speeds would require a fee. Businesses will also be able to take advantage of this service.

This would be one of the largest deploymets in the country and could be complete by October 2009.

Show up at 6PM on Thursday, June 21st and let the City Council know this is a GREAT thing for Sacramento. And if you are going to be late, I think it will be OK, it's item 31 on an agenda of 37 items!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's that time of year. The mailbox is full of graduation announcements and wedding invitations. Relatives and friends you haven't heard from in years are climbing out the woodwork to 'invite' you to their special days - read SEND A CHECK.

Buy a card, write a few words of wisdom, promise to stay in touch in the future and INCLUDE A CHECK.

Then wait and wait and wait and wait for a thank you card.

Actually, all of our check receivers were very well brought up and all of them sent thank you cards within a very respectable amount of time.

My favorite:

"Thank you very much for the gift. It's greatly appreciated, though I think you gave me a bit too much."

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I reprint in full an article about high school censorship in New York that outraged me. If this war on terror is the calling of our generation (according to our President) why can't high school students talk about it? One might imagine that it is something in their lives that is a great worry and would be better discussed than repressed. And it certainly makes more sense for them to talk about something as important to this country and the future that these kids will inherit than to discuss which 'star' didn't wear underwear this week, or entered which rehab, or was arrested, or other such nonsense.

War and Censorship at Wilton High

By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate. Posted June 13, 2007.

High school students in Connecticut weren't allowed to discuss the war, so they wrote a play about it. "Voices in Conflict," was quickly banned by the school, but made it to New York where it brought the audience to tears. Tools
Last Sunday night, as millions of Americans tuned in to the two Tonys -- the final episode of “The Sopranos,” to see whether Tony Soprano lived or died, and the Tony Awards, celebrating the best in American theater -- actor Stanley Tucci (who played “Nigel” in “The Devil Wears Prada") was in an off-Broadway theater, the Culture Project, watching high school students perform a play about war.

The production, “Voices in Conflict,” moved the audience to tears, ending with a standing ovation for the teenage actors, still reeling from a controversy that had propelled them onto the New York stage. Their high school principal had banned the play.

Bonnie Dickinson has been teaching theater at Wilton High School in Connecticut for 13 years. She and her students developed the idea of a play about Iraq, initially inspired by the Sept. 3, 2006, death of Wilton High graduate Nicholas Madaras from an IED (improvised explosive device) blast in Baqubah, Iraq. The play uses real testimonials from soldiers, from their letters, blogs and taped interviews, and Yvonne Latty’s book “In Conflict,” with the students acting the roles. The voices of Iraqis are also included.

In mid-March, after students spent months preparing the play, the school administration canceled it. Superintendent Gary Richards wrote: “The student performers directly acting the part of the soldiers ... turns powerful material into a dramatic format that borders on being sensational and inappropriate. We would like to work with the students to complete a script that fully addresses our concerns.” (The students have modified the script; they perform Richards’ letter, its cold, condescending bureaucratese in stark relief with the play’s passionate eyewitness testimonials.)

The story struck a chord with Tucci. He was already producing a video piece about his high school alma mater, John Jay High School in Cross River, N.Y., where high school girls were suspended for performing an excerpt of Eve Ensler’s play “The Vagina Monologues.” Their crime: uttering the word “vagina” after being warned not to.

Following the performance of “Voices in Conflict,” Tucci participated in a public conversation with the student actors, noting that “Cross River and Wilton are only 15 miles apart. There’s obviously something in the water.”

After The New York Times published an article on the Wilton High censorship scandal, Ira Levin, the author of “The Stepford Wives,” wrote the paper a letter: “Wilton, Conn., where I lived in the 1960s, was the inspiration for Stepford, the fictional town I later wrote about in ‘The Stepford Wives.’ I’m not surprised ... that Wilton High School has a Stepford principal. Not all the Wilton High students have been Stepfordized. The ones who created and rehearsed the banished play ‘Voices in Conflict’ are obviously thoughtful young people with minds of their own.”

Wilton High School principal Timothy Canty was quoted in The New York Times article saying that the play might “hurt Wilton families ‘who had lost loved ones or who had individuals serving as we speak,’ and that there was not enough classroom and rehearsal time to ensure it would provide ‘a legitimate instructional experience for our students.’ ”

I asked the student actors about their opportunities to discuss the war at school. Jimmy Presson, 16 years old, said his U.S. history class has a weekly assignment to bring in a current-event news item, with one caveat: “We are not allowed to talk about the war while discussing current events.” The students said that they can discuss the war in a Middle Eastern studies class, but, they said, it is not being taught this year. “Theater Arts II was the only class in the school where students were discussing the war,” Dickinson said. Jimmy added, “We also get to speak about it with the military recruiters who are always at school.”

Following Sunday’s production, Allan Buchman, Culture Project’s artistic director, summed up, “What we saw tonight was the reason to have a theater.”

With the evening winding down, the kids were already talking about their next performance, this one at the famed Public Theater, another prominent New York institution, which will be attended by some of the soldiers the student actors play. Jimmy said: “It means a lot that we can share their stories. We got word from India, Japan ... and even Iowa.” The audience laughed. It was getting late. As the students packed up to head home to Connecticut, they wondered if they would ever be allowed to perform the play where it all began, at Wilton High.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• Women own just 6 percent of all full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, even though they comprise 51 percent of the U.S. population.

• Racial or ethnic minorities own just 7.7 percent of all full-power commercial broadcast radio
stations, though they account for 33 percent of the U.S. population.

o Latinos own just 2.9 percent of all U.S. full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, but they comprise 15 percent of the U.S. population and are the nation’s largest ethnic
minority group. (Gillian's comment: thank goodness for local radio station owner, Bustos Media, owned by Sacramento resident, Amador Bustos, or things would be even worse in this category).

o African-Americans own only 3.4 percent of this country’s full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, but account for 13 percent of the entire U.S. population.

o People of Asian descent own less than 1 percent of full-power commercial broadcast radio stations, though they make up 4 percent of the U.S. population.

o Non-Hispanic white owners control 87.2 percent of the full-power commercial broadcast radio stations operating in the United States.

These disturbing facts from a study entitled Pushed Off the Dial: Media Consolidation Diminishes Diversity on the Radio issued recently by Free Press.

More disturbing commentary from the report:

Just three years after the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected sweeping policy changes that would have dramatically altered our nation’s media landscape, the Federal Communications Commission is once again considering eliminating longstanding limits on media ownership. These changes could have a tremendous negative impact, especially on broadcast outlets owned by women and minorities.

In its landmark Prometheus v. FCC decision, the Third Circuit chastised the FCC for ignoring the issue of female and minority ownership. But since then, the FCC has done very little to address the issue. The FCC has abdicated its responsibility to monitor and foster increased minority and female broadcast ownership. In fact, the Commission cannot even account for the current state of female and minority ownership in this country.

