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)

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)

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?

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?

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?

..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?

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)

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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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)

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)

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?

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?

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?

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)

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)

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?

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?

"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?

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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

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?

'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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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)

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?

...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)

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?

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?

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?

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)

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)

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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

• 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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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)

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?

“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)

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)

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

"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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

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)

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)

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?

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?

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?

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)

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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 | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

On January 29, we started the diet. Lose twenty pounds in twenty days. The diet was simple in design - only eat package-free natural foods.

Gillian and I both signed up for the diet. We argued a lot about what we could and couldn't eat. Eggs? Not if they come in a carton I argued. But in bulk, OK. Nuts? Yes, but not if they come in a wrapped bag. Milk? No. Unless you have a cow and a pail handy. Cheese? Not if it comes in a package. Wine - off the list because of the cork and bottle.

We settled in on a great routine. Eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, poultry, fish, and lentils. We had a lot of fun, trying new recipes. Abstaining from wine was difficult. We usually enjoy red wine with dinner. From the start, we shed the pounds with ease. We each lost 7 pounds the first three days.

At this clip we were on pace to lose 40 pounds in 20 days. What a concept. The diet was working we exclaimed! But it was hard. We missed the wine. We constantly fought hunger.

And then I noticed someting not quite right. The symptons. Light-headed. Dizziness. Tingling sensations in my extremities. I said nothing to Gillian, trying to hide it. And then the pain on the left side, under the rib cage. Kidney disease, I thought.

On day nine, 11 pounds lighter, I shared with Gillian that something wasn't right. For years I suspected a problem, but did not want to confront it. I thought I could handle it my way. I hate doctors. I hate lifetime medicines. I've been in denial.

The diet worked. I did lose weight. However more importantly, it forced me to confront reality. Gillian, call the doctor and make an appointment for me.

I think I have diabetes. The American epidemic.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I heard again yesterday that the Sacramento area is positioning itself to be a leader in clean technology. I have been hearing about this idea for a long time. I heard that organizations are holding informational meetings and are very enthusiastic and I thought to myself that we better speed things up because I bet a lot of other jurisdictions are pretty interested in being seen as a leader in clean technology. And then today I ran across this article in the Vacaville Reporter that shows pretty clearly that there are many other places that are interested in attracting clean tech companies...and not just interested, they have solid plans laid out to do so, and with the full support of their state government. Stop talking Sacramento and start doing. (With apologies to the few that have done, especially those connected with CleanStart).

For months, Vacaville's been vying for an electric vehicle asembly plant that's valued at $100 million and would create approximately 300 high-tech jobs. But the chief executive for the Silcon Valley start-up scouting locations told The Reporter that the numbers simply don't add up to build a plant in California.

"There are some states that are very, very interested in having green manufacturing, and California doesn't seem to be one of them," Martin Eberhard, Tesla Motors' CEO, said in a phone interview.

"Take, for example, New Mexico," he said. "New Mexico has made it a very clear priority that they want to attract new companies and especially green manufacturing - they've put a number of programs in place to do so."

With regard to Arizona, he said, "I have had two phone calls personally from the governor and they've proposed all kinds of programs to make it easier for us to locate there."

And, Eberhard added, the governor of Michigan "cornered" him to make it clear any obstacles to building its plant there would be cleared from Tesla's path.

In California, on the other hand, Eberhard said, "I get shunted to a fellow in the California governor's office," who, he quipped, may as well change his name to "Dr. No." He was basically told the state doesn't believe in business incentives, he said.

Offers made by North Carolina and Arizona would cut the plant's initial start-up costs by more than $15 million, while the golden state has offered $20 million in annual

tax credits on machinery and tax credits of up to $30,000 per employee if the company locates in an Enterprise Zone, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
But Enterprise Zones are designed to encourage development in blighted areas, and Vacaville does not qualify for them. Nor can it financially match the deals from other states on its own.

"Vacaville as a city made a very strong presentation to us and was very enthusiastic," noted Eberhard. "But Vacaville can't solve the sort of financial differences (at stake)."

"It's extraordinarily difficult to compete," admitted Mike Palombo, Vacaville's economic development manager. "When we started this process, we thought we had a good chance given our history with electric vehicles, the fact that we're a pro-business community ... and we thought we could put together a reasonable business incentives package."

Without additional help from the state, however, the city is limited to return-to-source type packages like the one it offered Genentech, in which the city agreed to return a portion of the company's property taxes for a given number of years.

City employees' long-established use of electric vehicles, Vacaville's creation of an electric vehicle incentive program for residents, and its location may count for something, Palombo said.

"We believe Northern California is a hotbed of electric vehicle use, and we're right in the middle of the market," he said.

San Ramon-based Tesla developed the Tesla Roadster, a slick-looking, $92,000 fully electric roadster that goes from zero to 60 miles per hour in four seconds, and runs for nearly 250 miles per charge. That vehicle is currently assembled in the U.K. and will hit roads next year; the U.S. plant for which Tesla is scouting locations would assemble a lower-priced sedan, dubbed WhiteStar. WhiteStar is currently in development and expected to reach the market in 2009.

Reporter Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Bee

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:17 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2)

My friend and I were all set to leave on a 5 day trip to Mexico City. As we were about to walk out the door, I wondered if my cell phone would work there and, if it did, how enormous the roaming and other charges would be. So, I called Verizon, but I was not expecting a usable, customer-focused, response..

First shock. I got through right away. I got through right away to someone who could understand me. I got through right away to someone who understood what my problem was. And biggest shock, I got through to someone who cared about my problem and knew right away how to fix it.

She agreed my phone would work, but there would be giant roaming charges, etc. But she could change my plan to a different plan that didn't have roaming charges and change it back to the current plan once I got back. The price would be $10 more for the pro-rated new plan and she would personally go in and change it back. She even made sure I knew what access code to dial. I was shocked. Customer service from Verizon. Friendly, helpful, timely customer service from Verizon.

Today, I got a text message. She turned my service back to the original plan. She remembered. I felt pretty special.

Keep it up Verizon. And whoever you are, wonderous Verizon Customer Service rep, thanks.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I am proud to be an American. America is the leader in many areas. However, sometimes being number one is not good. Presidential candidate Mike Gravel pointed this out in his speech this week at the National Democratic meeting in Washington, DC.

Here are ten areas where I am not proud of our American achievements as being #1:

1. Prison incarcerations
2. Calorie consumption per person
3. Creator and user of nuclear weapons
4. Government debt
5. Consumer debt per person
6. Energy consumption
7. Creator of pollution
8. Obesity per person
9. CO2 emissions
10. Military spending

I believe we can work together to lower our ranking in each of these. However, hopefully, another country will not unseat us as the leader of using nuclear weapons (this would mean we failed in our diplomatic duties).

Our fellow world citizens and future generations deserve our attention in mitigating these issues. On the positive side, addressing these issues will result in promoting innovative business ideas, creating jobs, and building new companies.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

DON'T BAN INCANDESCENTS
by Ed Ring, Editor, www.EcoWorld.com

How far will the government go in controlling our lives? In California's state house, left-wing and right-wing political hacks are joining forces to enact sweeping green legislation that is often of questionable value - raising the ante. Now some have called for a statewide ban on incandescent lightbulbs. This latest prospect of flawed and over-reaching law takes the cake in many ways, even surpassing California's pending prohibition on parents spanking their own young children.

First of all, incandescent lights don't pollute, dirty energy production is what pollutes. Why don't California's legislators fund another million solar rooftops instead? Why don't they create incentives for investors to build in-state photovoltaic panel and industrial battery manufacturing plants? Why don't the legislators mandate energy efficient elevators in commercial buildings? For that matter, why don't they come up with new and comprehensive green
standards to retrofit all commercial buildings, starting with those over 100,000 square feet? There are many ways to increase the supply and reduce the demand for electricity, without having to invade the insides of our homes!

A green hack is anyone who wants to push along today's ultra fashionable "green, green, how much I want you green" bandwagon without bothering to assess who might be getting run over, or where better the bandwagon might go. That California's green hack politicians believe they are helping is only somewhat reassuring. These are the same people who helped kill the electric car so they could waste billions of dollars and waste decades of precious time on
hydrogen fuel cell cars.

And where will big government go next? Beginning in the late 1970's, California had a drought that lasted over ten years. There will be another drought, and when there is, we will either manufacture more water, or the government will come into our homes - turning our showers into mist dispensers, rationing our wash cycles, and mandating cactus instead of lawns. When all we had to do was build a couple of desalinization plants (two kilowatt-hours is all it takes to
desalinate a cubic meter of water), or increase our groundwater storage, or make everyone pay market rate - residential water consumers don't use that much water, and pay far, far more than farmers do for their supply. A slight increase in water pricing, with means-tested credits for low income residents, would manage any drought, and fund investments in new water utilities. That is also the proper way to manage electricity consumption, not through rationing, or punitive pricing for heavy residential users of water orelectricity. If you think about the precedents represented by a ban on incandescent light bulbs, you will not support it. It is the wrong approach.

Another way to describe a green hack is anyone who might support drastic and long-term measures based on fluid tactical data. There are many ways to build a light bulb, with sea-changes imminent. Technically speaking, a light emitting diode could be considered incandescent, are we going to ban them, too? These "LED" bulbs are coming onto the market and have very low intrinsic costs to manufacture. Florescent bulbs, in spite of years of research, still require subsidies to be affordable. If you ban cost-effective incandescents now, you impart an advantage to the well-established florescent manufacturers to the detriment of the emerging and more efficient LED manufacturers. When it comes to light bulbs, innovation
is better than regulation.

Instead of banning incandescent lighting, why doesn't California's legislature ban any form of lights on the outside of residences that exceed a reasonable amount of lumens? There are homeowners who think it's ok to install a complete 360 degree array of 500+ watt outdoor lights. Too many homeowners have extreme outdoor lights; this is ridiculous, obnoxious light pollution, and collectively a prodigious waste of energy. If our legislators want to intrude again into our lives with regulations, let them be good ones. Ban over-illumination of outdoor nneighborhoods at night.

What about the fact that florescent light looks bad? To threaten to come into our homes, and force us all to remove warm, variable, many-hued incandescent light bulbs, replacing them with blazing, micro-flickering, ultra cool, glaring and invariable florescents - this is an insulting, unconstitutional affront carrying possibly no benefit to society, and calls into question the competence of any legislator who might support it. Not only is the operation of an incandescent light bulb absolutely 100% pollution-free, but increasing numbers of homes are energy positive; they ought to be able to make any use of their energy they wish - including operating inefficient, but aesthetically acceptable incandescent lights.

So wake up, California legislature, and leave incandescent lights alone. Don't discourage us from investing in energy positive homes, nor force us to turn our warm kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms into florescently illuminated industrial warehouse space.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:43 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (4)

I was walking my dogs on Tuesday AM. I took the street that leads one short block to Turtle Creek. The uppity Turtle Creek, surrounded by upscale high rise condos and exclusive neighborhoods. As I rounded the corner, I saw numerous police cars and, upon closer inspection, a blue drape on the ground. I called to them, "It's not a homeless guy, is it?" But they didn't hear me. And so I came home and sent a note to my neighbor, the local TV news anchor, and he confirmed my worst suspicions. It was a homeless guy, found dead, presumably from exposure, in the park. I don't know if it was the homeless guy that I would exchange pleasantries with when I walked my dogs, but I fear it was. He was an older, gentle, soft-spoken man who sat on the same bench every day, reading a book.

And since then, I can't stop thinking about how it was a block from my house. And how if it was from exposure that somehow I could have done something about it. A blanket, a warm coat, a tent, a night at my house, something. I had made the same offer to an old woman who I run into periodically as she searches through neighborhood garbage cans, but I didn't think about this guy because he didn't seem ever in the slightest bit desperate.

And I kept searching the paper for the smallest sign of respect for this man's death. And nothing. And finally after a long internet search, I found this on Cox.net for West Texas:

(Dallas, TX) -- Investigators think a homeless man died of exposure. His body was found Tuesday morning, at William Dean Park. He apparently passed away sometime Monday night.

And I keep thinking, he deserved more and I should have done more.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I am not a doctor, scientist, nurse, or nutritionist. And I am not blind. I can plainly see that Americans are fat, and getting fatter. Fat kills. Fat hits my pocketbook whether or not I am fat - taxpayers and insurance programs pay for fat people's health care issues.

Everywhere I go, the advertising media is promoting another type of diet - Scarsdale, Atkins, South Beach, Zone, Rosedale, low-carb. We are bombarded with all kinds of ways to lose weight. But, apparently these promotions are not working. Americans eat more calories and have a higher obesity rate than any other country.

Let's get back to basics. Here's a fool-proof way to eat healthy and not get fat. Simply eat food that is natural and not wrapped in any packaging. If you follow this rule, you will not be fat. Try fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fresh fish. Throw in a bit of meat now and then.

And stop eating big portions. When done eating, exercise. Now get started!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Nearly 57 years after the United States' Supreme Court struck down the segregation of students in public schools on the basis of race in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the California public school system continues to struggle with ethnic equality. Why?

The facts (according to the New York Times) - the ethnic breakdown of the general California population is Whites 44%; Hispanics 35%, Asians 12% and African Americans 7% (2% other or unknown). Freshman enrollment for the fall of 2006 at the University of California at Berkeley is Whites 29%, Hispanics 11%, Asians 46%, and African Americans 4% (10% other or unknown).

What can we conclude from these numbers? It's simple - equality. The various ethnic groups are not treated the same in our public school systems. I have a problem with Hispanics being under represented by more than a factor of three and African Americans by almost a factor of two. It's even worse at U.C.L.A and U.C. Irvine - just 2% of the student body at each school is African American.

Here's my problem - if our Hispanic and African American students are under represented in the universities, then it is logical to predict they will be under represented in the business and professional world. This portends only one thing - Hispanics and African Americans will continue to struggle to gain economic success in the United States. And that's not what the Surpreme Court intended in the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

I honestly believe that our country has not tried hard enough to bring about equality for all - whether it's race, gender or ethnicity. We owe it to our fellow citizens to break down all inequality barriers. And I think it starts with education.

Let's get moving Californians! Take action at the grass roots level and get involved with the local schools to make sure all children get a decent education. Gillian and I will discuss how we can make a difference in future posts. We'd like to hear your ideas!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

This is becoming a recurring theme for me.

Penny wise and pound foolish. That seems like a good description of the problem we have right now in terms of our prison system. Governor Schwarzenegger is asking for $10.9B to expand the prison system in California. The state's 33 prisons are bulging at the seams, filled to almost twice their capacity and the system is under orders from a federal judge to do something about the overcrowding or the court system will. Additionally, the healthcare services are so abyssmal that after multiple warnings to the state, with no improvement, a federal receiver is now running the show.

The Governor says that Californians have "lived in denial" about the crisis in the state's prisons and that due to this apathy, the State legislature lacks the will to address the ever-mounting problems.

I say that if we don't invest in an ounce of prevention early on to divert the future residents of the bulging Califorina prison system, then we get stuck with a bill for $10.9B. And then there's no money for the ounce of prevention.

Let's break the cycle once and for all and invest some real money in some real programs that reach out to the real intended audience.

Schwarzenegger said the prison problem is not "sexy," because it does not affect people's lives directly, as schools or transportation issues do. I say it affects everyone's lives because by not diverting future inmates and providing them opportunities to become useful members of society, we end up with a prison mess on our hands which takes dollars away from schools or transportation or environmental or other issues we care about.

We can't just keep locking them up....

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:07 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

From The Tao of Warren Buffett, co-authored by Mary Buffett and David Clark:

The great personal fortunes in this country weren't built on a portfolio of fifty companies. They were built by someone who identified one wonderful business.

This reminds me of another famous quote from Ben Franklin:

Put all of your eggs in one basket and mind that basket very well.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The Sacramento Speakers' Series will host General Richard Myers (joint Chief for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan) tomorrow night. This should be a VERY interesting evening based on the timing of President Bush's planned troop surge and the overwhelming opposition to it.

Tickets are still on sale.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Dear Dad,

The last time we got together, we debated whether or not America has the best health care in the world. Well, here's more fuel to my argument for the fattening up and dumbing down of America.

An excerpt from today's Parade Magazine "Is America Still No. 1?", by David Wallenchinksy:

In the realm of health, the United States has a contradictory record. We are first (with at least 20 other countries) in terms of our citizens having access to clean water and sanitation facilities. We spend more money per person on health care a year ($5,700) than any country, and a greater percentage of our gross domestic product (more than 15%) goes to health care. But are we getting our money's worth? Forty-three countries have more doctors per capita, including France, Switzerland, Mongolia and Lebanon. Forty-nine have more hospital beds per capita than the U.S. - the United Kingdom, Italy, and Ireland, for example. Thirty-three nations, including Cuba, have a lower infant death rate than the U.S., and 28 have a lower maternal death rate. We rank 30th in life expectancy for women and 28th for mean. In each of these health-related categories, the U.S. position has steadily declined over the last 20 years.

The U.S. used to be first in life expectancy for women who already have reached the age of 65. Now we are 20th. Part of the problem is that we consume more calories per capita than the citizens of any other nation, and we lead the world in the prevalence of obesity.

So Dad, what you say? Do we really have the best health care system in the world? Am I just blowing smoke, when I say Americans are getting dumber and fatter? We lead the world in obesity. Obesity causes diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.

Whew! This writing has taxed me. My sugar is low. It's time for another Big Mac!

Love,

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Pierre and I spend a lot of time discussing how to make the most meaningful contribution to change the horrifying statistic that only 50% of 9th grade Hispanics will graduate from High School and 55% of African Americans. At the college level it gets even worse. In California, Hispanics are 35% of the general population, and African Americans are 7%. But at UC Davis, for example, only 13% of the student body is Hispanic and a mere 3% is African American.

If you feel bad, as we do, that these kids are 'lost' to the societies of which they should be full participants, you are accused of being a liberal. If you prefer, simply looking at the huge cost that this country will have to pay in the future to 'deal' with these kids who cannot become part of the economy of this country, you are probably a conservative. How do we, as liberals and conservatives, at least agree that we have a huge problem and come up with a solution? Sending these "underachievers/undereducated/underserved" to jail costs money. Having them on welfare, paying for their healthcare, costs money. We can debate the causes, the blame, all day long. But wouldn't it be better if we focused all that energy on finding a solution?

Today, I read that a recent article in The New York Times reported 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.

Maybe we could work on providing some encouragement to kids who hear 1/7 as much encouragement? Maybe we could put some encouragement in the lives of the parents of these kids so they can find the words within themselves for their children. That would be a start in my book.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Today, Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the U.S. House — second in line to the U.S. presidency — and the most powerful woman in U.S. political history! And she isn't alone - 50 Democratic women in the U.S. House, 11 in the U.S. Senate, and 46 in important statewide positions across the country, including governor.

Has the time come for women to move into a more equal role in political leadership, not to mention industry and philanthropy? For those of us who have worked so hard to make this happen - marching countless times in Washington, DC and through financial and political support of women and women-friendly candidates - we certainly hope so. So many of us believe that women would bring a more measured form of leadership at a much needed time.

Congratulations Nancy...and don't let the big boys take you down. Take heed from the women of HP.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:11 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

A suggestion of a great post from my business partner, Geof Lambert. He has posted information on his Digaria site.

Do you have any clue what Couch Surfing is?

CouchSurfing's home page description:

What is CouchSurfing?
You're probably here at CouchSurfing to find a free place to stay or people to hang out with while you are traveling. After your first experience of either surfing or hosting, you'll find out that what you get out of it is so much more. We help to create a better world by opening our homes, our hearts and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing changes not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!

CouchSurfing.com helps you make connections worldwide. You can use the network to meet people and then go and surf other members' couches! When you surf a couch, you are a guest at someone's house. They will provide you with some sort of accommodation, a penthouse apartment or maybe a back yard to pitch your tent in. Stays can be as short as a cup of coffee, a night or two, or even a few months or more. When you offer your couch, you have complete control of who visits. The possibilities are endless and completely up to you.

The friendships made through CouchSurfing enhance members' lives and contribute greatly to making the world a better, safer, more peaceful place. Signing up for a free couch and ending up with amazing adventures and a global family--that's what CouchSurfing is all about!

Give it a try - sounds like a new twist on student hostels, but with a chance to meet lots of cool people.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The United States has now become the world leader in its rate of incarceration, locking up its citizens at 5-8 times the rate of other industrialized nations. So begins Marc Mauer's excellent post on TomPaine.com entitled "America has become incarceration nation". Some of the alarming statistics he reports:

There are now a record 2.2 million Americans incarcerated in the nation’s prisons and jails according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Since 1972 there has been a 500 percent increase in the number of people in prison.

Sixty percent of the prison population is African American and Latino, and if current trends continue, one of every three black males and one of every six Latino males born today can expect to go to prison at some point in his lifetime. The overall rates for women are lower, but the racial and ethnic disparities are similar and the growth rate of women’s incarceration is nearly double that of men over the past two decades.

The US corrections budget now totals $60 billion annually.

Drug policies have been responsible for a disproportionate share of the rise in the inmate population, with the 40,000 drug offenders in prison or jail in 1980 increasing to a half million today. A substantial body of research has documented that these laws have had virtually no effect on the drug trade, as measured by price or availability of drugs. Most of the drug offenders in prison are not the “kingpins” of the drug trade. Indeed, the low-level sellers who are incarcerated are rapidly replaced on the streets by others seeking economic gain.

And there's little evidence that our race to incarcerate has any substantial impact on crime rates:

While crime rates have been declining nationally for a decade, research to date demonstrates that expanded incarceration has, at best, been responsible for only a quarter of this decline. Other factors that played a key role include a strong economy in the 1990s that provided employment opportunities for low-skill workers, a marked decline in crack cocaine use and its associated violence by the early 1990s, and strategic community policing. New York City, which experienced a two-thirds reduction in homicides from 1990 to 2002, did so despite a one-third decline in its jail population during that period. And conversely, while Idaho led the nation with an astonishing 174 percent rise in its prison population, it nevertheless experienced a 14 percent rise in crime.

According to the author, areas that should be high on the reform agenda:

Crack cocaine sentencing reform—During the last 20 years, the federal sentencing laws for crack cocaine offenses have subjected thousands of low-level defendants to mandatory five- and 10-year prison terms, while exacerbating the racial dynamics of incarceration. More than 80 percent of the persons charged with these offenses are African Americans, who receive much stiffer terms than those meted out to powder cocaine defendants.

Mandatory sentencing reform—Congressional mandates to impose harsh sentences with no judicial input have created unfair and overly harsh penalties, and have been decried by the American Bar Association and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, (Sacramento's own!) among many others.

Racial impact statements—Just as fiscal impact statements aid lawmakers in assessing the financial implications of sentencing policies, the preparation of racial impact assessments could provide similar benefits to policymakers. Had such assessments existed in 1986, we could have had a debate on the racial dynamics of the crack cocaine laws prior to their enactment, not 20 years later.

Felon disenfranchisement reform—Five million Americans could not participate in the November election due to a current or previous felony conviction. Laws that govern these practices are enacted by the states, but Congress has the authority to require uniform voting rules in federal elections. Legislation proposed by John Conyers in the House would require states to permit voting by any non-incarcerated person in federal elections, even if barred from participating in state elections.

And then, the author concludes citing several alternatives (dear to my heart) to our nation's shameful practices:

Both public safety and community health would be better served through investments in policies that promote job creation, high school graduation and substance abuse treatment.

Let's hope our governor incorporates plans for incarceration alternatives in the $11B prison reform program he announced yesterday. His previous program was voted down last fall. This time he calls for $4.4B to be spent on 78,000 new beds. Currently California is housing 174,000 in facilities that were built to hold 100,000. 17,000 of the overflow are living in gymnasium and classroom housing - so much for exercise of the body and the brain. Thankfully, he has asked for $1B for new beds to house 100,000 sick and mentally ill prisoners. Since President Reagan closed the mental hospitals in California in the 70's and nationwide in the 80's and never replaced them, as he promised, with community mental health facilities, many of the mentally ill are lingering in jail with little or no adequate treatment. Schwarzenegger has also proposed a review of sentencing laws in California. Currently, we have a mandatory 3-year parole period, no matter the crime, the longest of any state in the nation. His argument is that by reducing this period for less serious crimes, parole staff could spend more time tracking higher risk parolees. There is some money allocated for juveniles although there are no specifics.