One more reason that Bill O'Reilly need not be afraid that what’s important to him - preserving “the white, Christian, male power structure” was ever in peril. Here's his exact quote: "But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have"

Yes, Bill, that sounds very good. But I think that things might be a little different (for the better) if we allowed a few of the women and non-white, Christian males to play an equal part in the dialog.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Get used to it...a big hole in the ground...at least for the next 18 months.

CalPers announced that it is taking over the debt-ridden proposed 53 story luxury tower and has retained LA-based developer CIM group to evaluate future use of the space. The future project will most likely contain a hotel and some condos, but will be nothing of the size or scope of the failed SACA Towers project. Timing of the evaluation is likely to be 18 months.

That's a long time for the gateway to Sacramento to have a giant hole in the ground. Remember when we were all so excited about all the frenzy of downtown development plans?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I woke up this morning and discover I am 60. I get out of bed and my legs still work - arms too. OK, I have a pain in my hip, but I had that when I was in my 50s. I get on the scale and I think I lost a pound or two. Maybe I am going to like being 60. I make coffee, but when I go to pour my first cup, I find nothing in the pot, I think I must be having a senior moment, but then realize that I hadn't seated the coffee pot correctly and all of my coffee is in the cutlery drawer.

My pets still seem to like me, especially when they think I am going to feed them or take them for a walk - just like yesterday when I was younger. My friends all send me George Bush and Dick Cheney birthday cards - do you think I was too passionate about my politics in my 50s? You ain't seen nothing yet!

Being one of those early baby boomers, I feel like I should be giving advice about turning 60, but, frankly, this is all new to me. I will let you know how it goes!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

California Voters: What They Don’t Know Could Hurt Us? BUDGET WORRIES FADING FAST…BUT WHY? LOW VOTER KNOWLEDGE MAY EASE THE WAY FOR INFRASTUCTURE BONDS, TERM LIMITS, PRISON SPENDING
Public Policy Institute of California Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, California, May 30, 2007 — California voters admit to knowing little or nothing about some of the most critical policy issues they may be facing in next year’s elections, according to a survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), with funding from The James Irvine Foundation. This lack of knowledge concerning pivotal proposals, such as billions of dollars for new infrastructure bonds and changing term limits, could provide the margin of success for these proposals.

Moreover, what voters don’t know may be lulling them into a false sense of fiscal security at a time when the state’s finances are still on shaky ground.

BRING ON THE BONDS!
Although California has substantial debt and a large, ongoing budget gap, 64 percent of likely voters support Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to issue $43.3 billion more in bonds to increase funding for education facilities, prisons, water storage, and other infrastructure projects. Besides that, when told that California has approved approximately $93 billion in bonds over the past decade, 59 percent of likely voters say that amount is about right or “too little.” Only 28 percent think it is too much.

And “satisfaction” with the state’s vigorous bond activity cuts across party lines, although Republicans (41%) are somewhat less likely than Democrats and Independents (48% each) to say it is the right amount.

What might explain this spending complacency from voters who consistently tell surveys that government wastes their tax dollars? It could be what they don’t know: 52 percent of voters admit that they know very little (43%) or nothing (9%) about how bonds are paid for in California. A mere 6 percent say they know a lot. “We don’t know how deep the lack of understanding runs,” says PPIC president and CEO Mark Baldassare. “Many voters may be thinking about bonds as free money, and not as debt that has to be repaid with interest.”

Despite this complacency, there are signs that policymakers should not see voter passage of bonds as a slam dunk. The $37 billion in state infrastructure bonds that passed in November 2006 had the support of 61 percent of voters in that election. While still relatively high, support for those bonds stands at 58 percent among likely voters and 55 percent among all California adults. A vast majority of likely voters (83%) also say they support greater accountability through a public information system that tracks how the bond funds are being spent. Further, when given actual choices about how to increase funding for infrastructure, likely voters are more likely to say they would prefer that the state use only surplus budget funds (29%) or raise user fees (23%) rather than issue bonds (21%).

Continue reading "PPIC STATEWIDE SURVEY: CALIFORNIANS AND THEIR GOVERNMENT" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:35 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's just not healthy nor equitable nor right that corporations continue to be led predominantly by white men. And one more time, after another outrageously incorrect and another anti-woman ruling by the Supreme Court, I am reminded that the makeup of the Supreme Court of the United States is a joke and a catastrophe. For all woman who worked so hard for so many years to gain equality, the future looks grim as one by one our slender gains are being taken away. The case this week involved a woman who was the only woman out of 17 managers at a certain level at her employer Goodyear Tire and Rubber. She was hired at the same level as the men but for 20 years she was given smaller raises until she discovered that she was being paid 40% less than the men. She filed a complaint and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed with her. She was awarded more than $3M by a jury but the judge reduced the award to $360K. The Court of Appeals erased the verdict stating that the law requires that she should have taken action within 180 days of the original discriminatory action. The EEOC argued that each paycheck was a discriminatory action and therefore her rights were preserved. But the Supreme Court's verdict written by the new right majority disagreed. The only woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her dissent reflected that "The majority ignored well-known realities of the workplace, including the "common characteristics of pay discrimination." After all, people don't often talk about how much they make or how big a pay raise they earned. And, further, if you are a woman you learn not to make waves if you want to keep your job. Ask me, I know, as do many other woman.

So now let's hope one of the national woman politicians, or the men who are supportive of women's issues, passes a law that doesn't allow corporations to blatantly discriminate against woman and not worry about it as long as they keep things quiet for 180 days. How does this blatant discrimination make this country a better place, a shining beacon, a grand example of democracy. If you think it does, you are fooling yourselves.

This is a complete outrage. Woman, if you want things to get better for yourselves, your daughters, your granddaughters, you must elect people into office that welcome the inclusion of women into the national debate and national governance, at equal rates. It's the only way things are going to change for the better.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:40 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday my free trial version of McAfee that came on my new computer ran out. It was time to renew. But I was sure I still had a subscription with Norton from my old computer. First mistake: don't try to save $50 by doing something that appears easy but soon it becomes clear is way outside of the comfort zone. Several attempts to verify my unused subscription on Norton resulted only in a note that I could download a new version for $40. So, I think, maybe I should go figure out which package is the best and then just get that one. Lots of research later, I read a review that said I should first delete my anti-virus software before getting something new. So, delete I did. And then after realizing that most of the review sites are bogus sites to get you to buy a product, I decided to go with Kaspersky for a free trial. I downloaded it and went back to trying to use my computer. No email sending and receiving functionality. Well, that was not going to work. Lots of changes to settings, shutting down, bringing back up - nothing. Time for a RESTORE.

OK, the restore was finished and now I figure maybe I just have to stop getting so creative and just pay the money to McAfee and be done with it. $70 later (although there is a $30 refund if you can figure out how to get it), I have downloaded and am ready for action. Nothing - I can't find my network, no connection to the Internet and my email still isn't working. Time for a RESTORE to a time before the last RESTORE. (OK, I can see all you techies out there groaning, but this is what normal users do!)

Another RESTORE, nothing. Another RESTORE to even earlier. It's late, I go to bed. And every 15 minutes I hop up and come down to figure out if the restore is finished. Nope - back to bed. Back downstairs. This is getting tiring. Finally, success, my computer is restored. But still no connectivity to the Internet. Now I am getting desperate. Does it have something to do with the home network that ATT installed as part of their Uverse installation. If so, I don't have a clue how to do anything about that. More messing around. Finally I decided to see if my wireless network sensor is turned on (I'm sure that's not the correct technical term!). Fn F2. Yeah, back in business. Now maybe I can try the antivirus I want to try - Kaspersky. So, I download it, scan my system, and away we go. Now, let's see if McAfee stands by its 90 refund guarantee. I am betting they won't!

Cost - $70 plus whatever Kaspersky is going to cost in 30 days - $40. Loss of sleep - several hours. Worry about not being able to use my computer and the thought about who on earth I can find to fix it - huge.

All this technology stuff is getting way too complex for the average user.

PS: If you try to email me and I don't respond, I probably set up my virus protection incorrectly! Try me again.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Did you know that the average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail every year?
Did you know that 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail?
Did you know there is an organization that will reduce your junk mail by 80-91%?
Did you know that this reduction will, over 5 years, conserve 1.7 trees and 700 gallons of water, and prevent 460 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere – and you’ll gain 40 hours of free time! And even help protect yourself from identify theft.
Interested, visit www.41pounds.org and sign up for their service. It costs $41 for 5 years of coverage and half of the profits go to non-profit organizations such as environmental groups, schools, and youth groups.

Think it's a good idea, it becomes even better as a fundraiser for your favorite non-profit.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:55 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The vast array of Podcasts is dizzying. Here's but one sample of the variety. Just about anything you want to know, you can hear about on a podcast. Recently, I found the podcast that can be used for those training using the Couch to 5K. Nine podcasts to be used each of the nine weeks of training with great music and instructions on when to warm up, walk, run, cool down. All produced by a 43-year old from Northern California who wanted to get back in shape and made these as an adjunct to the Couch to 5K training program. They make the training fun and easier and take away all the excuses for not putting in the necessary road work. OK, you have to get headphones that don't fall out of your ears when you run - try the ones that clip behind your ears - and carrying an iPod is tough - I hope I am getting a nano for my birthday!

And now my very talented friend, Lisa Orrell of M7, has just added a Chickonomics podcast where she interviews leading women thinkers on issues that are important to women in business. Lisa, always a trend setter and a highly experienced marketing professional, already has a very successful series on marketing, Marketing Matters. So now, when I'm not listening to the 5K training podcasts, I am going to be tuning into Lisa's podcast series.

It's not tough to figure out how to subscribe - there are several different ways - I use iTunes. Just find the podcast and drag and drop into ITunes. It couldn't be simpler and it's a whole lot cheaper than driving to Borders and save trees too!

Give it a try. And let's support Lisa Orrell, who did so much for the technology community in Sacramento, as she strides into another new career, Chickonomics. Mark my words, it's going to be big.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Six months ago I visited my primary care physician. My hip hurt. Probably it was to do with age and the fact we have lots of stairs in our new house. But I had hope that maybe someone could fix it. She told me I had bursitis in my hip and to go to the orthopedic department at the local hospital and they would give me a shot in my hip and I would be good as new. But instead after an Xray, a MRI, several visits to the nurse practioner, several physical therapy sessions and a shot in my hip, my hip hurt just the same. That was a big disappointment. But the worse disappointment was the thousands of dollars worth of bills. And all the time I was pretty sure it really didn't have much to do with my hip, that was just where the pain was. At some point, with no results, I just stopped going. And no one seemed to care.

Last week I went back to my doctor for my annual checkup. I told her my hip still hurt. Now I have a new orthopedic guy, I already had an epidural (shot into my spine) and today I visited a vastly superior physical therapy person. The diagnosis is new - my lower back discs are compressing a nerve that comes down into my hip area. Not sure how much this time, but I sure hope it helps.

So, if it was any other profession, I think you would get to call up and say, hey, your diagnosis sucked and I never got better and either fix it or I am not paying. But we don't do that with doctors. I don't know why and I think we should. Holding them accountable seems an important thing to do so that they get it right the next time with the next person.

I hope this new diagnosis is better than the last one because I feel the bills ramping up.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Trust Sacramento entrepreneurs Adam Kalsey and Scott Hildebrand to be on the cutting edge of things. They are promoting their BarCamp. What, you might ask, is a BarCamp. This is what Wikipedia says:

BarCamp is an international network of unconferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies and social protocols. The name is a playful allusion to its origins, with reference to the hacker slang term, foobar: BarCamp arose as a spin-off from Foo Camp, an annual invitation-only unconference hosted by open source publishing luminary, Tim O'Reilly.

And so Scott Hildebrand posts:

SacStarts is hosting the first ever BarCamp Sacramento June 2nd and 3rd. We’ve got some fantastic sponsors already, and some pretty amazing tech people are signed up to participate. There is still room for more sponsors and still lots of room for presentations and workshops. BarCamps are typically very tech-programming-web-startup-related, but so far it looks like we’ll be the biggest food BarCamp ever, with presentations on roasting your own coffee, baking your own chocolate, and one of the most famous food/cooking bloggers is signed up to come. I have no idea what I’m going to present yet, but it’ll probably be related to Max/MSP, PD, 3D audio or something else that I don’t remember how to do.

Sounds like a great day. You can sign up at Sacstarts

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Take 60 seconds to do this, I guarantee you will show someone else, it's too funny not to.

1. Go to www.google.com
2. Click on "maps," above the search bar...
3. Click on "get directions"
4. Type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. Type "Paris" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. Click on "get directions"
7. Scroll down to step #24 on the directions

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why is it so hard to find healthy places to eat? A few weeks ago, I took my grandchildren to the zoo in Fort Worth, Texas. Lunchtime arrived and we looked for somewhere to eat. The choices were fried food or fried food - there wasn't a healthy choice in the bunch Here is what their website says about dining:

Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dickey's Barbeque, Ranch Grill, Grandy’s and an Ice Cream Parlor with Bluebell Ice Cream. Enjoy juicy burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken fried steak dinners, hot pizza and more. Wash lunch down with an icy soft drink or top it off with hand-dipped ice cream. Other locations open seasonally feature your favorite snacks like hot pretzels, popcorn, cotton candy, Dippin’ Dots, Icees and Lemon Chills.

Not a mention of yogurt, fresh fruit, a salad.