What a waste we are making of our young people and minorities. We must offer them alternatives, motivation, role models, jobs, education, mental health and/or drug treatment. A life in prison is rarely the answer.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

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

Ok, it's tragic that 3 people's lives have presumably been lost on Mt. Hood. But, at the end of the day, these 3 climbers were experienced and had deliberately planned this trip at the most dangerous time of the year and to include the most dangerous route.

"What we're they thinking?" asks a search-and-rescue volunteer in this mountain town when told about the three lost climbers stranded somewhere on Mount Hood in Oregon.

"To climb a difficult ascent in the kind of weather they get over there in December is just asking for it," said the volunteer, who preferred not to be identified. (ABC News)

The cost of the rescue efforts is enormous:

The $5,000-$6,500 a day the Hood River County Sheriff's Office has spent on the search is only part of what will be become the final price tag, in part because much of it is being done by volunteers and the military, which in the past has tagged such missions as training.

"There is no way of answering these things," said Georges Kleinbaum, state search and rescue coordinator for Oregon. "Obviously there is a lot of money being expended, but there is never a bill to look at."

The Black Hawk helicopters alone are estimated to cost $2,800 an hour to operate. At least two Black Hawks and a Nevada Air National Guard C-130 transport have been repeatedly used in the search. (CBS/AP)

And at least one of these climbers was not without means. I know that he bought furniture recently from a very expensive store in Dallas.

And frankly, it's not underprivileged citizens that get stuck on mountains and get hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to rescue them with no bill payable at the end. It's people who can afford all of the equipment and training and time off and could quite easily pay, if not all, something toward the rescue effort. Otherwise it is the local county, in this case Summit County, and the Federal government, and you and me and everyone else that never thought about going on a mountain and might want to donate our share to pay for a mammogram for an indigent woman, or for a college education for a poor kid with potential, or for adequate body armor for a solider in Iraq, or even for a hospital bill that never gets waived for peole who are pushed into bankruptcy because they don't have insurance or the means to pay.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

YingYing Wu and her star are shining! At 21 years old, Ms. Wu has achieved international fame. Scholar, inventor, media darling, and executive.

What can't this woman achieve? She has it all going for her right now.

I expect more high achievers from China.

My advice to American business people looking for the best in talent - go East young (wo)man!

TopCoder - you are brilliant. What a shrewd move!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (4)

OK. I don't do this often in the space of Sacramento Executive. But I feel compelled to speak my peace. Especially at this time of year, when the Prince of Peace is celebrated.

Quite often I think about the use of the term insurgent and civil war. I'm not sure the press and our elected officials use these terms in the purest sense. Might they use these words to push their own agenda?

According to Wikipedia, a civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight against each other for the control of political power. I tend to agree with this definition.

Also, Wikipedia defines insurgency to be an armed uprising, or revolt against an established civil or political authority. Persons engaging in insurgency are called insurgents, and typically engage in regular or guerrilla combat against the armed forces of the established regime, or conduct sabotage and harassment in the land in order to undermine the government's position as leader, or at least their appearance as such. Again, I have no quarrel with this definition.

Well here's my dilema. If a country invades a sovereign state, overthrows the ruling power, and the loyalists of the overthrown government continue to wage battle against the invaders, is that a civil war?

Furthermore, if a country invades our sovereign soil, tosses out the current government, and I fight back against the invader, am I an insurgent?

Semantics? Propaganda?

Peace be with you!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive,
Holder of a Political Science degree from
The University of Maryland,
and American Patriot.

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Yesterday Pierre and I decided to check out an art show at the Central Library. The art was all produced by homeless people who participate in an arts program put on by a local church. We thought it would be a great way to add to our very ecletic art collection while providing funds to a very necessary cause.

It was a very cold day with a wind chill temperature in the 20's - very unusual for Dallas. As we drove through the downtown area we saw crowds of homeless people trying to find places to take shelter. It was, as it always is, heartbreaking and overwhelming. Dallas has approximately 9,000 homeless on the streets at any one time - growing from 6,000 a year ago.

As we drove in front of the library to find a place to park, we saw every seat was taken by homeless men and women, and even some children. We walked by the huge library windows toward the front door and through each window we could see people who were obviously homeless sitting at desks intensely reading newspapers, magazines and books. But on closer inspection, we noticed that most, if not all, had their eyes tightly shut and were sound asleep.

Throughout the library - at the computers that access the internet, at the used book store, in the reference section - everywhere, the vast majority were obviously people with nowhere else warm to go on this cold December day.

By the time we reached the art showing, we were more than motivated to buy a piece of art to try to do something - a drop in the bucket something - to help. And the piece we chose, a self-portrait of a homeless woman, is a haunting image that will remind us every day that this is a problem we cannot forget.

What has happened that we, the richest country in the world, allow fellow citizens - often mentally ill, often veterans of our wars, often made homeless due to our practically non-existent health-care system, to live on the streets like animals. And when did we ever annoint our librarians as mental health care workers and our libraries as community mental health centers.

Finally, cities are seeing that an ever growing homeless population is not good for business and they are coming up with nifty programs - Sacramento (with 11,000 homeless in the county) have a plan called the Ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness. But I haven't seen any funding being passed and it's hard to find where any progress is being made and the last time I was in Sacramento, specifically on J Street, the problem seemed like it was getting worse, not better. Even though, many cities have proven that by bringing permanent solutions to the chornically homeless, millions of dollars can be saved in the form of emergency medical treatment, court and jail time.

Dallas has passed a measure to provide $23.8M to build a downtown center which will provide indoor beds, shelter, restrooms, showers, job training, mental health treatment and an outdoor pavilion for those who refuse to go inside area shelters. But progress is slow and this 'bandaid' will not come for several years.

In the meantime, the library is the place to be and the librarians juggle their duties, not only with the homeless but also to many kids whose parents, unable to afford daycare, designate the library as their after-school solution.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Just when you think you have it all down pat, the rules change again.

From The Economist I learn that buying organic food might be making the world worse instead of better. Seems the claim that when you grow organic food you use less pesticides, build richer soil and keep the water supplies cleaner is not the whole story. Organic farming methods are far less intensive than conventional ones. To produce the same amount of food organically as is conventionally produced would require several times as much land. That would mean massive more deforestation. And as we all know by now, deforestation is thought to one of the major causes of global warming.

Unfortunately, it appears that we cannot improve the world with our grocery carts. We must push for government change through the ballot box - implementation of a a global carbon tax (pricing the cost of emission into the price of goods to encourage more local sourcing); motivating retailers to source more foods locally; reform of the world trade system; and abolishing agricultural subsidies and tariffs.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

When's the last time you found a magazine that was so good you carefully planned a time to read it so that you could savor every word and wring the last drop of enjoyment from it. It's been a long time for me. But happy days are here again. Sactown has arrived.

I had been hearing rumors for several months. There's a new magazine coming to town. The owners are from New York and have national magazine experience. And the naysayers began, "All the other magazines in town better watch out". (In fact one that was about to release its premier issue, never did). "There'll never be enough advertising revenue to go around." "They have underestimated how much funding they will need." Etc. etc. etc. And I hoped, really hoped, that Sacramento was big enough to welcome and celebrate a great new entry. After all, competition only makes things better and we needed better as we get bigger.

But never once in my wildest dreams did I think the new magazine, now known as Sactown, would be as good as it is. From the moment I saw the cover, I wanted to dig in. And dig in I did - from front to back. It's hip, it's irrevent, it's funny, it has great photographs, it gives due credit to philanthropy, it appeals to a broad base of readers and the national experience of its founders is obvious on each slick (in the best sense of the word) page. Yes, it's all those things, but what shines throughout is the genuine love this husband and wife founding team has for Sacramento and what hope they see in the bright future ahead. And the pride they feel in this city that many of the rest of us carry around like a chip on our shoulder.

Cases in point:

The total irrevence of the event photos. Who ever saw Randy Paragary look anything other than serious before? You know what? An icon can look like a normal person in cities that feel comfortable with themselves.

The article rebuking Arnold for not ponying up for a Sacramento spread. "Sometime during the first week in January, Arnold Schwarzenegger will pop into Sacramento, take the oath of office for his second term, then pretty much beeline it to the airport for the short flight back home to LA." You know what? If Arnold wants the biggest job in our town, he needs to act like he deserves it by living here. One of the magazine's suggestions: "...the three of you (Joe and Gavin Maloof and Arnold) can strike a man-to-man-to-man deal over one of those $6,000 hamburgers. You get a mansion in the old SP railyards, they get the concession rights, and your CHP security detail promises to give the new coach a ride home whenever he needs one, no questions asked." That's funny and irreverent and Sacramento is big and bad enough for us to poke fun at ourselves.

Who knew that the famous Eames chair was designed by a Sacramentoan and a woman at that? Know what? We live in an amazing town with amazing people, an amazing history and an amazing future and why don't we act like that everyday? If we don't think it, who will?

My hat is off to you Rob Turner and Elyssa Lee, founders and editors-in-chief. I think you got it exactly right. And the rest of us better make sure there is enough advertising and funding because this is too good to lose. I am signing up for my subscription now.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (3)

Do you know what your teenagers are doing online these days? Move over MySpace. PICZO is the latest online social networking rage for teens. Check it out from PICZO's website:

Piczo has created a space that gives teens around the world the freedom and tools to express themselves and connect with friends in a safer social networking environment.

Piczo allows its users to create fully customizable personal websites that do not require any understanding of html code. Users share their life stories with friends by designing their sites with multiple pages featuring photos, graphics, guest books, comment boards, music, and more. Each site can be linked to other friends' sites and users can interact with them and their friends, and meet new people online.

Since its launch less than two years ago, Piczo has grown to over 10 million monthly unique visitors and 2.5 billion monthly page views solely through the viral efforts of its loyal members. Rave reviews from these users claim that Piczo is unmatched in the control it offers over their sites, ease-of-use, and 'walled-garden' approach with no searching for users.

PICZO is now the second most popular teen social network site. Parents and future investors, keep your eyes out for big things from this startup. PICZO, a San Francisco based company, backed by venture firms Sierra Ventures and Catamount Ventures, is led by ex-AOL executive Jeremy Verba.

Pierre Cutler
Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

We are spending Christmas in California, so only minimal decoration is required at our Texas abode. I go to Home Depot and find a cheap seat of flashing icicle lights and a handy lighted collapsible star – all very tacky, but they will suffice. I come home and decorate in 2 minutes or less.

The next day I see my neighbor. “Nice decorations,” he says. Oh, no he has noticed my pathetic effort. Now I get defensive about my decorations. “Well,” I say. “I am planning on changing them around a bit!” “The star?” he asks. Oh no, he has noticed, the tacky collapsible star, which, even as we speak, is starting to collapse.

Later that day, I run into him again. His car is full of gorgeous Christmas pieces of every shape and kind. (He tells me that I inspired him! What to go gorgeous?) I ooh and ah over his purchases. An hour or so later, I drive by his house which is now covered – almost literally – by fabulous silver wreaths. There are 6 on his front door and more on the multiple balcony doors. I am awestruck by their brilliance and with the nonchalance he has utilized to create this masterpiece.

I call my husband. Tomorrow we go shopping I say. And shop we do – now we have multiple wreaths and for good measure a small Christmas tree in a pot on our front doorstep (with lights and baubles). At first we only bought one wreath, but another look at our neighbor’s display required an additional trip to the store for a second one.

Our neighbor passes by. “Oh” he says, “that looks great.” “Do you have a spotlight on the wreaths?” My blood runs cold. “A spotlight?” I ask sweetly. “We are planning on it”, I say.

I call my husband. Tomorrow we are shopping again.