A few days later I was flying out of Sacramento Airport by way of Terminal B. I stopped at the carry out place on the 2nd floor to grab something to eat on the plane. My choices were one of two sandwiches, both of which were 600 calories. No yogurt, no salad - I think there might have been a banana.

Come on folks. No wonder we are all getting so fat. We have to really go out of your way to find something healthy.

But then it's the proverbial chicken and egg. The Baja Fresh in our neighborhood went out of business, but the greasy, calorie-filled Taco place almost next door does a booming business. If we want healthy food choices, we have to be willing to pay a little extra and patronize often.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:09 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Troubles with our cable box - during a hometown team's NBA playoff game, no less. I call my old nemesis DIRECTTV. The same DIRECTTV that missed several appointments to install additional equipment a couple of weeks ago and I ended up cancelling the order so as not to reward their bad behavior. When you blow your fifth chance, you need to expect that customers will question whether they want to continue as customers!

But a cable box that has overheated and keeps turning itself seems like a hazard, so I make the call for service. After I get through the automated system that offers me no choices that are applicable, I talk to a customer service rep who informs me that indeed this unit is known for overheating and turning itself off and I will need a new one. That will cost me $19.95 for shipping and handling and I can replace it myself. OK, I know the trick they have played - that technically I "own" that piece of equipment and if it fails then it's on my nickle, but it still really irritates me. I tell him I will have to think it over.

The next day, I feel I have little or no other choice, so I call back and get a different rep. This time the guy tells me that the computer has told him that he must charge me $19.95, but he is giving me a $10 a month credit for the next six months and three free months of STARZ. Wow, without me even asking. Now that was a surprise, a pleasant surprise. I might stick around with them for a while longer.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Now we live in the city, I walk my dogs. That means that I am responsible for (and I wish more people would step up for their dogs) my dog's excretement. For months now, I have searching for just the right bag to use for my newly acquired responsibility. I bought bags, but that seemed crazy, and besides they are really small. I asked for plastic, not paper, at the grocery store despite signs of obvious displeasure on the face of the checkers, especially at Whole Foods, but the peer pressure was getting to me. The plastic sleeve that the newspaper comes in was working perfectly, but I only get one paper a day and I have two dogs multiplied by two walks - just not enough supply. And all the time I was thinking that this couldn't be good - using plastic. And finally I went online and did a search for environmentally friendly dog poop bags and I was shocked at the information I found. All this time I have been mummifying my dogs' leavings. I have been putting perfectly biodegradable 'stuff' into a plastic bag to ensure it will be found completely intact in 100 years. Now that's crazy and crazy enough to get me to make a change. www.poopbags.com here I come.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

California Assembly Bill AB 1655 (Lieber) proposes the closure of the Division of Juvenile Justice. The current annual cost of the program is $175M. It boasts a 74% recidivism rate. The California Inspector General recently reported that youth still languish in conditions that lead to suicide attempts and the system trains youth for a lifetime of incarceration. The Governor has proposed that almost half of the current population be transferred back to the counties. While we are about it, why don’t we declare the DJJ a disaster and try something different, preferably something local, more effective and less expensive.

We are failing our youth. Locking them up for the rest of their lives is not the right answer. It’s not the right social answer, the right humanitarian answer, nor the right fiscal answer.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“If we fail to get our fiscal house in order, we could bequeath our descendants unconscionable debt and slow the global economy to boot,” warns Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher .

We have been warned, but will we listen and react?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I am sitting on an American Airlines flight to Sacramento on the way to celebrate the accomplishments of a group of bright, dedicated students at the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy’s annual Showcase event. And as I think about these students and all those who have gone before them and how much they have changed the world for the better, it makes the loss of more than 30 students at Virginia Tech even more wasteful. I raised kids in Virginia and watched many of their friends go off to ‘Tech’. My best friend’s daughter graduated from ‘Tech’. So to me it wasn’t some random place where tragedy occurred, it was a place I felt personally connected to. And now we must make some sense out what happened and give meaning to the lives that were lost – otherwise they will be completely wasted.

I think it’s terribly unfortunate that the alleged gunman is not an American citizen as I fear some will call for more regulation of foreign students and they will add one more foreign face to those they fear and despise. And they will miss the answer that this isn’t about race or culture. It’s about violence and easy access to guns. Let’s start with a national debate about guns. And let’s not stop until not one more person dies because a gun was at hand and the shooter thought it was a panacea.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Today I took my in-laws (I'm such a trooper!) to the 6th Floor Museum, right by the grassy knoll and inside the Book Depository. It is the second time I have visited in the past year. It is a very moving place. Foremost a place to ponder the assassination of JFK, but also to remember the times that were JFK's presidency. A time full of hope and believing in the impossible and being seen as a shining beacon in the world. It was the time of space exploration and of the Peace Corps. A time of civility and a time for due reverence for the arts.

It made me think about how people, including me, flocked to this country because it truly was a place where you believed you could achieve your dreams and aspirations and you could work in concert with others to improve the world. And nothing was impossible. No one would tell you couldn't achieve whatever it was that you aspired to do. And everyone around the world looked to the United States as a great and benevolent place.

Now everytime I visit the museum I get angry that all that has been lost. Yes, sure, people still flock here. But I don't think they flock here to become a part of something great. They come because they have to put food on the table of their families in poor countries around the world, they come to get an education, but they don't come and yearn to become a citizen. And I think that's sad as what America was took place because we embraced so many different cultures as part of the whole.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When my friend read an earlier post about how Pierre had visited the doctor (and found out he had diabetes), she mailed me terribly impressed that I had managed to get Pierre to visit the doctor. She wanted to know what I had done as her husband refused to go for years even though she was sure that he needed to. I wrote back and shared my trick with her. She wrote back to tell me that it had worked and her husband had just allowed her to make a doctor's appointment for him. The trick? Oh, it's simple. You just tell him that when he is sitting in the corner drooling on himself with limbs missing and (add whatever most scares him), you are not taking care of him because if he had taken better care of himself, none of it would have happened. Be graphic. Be strong. Trust me, it will get his attention. Try it and save his life (and your mental well being).

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Anyone want to buy 2 tickets for next year's King's Season. Section 120, Row S. Great tickets behind the King's basket. Includes preferred parking too. Total: $8536. And you can also buy the playoff tickets (is everyone praying?).

We need to pay by April 2nd. So, if you are interested, please contact us right away. This is a great chance to jump to the top of the waiting list.

Send email to: Gillian@sacramentoexecutive.com. Whole season only please

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a move afoot in Sacramento to improve the educational level of the workforce to support the burgeoning technology industry. According to the American Electronics Association (AEA), Sacramento is California's fastest growing cyber-city and the state's sixth largest in high-tech industry employment. But to ensure that future growth can be supported, it is imperative that Sacramento has a strong Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) educational pipeline.

A regional collaborative effort including Aerojet, Educational Testing Services, Intel, Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance, Sacramento State, Sierra College, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and UC Davis plans to hold a Summit on April 2nd.

The goal of the Summit is to create the foundation for collaboration to attain the vision. The vision is to 'establish the Sacramento region as having the strongest kindergarten-to-workforce STEM pipeline in California within the next three to five years and within the nation in the next five to seven years.' Gaps in the regional STEM pipeline will be identified and action plans will be developed to improve, extend, and maintain the pipeline to meet the labor force needs of the region.

Sounds like a super idea. And with true bi-partisan support - both Congresswoman Matsui and Congressman Lungren will be on hand. We will update you as progress is revealed. And let's hope that all segments of Sacramento society are invited to attend and participate.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:41 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

HBO has a new series Addiction. I watched the 'centerpiece documentary' last night. It is moving, sad and most of all frustrating, So many advances are being made every day in terms of what we know about addiction (it's a disease, a very difficult disease to treat) and treatment (a mix of medications, therapy, etc.), and we are not utilizing most of the advances we have made because we are allowing the HMOs to dictate what kind of treatment, the length of the treatment. If you need more and better (and effective) treatment, you better hope you or your family have very deep pockets.

My friend's son has just completed treatment, at vast expense, in Canada. The facility he was at requires that patients stay a minimum of 3 months and then participate for some time in follow-up treatment. That is not the case in the United States where patients are turned out sometimes after only a week. There are no guarantees, of course, but his chances of staying sober are infinitely better than if he had received his treatment in the United States.

This is a tragic disease that drags down whole families. We need a war on drugs that begins with treatment - real, effective treatment for everyone. The cost would be negligible when compared against the cost that is being borne by hospital emergency rooms, prisons, victims of crime.

I have a theory that I don't think anyone I know has bought yet but if those of us with health insurance get depressed or anxious, we go to our doctor and get legal prescriptions. Those of us without insurance also get depressed or anxious and the only way of feeling better is to take illegal street drugs. Is there a difference in need? There is definitely a difference in effect and in cost and in acceptance.

I urge you to watch the series. Begin with Addiction and then move to the individual stories about real people who get caught up in addiction and can't find a way out. Real people that look and sound just like our kids. Real people with families that are torn apart watching their family member spiral out of control with no effective way to stop it from happening.

The piece of information that really resonated with me last night - there is no need for someone to hit bottom before they can be helped. Getting help early is a much better option. And it definitely might have to be more than once. Addiction is a demon that hangs on for dear life.

Check out the schedule.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More than a year ago we featured a post about Lichine's, a liquor store in South Land Park, and their propensity to sell winning lottery tickets. Whenever the jackpot grows, we get lots of hits on our site reading about Lichine's.

Well, this time Lichine's hit the big time. They sold a ticket worth $72M. The store will be paid $360,000 for selling the ticket. The winner has yet to come forward.

Hey, if the person who bought the ticket read about it on our website, there's a fee! Well, not really, but we could put a donation to good use!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"We were inspired by the Vietnam Memorial and the AIDS quilt -- which both bring tremendous loss of life to a human scale. We decided to use our medium -- film -- to create something similar. It was also important to us that politics not be a part of this project; we simply wanted to honor these young men and women and create something people with varying opinions could come together around."

Visit the website to learn more, including how to contribute your own memorial, and finding out how you too can show this movie to as many people as possible.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Is Sacramento finally getting the message that simply adding more police and locking up more at-risk youth is not solving the crisis that is occurring?

The Sacramento City Council has approved the position of a youth czar. In Dallas, there is a non-profit run by a guy who has negotiated a truce between the city gangs. His actions are somewhat unorthodox, he is a challenge for the local business community to 'work' with using orthodox means, but he is just what was needed - a strong leader who is respected and revered by the local at-risk youth. Let's hope he has a twin in Sacramento.

Kudos to City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond, who spurred the council to agree to make the creation of after-school programs a top priority. Based on several months of talking directly to youth, the priorities will be:

. Create access to safe places.

• Create jobs and internships.

• Develop youth leadership skills.

• Support local schools.

• Develop strategic initiatives.

Another Sacramento Councilwoman, Bonnie Parnell, said, "The kids said there aren't enough jobs and aren't enough activities to get involved in."

In the meantime, Sacramento's Hiram Johnson High School, populated with students from poor families, many of them new immigrants, had a college application percentage way below the norm. It wasn't that the kids weren't smart enough to go to college, they just didn't know how to go about applying, how to get financial aid, or what classes they needed to take in high school to qualify for college. Sacramento City Concilman Kevin McCarty took it upon himself to find private funding for a full-time college counselor at the school to create 'a college-going climate". As the Sacramento Bee reports in a recent op-ed piece, in just a few months, the change has been remarkably positive. The final result, to-date, a 26% increase in college applications, 23 students have already been accepted at UC schools, and the beat goes on! What is so crazy about all of this? The cost of a high school counselor versus the cost of 20 kids spending the rest of their lives in dead-end, low-paying jobs, or worse - the expense of a life in jail.

Today I receive a press release that The Magic Johnson Foundation will hold a grand opening of the Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Center on March 21st at 1:30PM Phoenix Park Resident Activity Center, 4400 Shining Star Drive, Sacramento, 95823. The center is one of only three in the state of California. Community Empowerment Centers serve as comprehensive one stop facilities to provide youth and adults access to technology and educational resources that will improve academic performance as well as prepare them for the emerging job market. Yeah!

So, good things are starting to happen, but the full, wholehearted support of the Sacramento business community could ensure success, once and for all.

Much applause goes to Rhonda Erwin who has battled tirelessly to bring the story of the crisis to those who were in a position to listen and act. Hey Rhonda, maybe you can take a day off now, but I know you won't!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We have a crisis in our midst. Less than 70% of California high school students are graduating. In Sacramento City, it’s even worse. In 2005, only 38% of Blacks graduated, 41% of Latinos and 55% of Whites – an overall graduation rate of only 53% (www.wested.org). Yet we all know that a high school diploma is the very minimum requirement for a decent job. And we have all heard the dire warnings that the United States is not going to have enough skilled workers to keep our businesses thriving. In fact, the Aspen Institute reports, “Overall skill-levels of American workers are on a collision course with the skills requirements of American employers."

When these young adults don’t graduate from high school, what are their options: low-paying dead end jobs, gangs, drugs, welfare, jail, and death? In Sacramento during 2006 there were 99 homicides and half of them have resulted in arrests. 32 of the victims were under 21 (11 were under 18) and 46 of the suspects in these killings were under 21. (www.sacbee.com). Many will spend the rest of their lives in jail where the average cost of keeping a prisoner in California is approximately $35,000 a year (www.recordnet.com). Ironically, this cost closely approximates the cost of sending a student to a top-notch college. Approximate lifetime imprisonment cost for each of these young adults -$1.75M?