Merry Christmas

PS: There is a business lesson to be learned here - first mover advantage is not always an advantage!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

For every 100 9th graders, only 18 will enter college and finish within 6 years. That leaves 82 underachieving and under contributing to this country. And for those 18 who do finish, many of them will be faced with a mountain of student debt to repay. This information comes from a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Major reasons for our failing grade:
Spiraling tuition
Poor college preparation
Lack of help to keep students moving toward a degree

The average cost of tuition has risen 35% over 5 years compared to a 13.8% increase in inflation.

Loan debt by student borrowers at public colleges more than doubled in the past 10 years to $17,250, according to inflation-adjusted figures from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
The federal government Pell Grant program is a joke. If the program was keeping up with the rise in tuition, the average Pell Grant would be around $10,000, rather than $4,000. This lack requires students to get the additional assistance in the form of loans.

And all of this gap in finances is making it much more difficult for low-income students to complete a degree. Only half of students from households making $25,000 or less who started at a 4 year college in 1996 graduated in 5 years, compared to three quarters of students from households with incomes of $70,000 or more. And getting a job made matters worse. During this same period, 65 percent of those who did not work graduated, compared to 31 percent who worked full time.

Not educating our kids is a sin in my book, but it's also very short sighted. According to the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, higher education boosts tax revenues, cuts dependence on welfare, and boosts community service among other social benefits.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:23 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

NPR has Sacramento as the subject of its weekly Sunday Puzzle

Challenge for Nov. 26: This week’s puzzle comes from listener Dan Pit from Palo Alto, Calif. Take the name "Sacramento," the capital of California. Re-arrange these 10 letters to spell two words that are synonyms.

Entries must be received by Thursday at 3PM ET. Let's show NPR listeners how clever we are!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Now that David Stern is coming to town to sort out the mess surrounding the new arena, maybe city officials should take a leaf out of Mark Cuban's new behavior playbook.

As many of you know, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Dave Stern, NBA Commissioner have been butting heads for the past several years. The NBA has recently enacted an Owner's Code of Conduct, which could be more correctly called Mark Cuban's Code of Conduct as it seemed very much directed at Cuban's past 'digressions'. Cuban, very much tongue in cheek, has vowed to bow to Stern's rule.

So read away, Mayor Fargo and other City officials. Let's hope this is not the way it's going to be - either for Sacramento or for Cuban:

Cuban v. Stern Posted: Friday, November 03, 2006 at 2:49 PM

(AP) -- Mark Cuban is ready to do whatever David Stern wants. Really. Honestly.

He promises. A lot.

Stay away from huddles? No problem.

Support overseas expansion instead of building the product in the United States? Done.

Stop coming up with innovations like the multisided 24-second clock and hiring independent shot-clock operators in the playoffs? He's already excited about the extra free time he'll have.

"I'm reborn," the owner of the Dallas Mavericks said Thursday night during his usual pregame workout. "It's no longer Mark Cuban, the benefactor. It's Mark Cuban, David Stern disciple. And I say that with all seriousness. ...

"I used to spend a lot of time trying to really learn the details and the numbers, doing a lot of research, because I was cynical and skeptical. I've lost all that cynicism and skepticism. It's all gone. Sarcasm? There's no sarcasm."

Cuban spoke for nearly 30 minutes before Dallas' 97-91 loss to San Antonio in the season opener, explaining how eager he is to comply with Stern's new guidelines for team owners.

The more he talked, the less sincere he seemed.

"Now I have new aspirations beyond winning the title in the NBA, and that's to fit in and be like everybody else," Cuban said. "They're smarter, they're better, they're prettier, in better shape, they have nicer teeth."

Continue reading "How To Behave Around David Stern" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Milton Friedman, Nobel prize winning economist, died this week at the age of 94.

Here are some of his words of wisdom:

Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.

Governments never learn. Only people learn.

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible.

I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal.

Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.

Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.

Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property.

Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.

The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.

The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.

The most important ways in which I think the Internet will affect the big issue is that it will make it more difficult for government to collect taxes.

The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.

The power to do good is also the power to do harm.

The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

But Friedman definitely had his detractors: According to an editorial in the Boston Globe today:

The consequence of Friedman's policies was to deepen social and economic inequality. Corporate CEOs could feel entitled to enormous pay packages if, in their view, the marketplace rather than a compliant board of directors, was responsible. Government was hard put to intervene on the side of those not so advantaged, because politicians who espoused the Friedman philosophy kept taxes low and skewed tax cuts in favor of the wealthy.

I do know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a big fan of Milton Friedman so to understand Milton is a good way to make some predictions about the economic plans our Governor has for California.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oprah Winfrey told a story about Martin Luther King speaking at her school's assembly. The lesson she learned from him: "Excellence is the best deterrent to racism and sexism." Sort of along the lines of the more cynical, "If you are a (woman, African American, enter your own minority) you have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good."

I think that Oprah has truly lived that ideal. There is no doubt that she exudes excellence in all that she does and also that she works really, really hard.

Now, what do we need to do to get excellence into our school system, especially our inner city schools? What do we do to get excellent role models working with our minority kids? We cannot continue to watch a large percentage of our minority kids flunk out of school, get involved in gangs, go to jail - or worse, be shot before they reach 20.

Martin Luther King started a movement - it is up to us to keep it going.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Newest congressman from New York, John Hall. Previous career - Musician. John Hall founded the band Orleans in the 1972. Remember, Still the One, Dance with Me, Dancing in the Moonlight. Yep, it's that John Hall.

Feeling old yet?

How about The Doors, (Break on Through, Light My Fire) who are about to release a new CD to celebrate their 40th, yes that's with a 4, anniversary?

Oh, the fun we had!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I love everything about this. A story from The Hill

Pelosi 'will ensure' Murtha win, Murtha ally says By Josephine Hearn House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will ensure that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) wins his race for majority leader, a key Murtha ally said Monday night.

"She will ensure that they [the Murtha camp] win. This is hard-ball politics," said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a longtime Murtha supporter. "We are entering an era where when the Speaker instructs you what to do, you do it."

Pelosi recently endorsed Murtha’s bid for majority leader against House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), but it was unclear whether she would use her clout as the first Democratic Speaker in 12 years to help Murtha win or whether her letter simply expressed a personal preference as a favor to Murtha.

Pelosi’s move was deliberate, Moran said, and she was already leaning on her colleagues to affect the outcome.

"Yes, she’s making calls to people. She is contacting people and letting them know that it’s an unequivocal letter," Moran said.

A spokeswoman for Pelosi could not immediately confirm that she had made the calls. Pelosi returned today from New York City after attending the birth of her sixth grandchild. She voted on the floor and then attended Murtha’s reception Monday night for newly elected members.

If Moran’s claims are true, Pelosi is taking an enormous gamble only a week after the election propelled her into the Speakership. If she prevails, she will likely banish her onetime rival Hoyer to the back benches and send a clear signal to her colleagues that she intends to rule with an iron hand. If Hoyer wins, she loses substantial political capital and alerts the caucus that they can successfully oppose her.

One lawmaker supporting Hoyer was concerned that Pelosi was indeed seeking to oust her longtime rival from the Democrats’ new leadership.

"It saddens me because it sets up a bifurcated caucus of members who identify with Nancy and those who identify with Steny," the lawmaker said.

Moran, however, was unapologetic. "If you want to be a strong Speaker, you do this, and Nancy is going to be one of the strongest."

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said some members had already abandoned Hoyer for Murtha in the wake of Pelosi's endorsement, a claim the Hoyer camp vigorously denies.

"Some people have already changed," Pascrell said.

Hard-ball, loyal, clout, taking an enormous gamble, leaning on her colleagues, banishment, etc., etc.

All those great, tough words associated with a woman. And then right in the middle of this enormous political move that will set the tone for her entire leadership - she takes time out to be a grandma attending the birth of her 6th grandchild. That's my kind of woman, regardless of her politics.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

According to the United Nations' on November 8, 2006,

for the 15th year in a row, the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly called on the United States to end its commercial, economic and financial embargoes against Cuba that began more than 46 years ago.

The resolution, adopted yesterday by 183 votes in favour to 4 against (Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau, US) and 1 abstention (Federated States of Micronesia), reiterated the Assembly’s call to all States to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures not conforming with their obligations to reaffirm freedom of trade and navigation.

It is time to comply with the U.N. resolution. Why are we in contempt?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Exciting news from the San Francisco Business Journal:

The California Public Employees' Retirement System has committed $500 million to Sacramento Private Equity Partners, a new investment vehicle managed by Menlo Park-based Oak Hill Investment Management that's focusing on venture capital and small middle market private equity funds.

"There's a huge gap between the top tier and second tier performers, and we have a particular need for a partner who can help us access smaller funds that can deliver upper quartile returns," said Charles Valdes, chair of CalPERS investment committee. "OHIM gives us unique access to the best players in the smaller end of the private equity industry, leveraging great geographical networks and relationships," Valdes said.

CalPERS sees the $500 million investment in Sacramento Private Equity Partners as setting up a farm team for the public pension fund.

"There are small funds that have a track record of generating outstanding returns and that if aggregated in this vehicle could be meaningful to our Alternative Investment Management (AIM) Program," said Russell Read, CalPERS Chief Investment Officer. "In addition, some of these funds may reach a scale over time that would make them candidates for transfer to the direct AIM portfolio."

Sacramento Private Equity Partners also will help the pension fund advance the strategic realignment of the AIM Program that began this year.

Continue reading "CalPERS invests $500M in Sacramento Alternative Fund" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

This month the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meets in Kenya, with the effects of global warming in the developing world at the top of the agenda. To kick this conference off, the United Nations Development Program has published a report entitled “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis.”

As dutifully reported in the world press, this report is filled with dire predictions regarding the impact of global warming on the developing world. Lead author Kevin Watkins says climate change “now poses what may be an unparalleled threat to human development.”
The impact of global warming in Africa is being particularly highlighted. As reported in the BBC in March 2006 ”Africa could face more droughts,” Africa could be faced with 25% less water by the end of the century because of global warming. And the situation in Africa is already dire - the Africans are enduring their worst drought in over 100 years.

The solution however is not going to be found through most of the programs being kicked around this week in Nairobi. Africa’s drought, first of all, is having severe impacts because Africa’s population has increased at astonishing rates with virtually no proportional economic development. In 1960 Africa’s population was 277 million. By 1980 it was 470 million, and by 2005 it was an astonishing 890 million. There is no end in sight.

If this population growth was matched by a proportional increase in railroads, power plants, industrial manufacturing, agricultural modernization, an efficient water distribution infrastructure, and a health and educational infrastructure, then Africa’s population growth would not be part of the problem. But this population growth has been accompanied by steady deterioration in infrastructure, mushrooming disease and tribal conflicts, deforestation and desertification. As a result, the impact of population growth on Africa’s economy and environment has been huge and entirely negative.

Continue reading "Reforesting Brings Rain - Ed Ring" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:34 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Mitch Kolouris the CEO of Sacramento startup company Digital Music Group International (DMGI) was interviewed yesterday on NPR. You can hear the whole interview here.

As you may remember, Mitch worked as a manger for Tower Records for many years and in the interview the point is made that Mitch saw the demise of the brick and mortar model and made the decision to start DMGI, a digital download music company. Couple that with the recent demise of Tower and I thought it made a pretty compelling argument for what DMGI is doing.

DMGI went public last spring and the stock price has wandered downward since then (high of $10.42 on February 7th to a new low of $3.75 on September 18th. After the interview, there was a really nice pop and the stock is currently at $6.88.

Hopefully there will be some good news at the earnings call scheduled for November 10th.

Sacramento needs this company to do well - headquarters, public company, IPO, local investors, etc. etc.

I need this company to do well - I am one of those investors - albeit, pretty small!!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

From Charles Schwab, an interesting article on what affect the elections will have on the markets

Do Elections Matter for the Market? Not as much as you might think. Beware of strategies that claim otherwise. By Mark Riepe CFA, Senior Vice President Schwab Center for Investment Research® With the Democrats fighting to wrest Congress from Republican control, investors are understandably concerned about what effect the mid-term elections could have on stocks. My advice is don’t worry. The fact is there’s no evidence of a statistically significant relationship between political control of Washington and the stock market.