It’s a personal tragedy for these young adults’ families, a gigantic burden on taxpayers and an economic disaster for our business community. What as a community can we do? I say lots.

Child psychologists have found by age 3, the average child of a middle-class professional has heard 500,000 words of encouragement and 80,000 words of discouragement. Among children in welfare families, the numbers were turned on their heads with 75,000 words of encouragement and 200,000 words of discouragement. Let’s just start by figuring out how we can reach out to one kid and provide an encouraging word. Volunteer with organizations such as Big Brothers or Big Sisters, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), or the closest Boys and Girls Club. Often you will find that your company will even give you some time off to participate in worthy volunteer programs. I have personally seen how reaching out to a young adult already caught up in the juvenile system and almost certainly headed to jail can have almost miraculous results. The cost of providing a word of encouragement can be priceless.
But maybe we should think bigger.

I read about a very interesting program in the UK that seems a wonderful way to tap the philanthropic and business strength of the Sacramento business community to tackle this crisis and stop it in its tracks. The program encourages enterprise in disadvantaged areas by providing flexible business support, training and eventually start-up funding. The program begins by ascertaining the individual participants’ education and training needs. Then the participants are provided with a part-time customized program to improve their business skills. Tools used can include group sessions, individual counseling, and workshops from successful entrepreneurs. At the end of this development phase, the participant will prepare a business plan for their area of interest. Participants may be provided with a small expense budget and the use of a loaned computer. As the businesses are founded and grow, the program provides ongoing support, usually in the form of mentoring. When the mentor and the participant decide the time is right, the program will provide a modest amount of start-up funds to cover initial costs. It reminds me of the highly successful Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy program (www.sealink.org), currently targeted at young entrepreneurs, which runs on a shoestring with the incalculable hands-on support of the Sacramento business community.

Or maybe someone a lot smarter than me has a better idea. Just let’s do something about solving this crisis in our midst, once and for all. It’s not rocket science. Spend a little time and effort and money now to save lives and the cost of lifetimes of imprisonment and provide meaningful opportunities to fuel the Sacramento business engine.

Who’s willing to step up and get this thing rolling? I volunteer for fundraising and Sacramento Executive will write the first check.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

I wrote this on January 31st and sent it to be published as part of a business related handout included in an edition of the Sacramento Bee. I heard back it was too strong a piece for that vehicle! I held on to it and watched more killings, more families suffering, more youth being locked up for life, and today I publish it, but with some more hope than I had six weeks ago. I think things are starting to happen (see my next blog), but I think the wholehearted support of the business community could make them happen a whole lot faster.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Mayo Clinic reports that cellular phones have no negative impact on hospital medical devices. Three hundred tests were performed and there was not one single problem. Hopefully hospitals will now lift their ban on cell use in hospitals.

But other devices do cause problems. Studies have shown that a portable CD player being held by a patient caused an abnormal ECG recording. When the CD player was turned off, the ECG recording returned to normal.

More serious problems are being reported with the anti-theft monitors that stores use at their exits to detect shoplifting by sounding an alarm. During two incidents, these devices have been shown to cause pacemakers and defibrillators to malfunction. Both patients had to be taken to the emergency room for treatment. Stores are being asked to move these devices to areas where shoppers do not congregate. Employees should be trained to move collapsed customers away from the anti-theft devices. This could save lives.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have always admired a woman who knows how to tie a scarf. French women are experts. I think it's genetic. When I was living in Paris, I really tried. But the results of my scarf tying would end up making me look as if I had just had neck surgery. No amount of trying in front of a mirror, no amount of working with my friend Pauline, another American in Paris without the requisite gene pool, could produce the right effect. I gave up. I did, however, keep a couple of scarves that my French friends gave to me, Looking back I wonder if they were taunting me - ensuring that every time I went in my closet, I would be reminded at the superiority of all French women.

A couple of week ago I had this overwhelming desire to wear a scarf. I reached for one of my French gifts and throw it around my upper shoulders. "Voila," I said out loud. And that must have been the magic ingredient missing for many years. The scarf looked good. The next day, I tried another scarf with a different outfit. It looked amazing. Gave me that pulled together look that all French women have. I went out and bought another scarf. Again, success.

Now you might imagine that this is not a very important accomplishment, but, there comes an age where scarves are very important to women. And I am right at that age. So, maybe American scarf tying genes develop slower than French ones and I just had to be patient to reach this moment. I also think saying the word voila could be the extra secret ingredient. Try it. Let me know how it goes for you. I am going to be busy tying scarves to ensure I don't lose the magic touch.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:20 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

About two of every five first-time homebuyers could afford a home during the fourth quarter in Sacramento County, a slight increase from the third quarter -- and a much better rate than home-shoppers statewide. The area is tied with Fresno County and the High Desert, which includes the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale.

Sacramento County's affordability rate is based on a median home price of $310,340 and median annual income of $62,900, which would create a monthly mortgage payment of $2,100 including property tax and insurance.

So, start saving, or you can move to the most affordable:
Springfield, Ohio; Davenport, Iowa: Bay City, Michigan.

So, as I said, start saving!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A recent study conducted by Cambridge Systematics, sponsored by the Metropolitan Transportation Comission, predicts that ridership on the proposed 700 mile high-speed electric train between Sacramento and San Diego (with stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles along the way) would reach 2.5M daily trips This would translate into more than 100 million in 2030. This is a much higher number than had been previously predicted. Revenues from such a ridership level would be approximately $3 billion annually. You can stay abreast with the news and see a video of your conceptualized ride.

Good news for the environment, our congested highways, and our frazzled nerves.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Now that Californians have voted to spend money improving the infrastructure, particularly roads, let's make sure we are doing it right. Here are 10 steps promoted in Ted Balakar and Sam Staley's book The Road More Traveled,
which nearly every city and state can take to reduce traffic significantly:
1. Add Lanes to Congested Roads and Highways
Many say we can’t build our way out of congestion, but we haven’t even tried. Over the last 30 years, vehicle lane miles traveled have increased by over 143 percent, but we’ve added just 5 percent in new capacity. If we removed all of the pork and light rail projects from existing transportation plans and instead built roads and added lanes where they are most needed, we could eliminate severe congestion for less than we are currently planning to spend on transportation over the next few decades.

2. Public-Private Partnerships and Toll Lanes
Cash-strapped governments lack the political resolve to cut spending in nonessential programs that would free up money for much-needed infrastructure projects. Enter the private sector. Private companies have recently committed over $25 billion to construct or upgrade toll road projects in six states and stand ready to build roads the government can’t afford to.

3. Traffic Signal Optimization
Surprisingly, many cities have yet to do this, despite huge potential benefits. Traffic signal optimization can reduce stop-and-go traffic by 40 percent, cut gas consumption by 10 percent, emissions by 22 percent, and travel times by 25 percent. A study of 26 such projects in Texas found benefits outweighed costs 38 to 1.