1. Don’t let your overall asset allocation be overly swayed by which party wins in November—or by which one you think is going to win. Your long-term asset allocation, which is always your most important decision, should be driven by your situation (i.e., your goals and overall tolerance for risk). To the extent you make small tactical shifts from time to time, take a page from the book of our own Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders and focus on a large number of variables—not just Washington.

2. Use the political outlook as one piece of information to fine-tune your sector exposure. Check out our latest sector views in the Schwab Market Perspective on schwab.com/marketinsight.

3. If you’re inclined to act, don’t wait until after the election. The stock market processes information quickly. By November 8, it will be too late to take advantage of the election results.

Whatever the effect, please remember to vote!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Red hair is by far the least common hair color in the United States and in the world - so says Wikipedia. But tell that to Larry King, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Travolta, Michael Reagan and every other man who doesn't want to admit he is graying, preferring to walk around with hair color that defies all logic. I call it bottle red because it sure didn't come from nature. It reminds me of a catastrophically failed chemistry experiment.

Get a clue - when we see that color we don't for one second think it's natural. I think Arnold might have gotten a clue (or a better hairdresser) because during his one and only debate with Phil Angelides, Arnold's hair was looking almost black. And talking of politics - in that sorry Senatorial race in Virginia, both George Allen and James Webb seem to be using the same bottle red, although that's one of the least bad claims made against either of them!

. Here's Arnold pre-debate.

Let's get this straight. Women like gray haired men, We think you look distinguished, we don't think you look old. Stop messing with the color. If you decide to ignore that piece of advice, please, please go to a top colorist - don't try to cover your gray with a product purchased from the drug store. First, you will most assuredly not pick the right color and secondly one misstep and fiery red will be your constant companion for many weeks. People will definitely notice, even though no one will saw a word directly to you. We aren't even going to discuss how you will probably drop the bottle on the rug in your bathroom and if you don't get how bad the bathroom rug looks and equate that to what your hair looks like...... Need I say more?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Democrats are within striking distance of regaining control of the
U.S. Congress. But their momentum is driven more by anger against
certain policies of the Bush administration than by their own vision
for America. People are not voting for the democrats, they are voting
against the republicans.

When you still have republicans able to win elections on platforms of
being fiscally conservative, socially moderate, and environmentally
progressive, you have to wonder how the democrats can really
distinguish themselves. Americans prefer to elect moderates, and they
can come from either side of the aisle. So what vision can the
democrats offer that will keep them in power?

There is one fundamental difference between democrats and republicans
that hasn't gone away and won't go away; democrats believe in a
greater role for government in promoting the general welfare, and
republicans want to reduce the role of government. This classic
difference in philosophy is something the democrats must embrace - and
the way democrats can do this is to confront and solve the biggest
government budget challenge of our time, the out of control pay and
benefits for public employees.

In California, retirement benefits to public employees are now so
extreme they threaten to render insolvent every government entity in
California; municipal, county and state. Any reasonably intelligent
person can do the math. You don't have to be an actuary. Public
employees retire, on average, over a decade earlier than private
employees. They enjoy pensions, on average, that are many times
greater than what private retirees are eligible to receive under
social security. They also usually get paid health care benefits
during the period between when they retire and when medicare kicks in
several years later.

The cost for these benefits, per year in California, is over 30
billion dollars more than the cost would be if public employees got
the same retirement guarantees as the rest of us. This is the reason
public entities are all nearly broke in spite of a strong economy and
record property tax revenues.

Private employee taxes are funding benefits for public employees that
private employees can never enjoy - it would destroy America's economy
to offer state funded benefits this generous to all workers. And
don't think it's just the heroes such as firefighters who get these
generous benefits - the vast majority of beneficiaries are agency
bureaucrats who take no greater risks than the rest of us.

Republicans won't tackle this issue, because they want government
entities to be starved for funds. Only the democrats have an
incentive to confront this fact: The disproportionate cost for public
employees is preventing us from having more government services and
investment and instead is breaking government budgets. We have
created "two Americas," where if you're a tax-funded government
employee you have health and retirement security, and if you're a
taxpaying private employee you don't. It's that simple, and what's
happened in California is happening throughout the United States. The
costs, and the injustice of this, are staggering.

Reform wouldn't have to be terribly disruptive. It would probably be
necessary to honor deals already made, so anyone already in public
service could retain most if not all of their bloated benefits, but
new incoming public employees would not. Instead, new public
employees would get a defined contribution benefit along with being
eligible to receive social security. This would level the playing
field, and public employees would have the same challenges and
opportunities in planning for their retirement as the rest of us.

It would take great courage for democrats to make this proposal. But
it would provide lasting credibility to the democratic party, since
this one reform would restore solvency to governments, allowing them
to again pursue the great society visions - for all citizens - which
have been set aside in order to service unsustainable and inequitable
public employee benefits and pensions.

Ed Ring
Editor, ECOworld

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Percentage of children ages 6–17 who are overweight by gender, selected years 1976–2004 Source: ChildStats.gov

Headed in the wrong direction...

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Travel and Leisure magazine published their list of the World's Best Cities for 2006.

Here it is:

Top 10 Cities Overall
Rank Last Year Name 2006
Score
1 Florence
2 Rome
3 Bangkok
4 Sydney
5 Chiang Mai, Thailand
6 Cape Town
7 Buenos Aires
8 New York
9 Beirut
10 San Francisco

now the list appears with an asterisk after no. 9 pick Beirut with a footnote:

*The list of World's Best Cities was voted upon before the war in Lebanon. As always, please consult the US State Department's Travel Warnings and Advisories before planning travel abroad.

And wasn't there a coup in Thailand too?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

One by one, our leaders, those whom we have every right to believe we can look up to, are violating the public trust. A long list are being found guilty on charges such as bribery, conspiracy, lying to authorities and more. They serve out their time in decidedly white collar jails and then they merrilly receive their congressional pensions. I take great exception to allowing these guys to receive a pension.

Last case in point, Congressman Bob Ney, who will receive a $29,000 annual pension based on his 12 years of service. He also is eligible to receive social security. And draw down funds in hi 401K which was matched by the US government. Not bad for someone who has pleaded guilty and is looking at a minimum of 27 months in prison.

Periodically, usually after the most recent set of scandals, Congress makes a half-hearted attempted to change the rules, but has never succeeded. The last attempt was in May when the House passed a bill that included a provision barring lawmakers convicted of certain crimes from collecting pensions. Ney would have been covered by this prohibition as conspiracy, was one of those crimes covered by the legislation. However, the House and Senate failed to reach agreement on this issue in the compromise bill and another chance to put some real teeth into an ethics bill was lost again.

As reported by Paul Krawzak of the Copley News Service:

Norman Ornstein, a congressional analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said it’s hard for a pension change to pass unless it’s part of a larger ethics proposal.

“Frankly, the will to enact a larger ethics package that causes disruption in their (lawmakers’) daily lives is something that has not gotten the level of intense support that it should,” he said. “It’s not going to do so until you get the public demanding it.”

Are we, the public, going to allow these criminals to continue to bear little consequence for their complete betrayal of the public trust? Let's cause a stink - criminal lawmakers lose their pensions - new rule.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:59 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Another very thought-provoking report from the Public Policy Insitute of California.

Thinking about California's future, did you know:

o By 2025, the state will add a population about the size of Ohio. Only 14 percent of Californians believe such growth is good for them and their families.

o California is not likely to have enough college-educated workers to meet the future economy’s demands. A majority (58%) of Californians say the quality of education is a big problem.

o Transportation investment has seriously lagged behind use and population growth. Most state residents (74%) believe traffic conditions will get even worse in the next 20 years.

o Californians’ trust in government to handle major problems is near an all-time low. Only 12 percent have great confidence that state government can plan for growth and the future.

o Most Californians believe that the important decisions about future growth should be made by voters at the ballot box, but only 35 percent of eligible California adults went to the polls in the last statewide election.

With these mega issues to be dealt with, please make sure you are well-prepared when you head to the polls in November to elect leaders who will be willing and able to act.

PPIC recommends you ask yourself these 10 critical questions - and also ask the people who want your vote:

1. What can government do to accommodate huge population growth?

2. Will California have the educated workforce that the new economy will demand?

3. How do we plan for the state’s future in an unequal society?

4. How can we encourage economic development while preserving the environment?

5. If we can’t build our way out of the infrastructure problem, what can we do to fix it?

6. Do we want bigger or smaller government in the future?

7. Is our state government up to the task of future planning?

8. What can we do to make the state’s fiscal system more transparent and accountable>

9. Can we rebuild trust and confidence in our government?

10.Has an exclusive electorate been given the reins of government?

For more background on each question, download the full report. The state of California and its future is in your hands. You owe it to yourself and your family to be informed.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:25 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

We first took notice of Bob Fountain at a Comstock's event five or more years ago. He was talking on the subject of the housing boom and how long it would last in Sacramento. He predicted as long as Sacramento retained its positive price differential advantage over the Bay Area. We often quoted him to others who were concerned about the market. And he turned out to be absolutely right.

Bob Fountain, by the way, is Dr. Robert Fountain, Director of the Applied Research Center, College of Continuing Education at CSUS. In April, he completed a study, Keeping California's Edge, which examines the relationship between higher educated employees and the California economy. Recently he was interviewed by Bob Schmidt for the Sacramento Business Journal and said some more pretty profound things.

Regarding Sacramento:

"It still hasn't made the transition to the big regional center that it should be."

"For years SACTO and the Metro Chamber have sent teams to different cities to see how other cities do things. We used to come back with the conclusion that some of these cities, no bigger than we were, seem to have more sophistication and capability in their public sectors than we do. They had smarter people working in the mayor's office than we do. The new city manager Ray Kerridge...is head and shoulders above anyone we've had in that office. We need 50 more of him."

"If we were able to take everything on the downtown table away and bring back to the table a regional vision which encompasses 3 million people, going on 4, by the year 2050, we would produce an entirely different vision of what downtown would look like....We tend to do "little think" in small increments and that's a bad way to get into the future."

"What's happening with the Kings is illustrative. We just don't have anyone in the public sector with the skills to put together the kind of deal necessary. The city botched it twice before and maybe now again."

No surprise he is a big supporter of propositions Q and R.

And his thoughts on California in general:

"The state of California has been coasting, entrepreneurially. It's been cashing in on the assets it had because of Pat Brown, but we've run those assets into the ground. What have we done lately? Very little. But if we had the right vision, we could make giant steps."

"This is a state which hasn't invested much in anything, except prisons, in the past decade."

On his concern that we are not training enough people to be a part of an economy that will depend on a workforce more highly skilled in technology:

"..recent immigrants and their first generation of children are not going into software development. Half of them are not graduating from high school. So, to the question of what jobs are being generated for them, the answer is none. That is scary--the crisis du jour.

This is a smart guy who has been studying this region since he came here 30 years ago. We need to start listening.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Seven Rosen, one of the leading venture capital firms, is refusing to accept investors' money citing “too much money” and “too many deals funded in almost every conceivable space.” The firm saw no changes on the horizon.

Seven Rosen was in the process of closing its 10th fund and had received commitments from investors of approximately $300M.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. During the Internet boom, Crosspoint Venture Partners also returned investors' money. Other firms followed suit.

What does this mean for the venture community in general and specifically for local Sacramento venture funds - DFJ Frontier, American River Ventures and Velocity Ventures?

Could it be a good thing for Sacramento in that Bay Area funds might have to look a little further from home to find good investments for their funds? Like maybe in good old Sac?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

"Rough Ride In The City," a study is based upon data the Federal Highway Administration requires states to collect, finds that Sacramento has the seventh worst roads among urban areas with at least 500,000 residents.

"In the case of Sacramento, 50 percent of the roads provided motorists with a rough ride. These roads are not only shaking up motorists, but are shaking up the vehicles increasing operating costs," said Frank Moretti, author of the study.

California cities don't show well in this study. Here are the worst 10 cities in the 500,000 resident category:
San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco – Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Sacramento, New Orleans (pre-Katrina) , Oklahoma City, Omaha and St. Louis.

The best roads according to the study are in Atlanta. A desirable goal for state and local governments is to maintain 75 percent of its roads in good condition, but only three of the nation's urban areas of 500,000 people or more – Atlanta, Orlando and Phoenix –
achieve this goal.