4. Creative Construction
Today’s technology offers countless options that weren’t available when our Interstate system was born 50 years ago. For example, Paris is building a double-decker tunnel deep beneath historic Versailles to preserve the area and reduce congestion. And the world’s highest bridge, the Millau Viaduct, a 1 1/2-mile long, 800-foot high, $536 million project was built using private funding last year.

5. Freeway Ramp Metering
By controlling the flow of traffic entering highways, California has been able to increase freeway speeds by 22 to 89 percent in some cases.

6. One-Way Streets
One-way streets are able to carry 50 percent more traffic and reduce traffic accidents by 10 to 50 percent. Yet, many transportation planners haven’t taken advantage of this often-simple option.

7. Incident Management
For each minute that traffic is blocked by an accident, five minutes of congestion are added to a commute. In most urban areas, much more can be done to rapidly and effectively manage accidents.

8. Telecommuting
Telecommuters outnumber transit commuters in 27 of the nation’s 50 largest cities. With communication technology constantly improving, companies and governments should encourage more workers to skip the commute and work from home.

9. Parking Reform
Eliminating free parking and parking subsidies has reduced driving by up to 24 percent in some cities.

10. Improve Key Intersections and Access Roads
Overcrowded streets near highways create a negative domino effect that ripples through our entire road system.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Check out YouTube which has now posted videos for each of the announced candidates who are running for President. As more videos are supplied, they will be uploaded. If you have a candidate, or candidates, you are interested in following, you can subscribe to their campaign and receive updated videos.

Hey, knowing what a candidate stands for before you vote for them. What a concept! Check it out. And let's hope it gets more people voting and voting in an informed manner.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wall Street is warning, but no one is paying attention. Our state legislators are debating silly issues such as spanking while the public pension crisis grows more looming. Moody's Investor Service warns that while pension expenses continue to rise, the worst threat is the cost of retiree health benefits which are growing at an annual average rate of 15% while inflation is only growing at 3%. As the costs continue to grow, money will have to come from general funds which are used in such areas as libraries, road maintenance and education. Worse still is that we are not properly funding our future pension liabilities - the average funding of 103% in 1999 has falled to 84% in 2004.

Experts suggest lowering benefits for new hires and increasing employee contributions. I have always wondered why we aren't targeting health care costs. They are rising precipitiously, bringing dire economic effects to individuals and governments, and providing obscene profits to health care corporations, including drug companies. ,

As citizens we need to be asking questions. Why is nothing been done? What plans are in place? This is a looming crisis but when it hits we will be as much to blame as any government official and we will be the ones who will have to pay. Call you representative and demand answers.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am a great proponent of women’s issues – always have been. My kids and I marched down Independence Avenue many, many times. Truthfully, I was marching and pushing them in strollers when all this family activism began! I was a charter subscriber to Ms. Magazine and a charter member of the National Organization for Women. I was also one of those glass ceiling women and one of the very few to break the glass without getting too badly injured. So I am very, very glad to finally see a female Presidential candidate. Although, I wish there were more than one!

But now the internal struggle begins. Do I have to vote for the female candidate because she is female? Or is it more complex than that? I have finally decided that it is. The deciding factor – I wouldn’t vote for someone outside of my political spectrum just because she was a woman. If you are a Republican, could you imagine voting for Barbara Boxer? For Democrats, the equivalent is Liddy Dole or Condoleezza Rice – no way.

No, I am going to apply my Warren Buffett litmus test: ‘You can’t do a good deal with a bad person’ I am going to back someone that I think is honest, ethical, telling me what they really think and not what the latest poll told them to tell me. Right now that is removing John McCain and Hillary Clinton from my select list. (I am sad to remove both because one is an American hero and one definitely has the smarts and is a woman). And, I am going to pick someone that agrees substantially with my beliefs, although there are a couple of items that are non-negotiable. And I am hoping that I am going to pick someone that is going to win, but I can’t compromise on the Buffett criteria just to elect a ‘winner’. And I continue to hope that the person who rises to the top of my list will be a woman.

So, now let’s stop picking on the African-American community because they all aren’t automatically backing Barack Obama just because he’s black.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Did You Know? Watch This. It's Eye-opening.

Here's the background from the guy who put it together last August, Karl Fisch, a teacher at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, CO. His version was updated and school specific information was removed by Scott McLeod with Karl's permission and that is the version (as of February 20, 2007) posted here.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Did You Know? -------------------------------------------------

My administration asked me if I wanted to speak at one of our beginning of the year faculty meetings. I often provide updates on what's new and different with technology in our building and what teachers need to know to get the year started. But this year I'm really focused on staff development and the "vision" of where we should be headed, so I wanted to do something different. I don't know for sure how it is in your schools, but I imagine they are like mine - a faculty meeting is a horrible place to have the conversations we need to have. In addition, since 49 of my teachers are involved in the staff development described elsewhere on this blog, I felt it would be a waste of time - and possibly counterproductive - to try to discuss anything of substance in the faculty meeting.

So, instead, I decided to take David Warlick up on his idea of telling the new story. I put together a PowerPoint presentation with some (hopefully) thought-provoking ideas. I was hoping by telling some of these "stories" to our faculty, I could get them thinking about - and discussing with each other - the world our students are entering. To get them to really think about what our students are going to need to be successful in the 21st century, and then how that might impact what they do in their classrooms. It would also help the faculty that are not currently participating in my staff development join the conversation.

So I basically said most of the above to the faculty, and then told them that even though I would usually argue that just showing something and not discussing it afterward was a bad idea, that this time - since a meaningful conversation at the end of a long faculty meeting was unlikely - that's what I was going to do. But that I wanted them to hopefully think about this for their own classrooms, and then hold the conversation with each other over the next few days (and hopefully weeks and months and . . .).

I remixed content from David Warlick, Thomas Friedman, Ian Jukes, Ray Kurzweil and others, added some music, and came up with the .... presentation.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As many of you know, I am passionately political but I try hard to keep most of it out of these blogs. But once in a while my discipline crumbles in the face of something powerful I read. Today I picked up the Business section of the New York Times and read the title of Ben Stein's article: "Of Tax Cuts and Those $10M Bat Mitzvahs." I crumbled.

Here is a quote:

Is this what America is all about? We're in a war and we cut taxes to stimulate the economy - and it probably did - and we are having million-dollar parties at home while our soliders are paid starvation wages to offer up their lives in Iraq? We're in a war and the government cannot afford to pay for adequate training (and here I add 'and medical care') for our soliders but the society at home is routinely having million-dollar weddings and bar mitzvahs?

Can anyone say, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"?

We are creating a debt that is about $3 trillion greater than it was when Bill Clinton left office, and one sequel is $10 million birthday parties? Is this what supply-side is all about? To obligate future generations so our generation can have $10 million parties for teenagers?