And things aren't likely to improve any time soon. Through 2022, the U.S. faces a $76 billion shortfall in the cost to maintain urban roadways in their current condition and a $138 billion shortfall in the cost to make significant improvements to urban roadways, according
to the study.

Like I said, fasten your seat belts.....

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

"California is facing a tidal wave of aging baby boomers," said Assemblyman Dave Jones, a Sacramento Democrat. "We need to act now to ensure that we provide adequate health care, housing, and protection from financial and other forms of abuse."

Assemblywoman Patty Berg, a Eureka Democrat who chairs the Assembly committee on aging, said California will be the "grayest state in the nation," exceeding the elderly population of Florida by 2020.

The number of residents age 65 and over — about 4 million of California's total population of 36 million — will nearly double in relation to the total population by 2020, according to a report by the AssemblyCommittee on Aging and Long-Term Care.

"No state has ever seen a demographic shift like this," said Berg. "There is no roadmap because it's never happened before. That's why it's crucial that we begin planning now. California is either going to get ready or get swamped. It's really that simple."

Watch for legislation to try to sort out the myriad of various departments to provide better services to meet this incrase.

Growth opportunities? More demand for health care workers, certain types of housing and transportation alternatives.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

MTV's television series, "The Real World," will hold an open casting call 10 am to 5 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at The Library, 7042 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento.

Eligible candidates must be between 18 and 24 years of age, bring a photo identification and a recent picture of themselves, which will not be returned.

Oh, to be young again!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Angel investors invested $12.7B to 24,500 entrepreneurs in the first half of 2006, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. This amount was up 15% over the same period of 2005 but the number of entrepreneurs decreased by 6%. This meant that the size of the average deal increased by 22%.

Angel investments top sector - health care service/medical equipment. This was followed by software, biotech, retail, media and IT services.

If you are interested in getting involved in a local Angel investment group, visit the Sacramento Angels website to learn more.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:29 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Sir Richard Branson thinks so. Last week, he pledged approximately $3B dollars towards doing just that as part of the Clinton Global Initiative (see previous post). Now he has challenged airlines, airports, air traffic controllers and governments to work together to cut 25% of the world's aviation carbon dioxide emissions and to do it at a speedy pace. The aviation industry is currently responsible for about 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Part of his plan is to more efficiently move aircraft at busy airports. "One of those ideas is to set up starting grids at the airports so that instead of sitting on planes with CO2 spewing out of those planes for anything up to 60 minutes-90 minutes ... while you're waiting to get on the runway to take off, you're towed by a small tug to the starting grid and then the pilot would turn on the engines 10 minutes before take off and then take off." he explained. "We've worked out, on a global basis, we're talking about billions of tonnes of CO2 savings just on that idea alone."

Other benefits - an estimated reduction in fuel consumption of between 50-90% and people living next to airports would experience lower noise levels and cleaner air.

Let's hope this maverick in the aviation industry has enough clout to get others to buy in.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The military needs more troops. The recruiters are frantically trying to meet the monthly recruiting targets. To do so, they have to lower the standards and are now accepting larger numbers of recruits with no high school diploma or GED. Worse still, up to 4% of the recruits are scoring in the 16th-30th percentile on the US Army's mental aptitude test. A larger percentage are being accepted with misdeamor charges, drug and alcohol abuse histories, and medical problems. And still we can't recruit enough so now the National Guard is being asked to step up more than anyone ever imagined.

At the same time we stubbornly refuse to recruit smart, physical fit, patriotic, and very motivated candidates for one reason. They are openly gay. In fact, it's worse than that - we actively remove them if we find out.

This hardly seems legal to me, although it is. If companies refused to hire qualified employees because of their sexual orientation, I know that is illegal. So how does the Federal Government get away with this? And what a slap in the face to these young men and women. First of all every piece of evidence by mainstream physicians show that being gay is not a lifestyle choice - there is no way to unchoose. Secondly, this can only be based on some completely nonsensical hypothesis that the gay person would make overt sexual overtures to his/her fellow soldiers. If that was true, why isn't that a legitimate concern in corporations?

So, the only way that gays can get a chance to serve their country is to lie (or at least not tell the truth) about their sexual orientation. This poses a worse situation in that if the keeping of a secret is necessary to preserve a long-term military career path, the opportunity for others to use the threat of revealation increases. And in the past that has led to people being recruited into spying for other countries.

A study completed last year by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, a research institute at the University of Califonia, Santa Barbara showed that 76 percent of potential military recruits said that lifting the ban on openly gay service members would have "no effect" on their decision to enlist. Twenty-one percent of respondents said that lifting the ban would decrease their chance of enlisting, while only 2 percent said it would increase their likelihood of joining the military. . Among respondents, 53.1 percent were Republicans, 29.8 percent were independent/other, and 17 percent were Democrats; 81.6 percent were male and 18.4 percent were female; and all were between the ages of 18 and 24.

Good grief, let's welcome with open arms anyone willing and well-qualified to bear arms for our country. At the rate things are going, we are going to need as many as we can find.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Apparently September 26th was the day the public employee unions in
California launched their latest TV campaign to attack Governor
Schwarzenegger.

It would be helpful to our democracy if more voters would take a hard
look at the disparity in pay and benefits between unionized public
employees and people who work in the private sector who do work
requiring similar levels of skill and education.

If you make this analysis, you will find that the cost per year for
public employees is two to three times what their equivalent
counterparts cost per year in the private sector. This is not only
because public employees generally make more in their base rates of
pay, but because, on average, they have about twice as many paid days
off per year, and because most of them have pensions.

Continue reading "Reform Public Employee Unions - Ed Ring" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I have been involved in many discussions lately with friends and acquaintances about the economics of buying a hybrid car. The fact is that if you do the math, you can't justify the extra cost based solely on the payback from gas savings. But, in a 20 watt lightbulb moment, I realized that this is the wrong justification. If we add in other factors like having our grandchildren be able to breathe, like saving polar bears from drowning, like being able to appreciate the beauty of the mountains that surround the Central Valley because we can see them. Then the justification is easy. Go buy a hybrid car and do something good for the world!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

A study released by two economists argues that social drinkers are more charismatic, have a bigger Rolodex and more friends than non-drinkers or solo drinkers. These characteristics lead to more networking, more contacts, and new job opportunities, which all add up to bigger paychecks. Their findings - men have 10% higher incomes and women 14% higher.

I'll drink to that!

But not too much. The research found that after 35 or more drinks per week, the paycheck advantage vanishes.

The research was undertaken by Bethany Peters with Analysis Group and Edward Stringham, who teaches at San Jose State University.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas, died yesterday at the age of 73. Her passing is the sad end to an era of rough and tumble, gutsy women, who cast aside adversity, discrimination, and other obstacles to become better than anyone thought they could be. She told it like it was. She fought until the end. She is an inspiration to all of us to never give up, to take what life hands us and turn it into something positive, to rise to the occasion, and to question and prod and work to improve life for as many others as is possible, and then some.

You were an amazing inspiration to me, Ann Richards. Your death brings me sadness but also
spurs me to pack more into the time I have left to make this a better world.

One of my favorite Ann Richard's quips: "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."

Photo depicts Ann Richards celebrating her 60th birthday by doing something she had always wanted to do - ride a Harley

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

I’ve been to all previous Sacramento Executive events, and there’s another one coming up September 20th in oldtown Sac. Everytime I’ve gone to these things I’ve met some really cool people, gotten lost in great conversations and ended up missing the food and drinks. No more I tell you! This time I’m making up for the lack of alcohol consumption, and any and all good food will be in my belly. Speaking of food take a look at the restaurant’s website. If you’re around the Sacramento area then you don’t want to miss this one, and you might even want to consider the trip if you’re in the Bay Area.

A lot of the investing and business community gathers at these events, and the Sacramento Executive events in particular. I think it’s because the only people that know about it are already involved somehow with investors or companies in the area. If you’re an entreprenuer looking for investors, management, advisors, etc, or an investor looking to find that special startup with crazy potential (like mine!), then get your ass to this party. Come to have a good time and meet people who might be able to help you, or people you might be able to help. I’ll be there, you can find me near the buffet table. Details and registration info are at the top of the front page at Sacramento Executive.

Scott Hildebrand
Founder, Tubes

Thanks Scott...now others will have a clear path to all the great prizes...
Lunch with a local VC
Lunch with a local CEO
Golf with a local executive recruiter
Rivercat's tickets
Season tickets to the Sacramento Speakers Series
Tickets to see Frank McCourt at California Lectures
And a chance to win just by dropping your business card in a box! Pretty cool return and better odds than the California Lottery.

See you on the 20th and please RSVP soon as the restaurant wants a final count and I want to make sure we have enough food for Scott this time!

PS: It is rumored that Pierre will be in attendance!
PPS: It is rumored that a group is coming from the Bay Area.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:20 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Now the heroes who protect us and save our lives are also experts on energy and who knows what? That’s right, the Firefighter’s Union has decided they don’t like Proposition 87. How could it transpire that we now have firemen on television, using taxpayer’s money that was supposed to pay their salaries and maintain their equipment, making commercials telling us to vote no on Proposition 87? Some background is in order.

Something called global competition forced unions to start being reasonable in private industry about thirty years ago. But as reality took hold in private industry, the government beckoned as an inexhaustible source of money, with no competition to force it to operate efficiently. Union bosses who were driven out of private industry took over the government sector, and since the government has a bottomless pool of money, at first nobody noticed. But back in 2005 when California’s Governor called a special election to reform these unions, then the ones representing our heroes, the people we admire, decided they didn’t like our Governor any more. These unions directed their own people to deliver their attack; policemen, firemen, and others engaged in public safety, people who take risks for us, people we respect a lot. But they didn’t respect our Governor. They vilified him, on TV, while wearing their uniforms.

Back in 2005 and ever since, the unions supposedly representing these good and heroic people have gotten them on camera in uniform, and encouraged them to say all kinds of angry things about our Governor. Why are they so mad at him? Because he tried to eliminate defined benefit plans for incoming employees in their organizations, and he tried to limit the new defined contribution plans under the new program to only twice as much as your typical best case in private industry. What’s so bad about that? Just that one reasonable reform would save tens of billions every year of taxpayers money. Money we could use to hire more firemen, police, nurses, teachers, and build more hospitals, schools, freeways, high-speed rail, etc. No new taxes, no new bonds. Just a few common sense fiscal reforms.

There’s nothing wrong with providing extra pay and retirement security to people who take risks to protect the rest of us. But these benefits have grown to the point where the cost to fund a public employee pension is often equal to or greater, each year, than that employee’s base pay. And these unsustainable pensions, and other benefits, have been extended not only to public safety officers, but in large degree, to all unionized public employees. This excess is crippling not only our state government, but also every city and county in California. But don’t run for office if you want to point out the obvious.

Every year, several tens of millions of dollars of our tax money pour into public union coffers for the explicit purpose of exercising influence over our elections and our public policies. This isn’t news, although what is inexplicable is the continued public indifference, and media silence, regarding what is now nearly total control of California’s state, county and city governments by unions. These unions know that the benefits they have coerced and hornswaggled our politicians into granting public employees could never be enjoyed by everyone. They have created two Americas, a socialist wonderland for public employees, and a nasty, brutish struggle for the rest of us who pay the taxes that sustain them. When is the last time most public employees had to look for a job, or wondered if they’d have any health insurance at all, let alone a pension, a disability plan, 15 paid holidays, up to 25 paid vacation days, and 15 sick days a year with unlimited accrual and 100% cash-out, etc.? Plus “personal” paid days off and “comp time.” There is a staggering cost for all this.

Continue reading "Public Employee Unions Are Against Prop. 87 - Ed Ring" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:43 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Walk with us now, so you don't have to walk in our shoes

I'm scared to death it will take another attack (to take the recommendations of the 9/11 commission seriously)

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

It seems our friend and frequent contributor to Sacramento Executive, Ed Ring, has company regarding public pensions.

The Milken Institute will be hosting a panel discussion on this public policy issue in its upcoming State of the State Conference. The panel title "The Ticking Time Bomb: State and Local Government Pension Obligations" will be a lively debate.

A summary of the panel discussion -

You’ve heard about the problems with Social Security and some of the big corporate pension funds. But many experts believe local and state government pension funds are in much worse shape and could soon cause major taxpayer headaches. Look no further than the City of San Diego, whose $2-billion pension deficit has forced it to cut important projects to pay retirement obligations. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System faces a shortfall of more than $20 billion. How have things gotten so out of hand, and what can governments do to fix the current system? Should they switch to defined-contribution plans, as private companies are doing? What about requiring voter approval of government employee benefits? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran into a buzz saw when he tried to change the state’s pension system. What’s politically possible?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

A report to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research on September 9th projects, at the current recovery rates, ozone in the atmosphere could return to 1980 levels by the middle of this century.

The effort began in 1989 when more than two dozen countries joined together to replace the main culprit - chloroflourocarbons (CFCs). Unfortunately, little attention was paid to what would be used to replace CFCs. And, as usually happens when no one is paying attention, the users utilized the cheapest replacement products, with no concern as to long-term consequences. The replacements have now been shown to have caused a significant increase in global warming. So, we are on the road to fix one problem and have unintentionally dramatically worsened another.

Sadly, Switzerland first raised the alarm on the replacement products in 1990 and got no reaction. Sixteen years later, we are just facing up to the sizeable impact. But the United Nations fund doles out $150M a year to continue to help developing countries move from the old to the new product. Under the 1989 treaty, industrial countries have until 2030 and developing countries until 2040 to quit using HCFCs and HFCs, the replacement products. It is still not clear what the next products will be, but let's hope someone studies their effects before we unwittingly cause another problem, and let's hope someone comes up with something soon because global warming is being significantly impacted by an unintentional consequence.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Congratulations to Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats who have reached agreement on a bill that would make California the first state to impose a limit on greenhouse gas emissions.

The deal requires major energy companies to reduce their carbon emissions within 14 years to 1990 levels. California is aiming to reduce gas emissions by 25 percent.

And for those naysayers who think the Feds should be working on this issue and not the states - we couldn't agree more, but they aren't.

And for those naysayers who say this will hurt the economy, not true says a new University of California-Berkeley study which finds that going back to 1990 emission levels would boost the annual Gross State Product (GSP) by $74 billion and create 89,000 new jobs by 2020.

This is a major step forward in the war on the real terror - global warming.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:07 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The fattening up of America has taken an interesting twist - just in from Trust For America's Health - a new report about the obesity epidemic in America.

The top ten most obese states in descending order - Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, South Carolina, and Texas.

Now the startling news - all ten of these states voted red in the 2004 presidential election.

And the rest of the story - the six leanest states - Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Colorado. Five of these six voted blue in the 2004 presidential election. Note: Colorado, a red state, was the leanest.

Nineteen states voted blue in 2004. Fifteen of these states were ranked in the 25 leanest states. That means twenty one out of twenty five of the most obese states voted red.

The moral of the story - Democrats are leaner than Republicans. We can blame the obesity epidemic on Republicans.

Now lets make America healthier. Vote Democrat!

Gillian Parrillo and Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

And what, you say, is so special about that?

Well if you know me, you know my hot topic is finding positions for experienced executives with Sacramento companies. There have been very few opportunities in Sacramento up until now and this has resulted in lots of great talent leaving the area permanently or commuting to the Bay Area or beyond.

A couple of years ago, I met such an individual. He had lived in Sacramento for many years but had never found suitable work in the local area. He had spent many years commuting to the Bay Area with the resultant negative impact on his family. We worked long and hard to find something to match his talents but at the end of the day he found a high paying, challenging job in the Bay Area and off he went again, leaving Sacramento without the positive impact of his presence.

Now, I am very pleased to note that he has taken a CEO job right here in Sacramento with a very promising local company. Could this be the beginning of something special - a new trend? A local company, started by local entrepreneurs, funded by local VCs, and now headed by a local CEO. Did we get the idea, the money and the talent all in the same place at the same time? Sounds so simple, but to-date it has not been.

So, congratulations Dave Chamberlain, new CEO of Satori. And if a company does well based on the ethics and decency of its management team, Satori is going to be a big winner!.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

From the Central Valley Business Times:

Design set for Sacramento airport’s new terminal

SACRAMENTO
August 30, 2006 7:34am

• Construction to start in 2008
• Will replace 1967 structure

The design for a new terminal building at the Central Valley’s largest airport, Sacramento International, has been selected by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

The new terminal will replace Terminal B, which was built in 1967. It will be three times the size of the current terminal, have 23 gates and a “people mover” to shuffle passengers hither and yon.

Construction is expected to start in 2006, with completion projected for [2010].

The new terminal is being designed by Corgan Associates Inc. of Dallas, Texas.

It will incorporate a 200-room hotel, replacing the airport’s current hotel that is located across from Terminal B.

The old terminal will be torn down when the new one is opened, with the airport’s second parking garage built on its site.

The $1.1 billion project is to be paid for by fees paid by airlines along with federal grants.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

According to the California Association of Realtors, the first-time housing affordability index (HAI) measures the percentage of first-time buyer households that can afford to purchase a home in California. Presently the index is at 23 percent. The median price home for first-time buyers in California was $482,000 for the second quarter of 2006. In order to qualify for a loan (assuming 6.48% adjustable rate and a ten percent down-payment) on the purchase of the median price home, the minimum household income was $98,720. The monthly payment including taxes and insurance was $3,290.

How many households can afford this? Not many – just 23 percent of Californians. How does an HAI of 23% compare on a historical basis? Not well. The lowest index for California since 1982 was 18% in May 1989 and again in June 2004. The lowest index for the U.S. was 48% in May 1989 (the U.S. index is currently a healthy 59%, the highest ever was 61%).

What does this data tell me? Not good news for California homeowners. Why? Let’s examine what happened within a year after the low point in May 1989. In 1990, California real estate entered a seven-year downturn in home prices. If you bought a California home in 1990, it took ten years, until 2000, for the price to recover to your purchase price in 1990.

Now take a closer look at June 2004 – again the lowest point in the cycle of the housing affordability index at 18 percent. At that time, I projected sometime in 2005 we would be facing a potential downturn in home prices. And it happened. If history repeats itself, it will take several years for the HAI to recover, and as it does, prices will continue to move down.

What’s the highest the HAI for California homes has been since 1982? 44 percent in February 1997 – within one year after the bottom of the real estate decline in the 1990’s.

My prediction? Prices will continue to fall for the next three to five years, perhaps up to another ten percent. My advice to first-time wannabe buyers – sit tight, save money towards the down payment and wait. Wait until the index reaches 45% and then move into the market. You will most likely be buying at the bottom of the market.

What if you don’t want to wait? Move. Move to a low cost of housing area. In Dallas, the medium price home is $140,000. Just yesterday I saw a new sub-division in the suburbs advertising new homes starting at $90,000. Amazing!

Oh, one last thing – the U.S. median price home for first-time buyers is $193,380 with a monthly payment of $1,320. Minimum qualifying income – just $39,600.

Enough said.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

It is beyond debate that the earth is warming, and that CO2 is a
partial cause of this warming. The remaining debate, and it is by no
means closed, is how much the earth is warming, and how much of this
warming has to do with human-caused CO2 emissions. An under-reported
fact is that among atmospheric scientists, the most catastrophic
projections are not something for which there is anything near a
consensus.

Whether or not you believe greenhouse gas from humans is the biggest
problem to ever face humanity or not, the right to debate this issue
should not be infringed. But earlier this month, taking a step that
ought to chill any American who believes in the right to free speech,
California Attorney General Bill Lockyear filed a motion in federal
court to force auto makers to disclose all documents and
communications between the companies and "climate skeptics." Lockyear
claims these "climate skeptics" have played a "major role in spreading
disinformation about global warming."

Continue reading "Global Warming Skeptics Are Not Evil - Ed Ring" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Every now and then I make a prediction and I get it right. Back in May, I suggested that the price of a Sacramento County home could go down 5 to 10 percent in the nearterm. Well it looks like I was correct. The Sacramento Bee reports that the medium price of all homes sold in the County in July fell 5% from the previous July.The number of units sold declined 43%.

I guess a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Unfortunately, I think further declines are likely to happen over the next twelve months. Look for another 5% decline from the median Sacramento County price of $361,000. Why? The affordability index is still out of whack, near an all time low. I will discuss this index in a future post.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacrameto Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:43 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

All of us at some point have wondered what the environment will look like to future generations. One has only to see the smog we are creating and the retreat of the glaciers to understand the damage we are causing to our environment.

It shouldn’t then be surprising to learn California is a leader in creating this damage. It is the 12th largest source of global warming emissions, exceeding most entire countries. We think it’s time California cleans up its energy.

Currently the state and federal government are considering legislation to help with our global warming. California Renewable Energy Standard already requires regulated electric utilities and competitive supplies to increase the use of wind, solar, and other renewable electricity sources by 20% by 2010 (SB107). Those actions will create a “pull” for new companies to provide the clean energy and that “pull” is already attracting the attention of investors.

In the US, approximately $2.5 billion will be invested in clean energy companies this year. That number could easily double in the next decade. Every week we hear of some new “clean energy” fund being created. CalPERS and CalSTRS are behind some of this and are willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. With PG&E money, there is a California Clean Energy Fund looking to invest specifically in Northern California. There is momentum behind creating more clean energy businesses.

Sacramento, California, is aggressively pursuing alternative forms of clean energy through an organization called CleanStart. CleanStart, a clean energy initiative of McClellan Technology Incubator, is chartered with helping clean energy entrepreneurs in the Sacramento region take their technology ideas and turn them in to viable clean energy solutions. Today, Sacramento has approximately 40 start-ups in the clean energy space, with another 300 likely in the early development stage. Sacramento is well on its way to becoming the “Clean Energy Capital” of California. It is attracting clean energy entrepreneurs who want to establish companies in the area. Through CleanStart, the entrepreneur support structure—mentoring, senior business advisors and visibility with investors is established to help entrepreneurs move from an idea to a company. The time is right and the backing in terms of funding and entrepreneur support is here in Sacramento.

Sacramento has some real advantages as a future hub of the clean energy industry. The region is well-endowed with world-class academic institutions cranking out good ideas and with sources of research funding to take those ideas and prove they work. It has inexpensive space for inventors to try out their ideas and a growing bench of experienced coaches willing to help. Most of all, this region is blessed with customers that really want to “buy green”, the biggest asset of all. We hope to see all households participate in SMUD’s Greenergy Program, purchasing clean energy for a small additional fee.

CleanStart wants to see at least 10 new companies in the area by 2008 and 25 by 2010 come from its efforts. CleanStart will start small and build on success. In ten years, we want to have $5 billion in clean energy sales from businesses in the region, coming with 10,000 new jobs. That’s the plan—clean energy, a better environment, and a healthier local economy.
To learn more about CleanStart or to be a sponsor of CleanStart, visit our web site at www.cleanstart.org.

Ingrid Rosten
CleanStart
www.cleanstart.org

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

According to the National Governors Association only 43% of high school dropouts are employed. My math, which I learned in high school, suggests that if we are graduating 3 million high school students a year at a 70% graduation rate (i.e., 30% of this year's entering freshmen class will not graduate), then we are producing 730,000 non-workers per year. Translation - high schools produce 730,000 "students" who go on the dole every year. Nice job America! That's the road to prosperity.

Another fact from NGA - on average a high shool dropout earns $21 thousand per year less than a college graduate. That amounts to almost $1 million in lost income over a lifetime. More good economic news!

High school dropouts cost America $16 billion per year in lost productivity according to a 2005 Harvard University research study. Wow!

And one other troubling fact from NGA - the percentage of college students earning degrees in science, math, and engineering - China 59%, South Korea 46%, European Union 36%, and the U.S. 29%. I agree with Thomas Friedman. The world is flat. But I might add one more wrinkle to Friedman's thesis - The world is flat, and the U.S. is falling into the sea.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Prosper Whiz Kids, 2007 nomination process is now in progress through August 15. Prosper Whiz Kids are young (25-35 years old) up-and-comers on management teams who by their hard work and sharp business acumen, are defining the bright future of business and communities throughout the region. You can make your nominations here.