As I write this, playing on TV in the background is some financial show. They are asking a question, "If you want to be in the top 1% of net worth households, what do you need your net worth to be? My financially savvy husband is responding, "One million dollars." The answer is six million. No, a million is what it used to be before we changed the rules for the rich to make them even richer. We promised that all that extra tax cut money would be re-invested. Do multi-million shindigs count as reinvestment?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people making money. I love the fact that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are insanely wealthy because they use their money for philanthropic purposes. They don't need to advertise their wealth by holding parties that require spending obscene amounts of money.

I just put a new quote on my email from the favorite person I like to quote on my emails, Marian Wright Edelman. Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time. And, for sure, this quote from Ms. Edelman is even more appropriate for this subject - Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.

Don't let America burn as we all get addled by the inane gossip of the day. Frankly I am sure that we could make the stories of our troops dying in the streets of Iraq and the families they have left behind just as riveting as Anna Nicole Smith, drug addict, sad F-grade celebrity. Let's get our priorites straght. I am going to focus on this one, another quote from Ms. Edelman: We are willing to spend the least amount of money to keep a kid at home, more to put him in a foster home and the most to institutionalize him.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was at a dinner party on Saturday night and mentioned I was moving to Microsoft Vista. There was a stunned silence and then 30 minutes of conversation about how unstable new operating systems are and other dire warnings. Too late, of course, because I had to buy a new computer and what was the point of buying a 'last operating system' model.

And, so far, things have been going well. But there were more treats in store.

I was at the airport yesterday morning and wanted to use my computer to add a post to this site. Ever the optimist, I turned on my computer and looked for a wireless network. But I only found T-Mobile. And I wasn't ready to sign up and pay for that for a short time use. And then, just as I was clicking off the T-Mobile page, I noticed a Vista logo. And then I looked further and saw the word 'complimentary'. Seems that if I am a Vista user (through new acquisition or upgrade) I get complimentary T-Mobile Hot Spot service through April 30th.

So, sometimes it pays to be an early adopter.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kudos to teacher Melanie Hartsell. Her middle school math class read a story in the Dallas Morning News about an injustice and set about righting it, even though it happened 70 years ago.

In Dallas in 1937, Olympic gold medalist, John Woodruff, broke the 800 meter gold record. And then had the honor removed when it was determined that the track was too short.

The students, motivated to right the wrong after reading a story by Dallas Morning News columnist James Ragland used all of their mathematical prowess to prove that Mr. Woodruff beat the world record by 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 seconds. Several other mathematicians have endorsed their results.

Mr. Woodruff who is now 91 was touched by the students efforts. Many people have been trying to get Southern Methodist University to uncover the error and confer the honor upon Mr. Woodruff, including Bill Cosby who has an honorary degree from the uuniversity. While the race did not take place on SMU's grounds, they did host many of the atheletes and it was their engineer who had measured the track prior to the event.

Some believe that Mr. Woodruff lost his title under questionable circumstances during a time of deep discrimination when the idea of a black man breaking the record in Dallas would have been untenable. At the time, black atheletes were not allowed to stay at the SMU dorms with the other athletes but were sent to a segregated YMCA.

SMU has been unable to determine the exact circumstances but has decided to honor Mr. Woodruff's achievements including his winning the 800 meters in the 1936 Olympics, a feat overshadowed by Jesse Owens' multiple gold medal wins at the same Olympics. Mr. Woodruff also earned a master's degree and served in the military during WWII and Korea. SMU has set up an athelete scholarship in Mr. Woodruff's name.

But back to those 120 students who used a formula they conceived, Distance = Rate x Time, which they called DiRT, to prove it. Talk about using math to prove something real and to undo a very big wrong, better late than never.

Congrats kids and bigger congrats to your teacher who answered the questions you assuredly have asked many times, "Why do I need to learn this?" "What will I ever use it for?"

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

PS: And yes, this is the same SMU that will almost certainly be the future home of the President George W. Bush Presidential Library

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was on Dhttp://www.digg.comigg.com and saw a headline "Can You Survive 24 Hours Without A Computer? It sent cold chills down my spine. I arrived at the site that is polling to find the answer to this question. 3,589 blase people - oh, sure, i would walk, write, etc. etc. And 497 type A people like me - no way and I don't even want to think about it!

If you want to join in, the date is March 24 2007. They are even asking for links to videos of the no-computer day - a Mike Posehn second in the making?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I go through PC notebooks like high fashion models go through clothes - one a season it seems. For the last two weeks my latest notebook lost its display ability, which required me to unhook Pierre's screen from his PC and plug it into mine. It worked pretty well too, but Pierre was getting a little antsy! Then my notebook decided to not bring up its operating system. Many tries of turning it off and bringing it back up with no fix, resulted in my turning it over and shaking it vigorously. This not only fixed the problem, but temporarily fixed the display problem too. Nothing like a good shake to get things back in order again! It finally, however, became clear that it was time for another new PC.

At previous times like this, we have always had our techno-knowledgeable friend Paul to assist us at every turn. But now we aren't local and he can't come to dinner every Sunday as payback for his invaluable input so we were stuck with going it alone. OK, well I did run by him the details of the PC I was going to buy for final approval!

First we began by replacing our all in one printer. We bought an HP because we have always had luck with them. We were immediately impressed with how easy everything set up including making the PC part of our network and accessing it wirelessly. It went almost flawlessly.

Next we decided that we needed to upgrade our backup function. So we purchased a Western Digital MyBook device. And, other than a few dark moments, I managed to back up my old PC - seemed like a good thing to do - and then move all of my documents over to my new PC, including figuring out how to move all of my Outlook files (especially like important files containing Contacts and Calendar items). OK, for you techies, this sounds like small potatoes, but to us, it was huge.

And now I am figuring out Vista. It took us several minutes to figure out how to print from Outlook - clicking on the Windows logo is not immediately apparent. But so far, I have been very happy with all of the new functionality. It really feels like the security is much tighter especially in terms of Spam in Outlook.

I am really pretty excited about discovering lots of new bells and whistles in the Office 2007 edition. But I haven't as yet moved over my ITunes music as there appears to be some major glitches there and Apple is still working on a fix.

Emboldened by our weekend foray into technoland, we called Directv and ordered an HDnet DVR and we bought another small flat panel TV which Pierre hooked up himself although it required a joint effort to program the remote!

Watch out world, we might even decide to get rid of our 10+ year old VCR player soon!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:29 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today the New York Times featured an article on blogs focused on consumers becoming debt free.

This is a must read article for those who struggle with their personal debt load. Several blogs are identified where people share their journey on becoming debt free. Here are a few blogs that are worth checking out: blogging away debt , save leigh ann and k gazette It's sort of like AA for spenders. Oh, and by the way, Leigh Ann provides 'professional' advice to companies and individuals on the subject of getting debt free.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:43 PM |