One of last year's winners is Andy Eppinger, Founder of the Sacramento Speakers Series. If you don't know him, you should - because he's a great guy, with great ideas, and a great product. And if you don't know about his product, you should. The Sacramento Speakers Series is entering its second year, moving to a new venue, and booking truly outstanding speakers.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Check out this fascinating site where you input personal data to answer 40 questions about your lifestyle and family and in return receive a prediction of your life expectancy and some suggestions as to how you can improve it based on your input. The questionnaire takes about 10 minutes to complete.

The index was devised by Thomas Perls MD, MPH, who is the founder and director of the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians and their families in the world.

The index is an extension of a book that Dr. Perls wrote entitled 'Living to 100: Lessons in Living to Your Maximum Potential at Any Age.'

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said he would oppose global warming mandates if Republicans control the 110th Congress. “I think the information is not adequate yet for us to do anything meaningful,” he said.

Hundreds of scientific researchers, policy experts, and risk analysts from all over the world disagree. You can read their report here. They concluded:

There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.

Thankfully, the citizens of California seem alot more savvy about the realities and dangers of global warming than our federal politicians. A recent survey by the Public Policy Insitute of California finds:

Eight in 10 residents believe global warming will be a very (49%) or somewhat serious (30%) threat to California’s future economy and quality of life.

Sixty-five percent of all adults and 70 percent of likely voters favor having the state make its own policies on global warming.

The proposal to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 receives majority support from residents across all regions, racial/ethnic, and demographic groups.

Seventy percent of all adults say they would seriously consider purchasing or leasing a hybrid vehicle, with 57 percent saying they would even if it were more costly.

The good news is that we already have all of the technology necessary to turn this sorry state of affairs around, but it takes leadership to get it implemented.

Franky, don't you find it completely embarassing that the State of California has to step up to sign an environmental treaty with the UK because our politicians in Washington have their heads buried so deep in the sand, or maybe elsewhere!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:14 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

A great visionary article by Andrea Lepore, co-founder of Flavor magazine originally published in 2004 but even more relevant today

The "Kings" Arena
by Andrea Lepore Tuesday, July 18, 2006. 09:22PM

Calling Frank Gehry by Andrea Lepore

Published in the "Stud" Issue of FORK IT, 2004

This is not about the Kings.

This is not about the Maloofs or if you do or don’t care about the team staying or going, or if you think there is nothing wrong with ARCO Arena, or even if you agree or disagree with the Chris Webber trade. This is so much bigger than all of that. This is about the Sacramento region. This is about the direction of the city and our communities. This is about you and me and everyone who lives here after us for years and years to come.

The tale of two cities...

Imagine Sacramento with a Wal-Mart as its anchor, flagship store. The same Wal-Mart that within ten years of staking claim in Iowa, nearly half of the clothing and grocery stores closed. In the 11 store types studied, businesses lost more than $603 million in sales. In that ten-year period, Iowa lost: 555 grocery stores, 591 hardware stores and building supply stores, 422 apparel stores, and 116 drug stores. Imagine Sacramento without Taylor’s or Nugget Markets, East Sac Hardware, any of the new boutiques popping up in Midtown, Pucci’s Pharmacy, or Raley’s and Bel Air. Or how about a downtown similar to the one we had even five years ago that shut down as soon as the offices closed and you couldn’t get a good meal after 8 pm.

Now imagine a Downtown Plaza with Saks Fifth Avenue or Bloomingdales as anchor stores, an Old Sacramento similar to Old Town Pasadena with a European feel, featuring brick loft apartment housing, a variety of restaurants within strolling distance, including Roy’s, Palomino’s, and McCormick & Schmick’s, as well as street side cafes and wine bars, and a W Hotel. Across the Tower and I Street bridges are river front hotels and condominiums, all bringing people back into the hub and heart of Sacramento.

Continue reading "Another View on the 'Kings Arena'" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

The Sacramento Executive was pleased to hold a joint event with the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance and the Sacramento chapter of the American Electronics Association on July 19th. Attached are pictures from the event - thanks to Geof Lambert for being the photographer! Each of our events has consistently attracted more than 100 attendees. This event had more than 160. And valuable connections are being made at each and every event.

Plan on attending our next event on September 20th. Details will be revealed in the next few days.

The biggest thank you goes to our sponsors and to our attendees. Thanks for your support of Sacramento Executive so it can continue 'linking executives to all that is great in Sacramento".

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Join Bill Sullivan, President and CEO of Agilent Technologies, for an exciting discussion on the state of innovation in our country. He will share his insights on how to keep innovation alive in large and small organizations.

Bill led the transformation of Agilent from a diversified technology company to a focused measurement company that leads in its industry. Learn from the expert on how to instill innovation in your company and the key role CEOs and entrepreneurs play in making a company grow through innovation.

Bill understands that making an organization creative and more innovative is a complex task. He will share the key elements that can grow your organization and increase value to your stakeholders. Learn how to stay ahead of the curve and which areas are ripe for innovation and development.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Bill Sullivan talk about innovation and the challenges that lie ahead for organizations in the US. Bill will address:

What areas are ripe for innovation and development
Specific advice for CEOs and entrepreneurs
How to promote intrapreneurship
What does he see as the growth path for Agilent
Where does he see opportunities in the tech and telecom sectors

Where: Sheraton Grand
Networking begins at 6PM
$60 for non-members of the sponsoring group TechCoire

RSVP here

More than 150 executives are signed up to attend!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Ed Ring, the editor of Ecoworld, sends this interesting blog on how to counteract global warming

If increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 could be the ”tipping point,” catalysing the warming of a world already warming from more water vapor because the sun is hottor this millenium compared to the last - the sun does flicker - then why isn’t the “urban heat island effect” a tipping point too? Human civilization is now nearly 50% urban with the percentage rising every year. Densely-packed habitat and urban infrastructure for three billion people creates heat sinks on a planetary scale. Why don’t we plant millions and billions of big canopy trees in every city on earth? Why isn’t every urban heat island on the planet already carpeted with cooling canopies of big shade trees? It wouldn’t cost even one-millionth as much as converting to hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Nobody can say for certain if the glacier on Kilimanjaro is melting away because of more heat, or for lack of precipitation. Certainly with a little more rainfall, that peak would be white year-around through another epoch. So where did the forests go that once marched for thousands of square kilometers up her slopes, bringing rainclouds with them, and why don’t we put them back? If you want a bigger global carbon sink, you could sure make a good start with billions of new trees right there on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, and on all the other denuded slopes in the world, and across the tropics, and everywhere else.

If you are willing to regulate carbon, going to the point of classifying it as a pollutant, why don’t you reforest the Congo basin instead, to absorb more carbon? Why not dig a water tunnel north from the Ubangi River into the Lake Chad watershed? The water might even be gravity-fed, or lifted with pumps powered by thermal collectors. Let’s refill Lake Chad with water from the Ubangi river, and re-green the vast expanses of the Sahel with carbon-absorbing plants.

There seems to be no doubt that the earth is warming. But if the looming catastrophe is so huge we must avoid it at all costs, why don’t we build non-carbon emitting nuclear power plants in Siberia to move 25+ cubic kilometers of fresh water per year from arctic-bound rivers to refill the Aral Sea, and replant the Aral basin? This would help counteract the fresh water being introduced by icecap melt, and would bring the moderating effects of life back to one of the most desicated places on earth. The disappearance of the Aral Sea has been called by Al Gore the biggest environmental disaster in human history.

For the money we would spend on bureaucrats and lawyers every year trying to regulate carbon emissions, we could easily build 50 gigawatts per year of photovoltaic panels that require minimal maintenance. For even less, today, we could do the same with windmills, and we should. Why don’t we stop spending billions on experiments with hydrogen, and instead increase our photovoltaic and windmill capacity so that within twenty years they generate up to 200 quadrillion BTU’s per year?

If the precautionary principle must be invoked - and carbon emissions must be banned - because the potential catastrophe is so huge, then why is a discussion of the risks and benefits of genetically modified crops so unspeakable? If algae was successfully genetically modified to efficiently produce ethanol feedstock, we might have a carbon-neutral biofuel source capable of worldwide production of 50+ million barrels per day.

It is difficult to have a vision of nature and technology in harmony that wouldn’t permit one to believe nuclear power of any kind will ever be feasible. Fusion energy uses limitless fuel and consumes its own waste. Should we forget about that? Genetic modification is bringing us cures to deadly ailments, and preventing countless others. Should we stop learning about that, too? Who can dogmatically say on what grounds an environmentalist might excommunicate an environmentalist?

Reforest the planet, the far flung open forests and the urban forests, everywhere. Maybe that is something we can all agree upon.

Ed Ring
Editor
EcoWorld

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the CATO Institute wrote a piece in 2004 entitled Government-Funded Stadiums Not Worth the Price of Admission. You can read the whole article here.

Here is an excerpt, which seems very appropriate vis a vis the recent announcement regarding the proposed new Sacramento arena:

Stadium advocates have been amazingly successful in taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Some wealthy sports moguls, such as Managing General Partner Al Davis of the NFL Oakland Raiders, have turned mulcting taxpayers into an art form. Raymond Keating, chief economist for the Small Business Survival Committee, estimates that government has poured more than $20 billion (in current dollars) into sports ventures in recent decades.

Yet such facilities once were and continue to be built privately. The only reason more franchise owners decline to construct their own stadiums is because taxpayers so often relieve them of the need to do so.

But there's no reason to sacrifice the interest of taxpayers to that of sports fans. Stadiums are not a good financial investment. Public finance experts Roger Noll and Andrew Zimbalist concluded: "no recent facility appears to have earned anything approaching a reasonable return on investment and no recent facility has been self-financing in terms of its impact on net tax revenues."

Even an attractive project such as Baltimore's Camden Yards, the home of the baseball Orioles, requires upkeep subsidies. Observed F.W. Walz, a Cleveland city councilman, who in 1928 opposed the nation's first subsidized sports facility: "Of course, they say the stadium will pay for itself, but we've heard that story before."

Moreover, new sports projects usually rearrange rather than increase local economic activity and tax collections. For instance, University of Maryland economists Dennis Coates and Brad Humphreys estimated that sports-oriented tax revenues and personal earnings from sports were well under a percent of total revenues and earnings for Baltimore and Maryland.

In fact, sports spending is primarily substitutional. Stanford University economist Roger Noll figured that only 5 percent to 10 percent of those attending games live elsewhere. Local fans divert their outlays from other leisure activities and other areas within the region.

Thus, government stadium "investments" have consistently generated meager results. Robert Baade and Allen Sanderson looked at a dozen metropolitan areas for The Heartland Institute and found no net employment hike. Separately Baade reviewed 36 cities and found no net statistical increase in economic growth.

There's a more important philosophical point. Taxpayers do not owe their lives to franchise holders, restaurateurs, or property owners. Any increased profits for the latter are a private, not public, benefit.

Would a new stadium add value to wherever? Sure. But so would a new retail store or library. Or new cafes and restaurants.

Of course, as long as some politicians somewhere are willing to make their populations pay, sports moguls can threaten to leave. But so what?

Sometimes the threat is empty. Relocation is costly and risky, and thus rare. In any case, which city has suffered from losing a major league team?

Los Angeles prospers without a football franchise; Washington has lost little without a baseball team. People aren't likely to flee San Diego if the city council ever has the courage to say no to endless financial extortion by the Chargers and Padres.

If the only way to prevent a team from moving is to shovel cash into some billionaire sports mogul's hands, it isn't worth it.

After his election win, Marion Barry offered some uncommon wisdom: "Unemployment is going up. Jobs are being cut and you want to spend taxpayers' dollars for a stadium? Give me a break."

Washington, D.C., New York City, or San Diego, city officials across the nation should welcome major league sports teams. But only if they are willing to pay their own ticket.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Ed Wheeler published an interesting perspective on global warming on Eco World - "Global Warming, Is It Real, Are Humans The Cause, And Can Anything Be Done?"

Our recent tongue and cheek reference to the Global Warmng movie starring President Bush deserves due respect and therefore we are compelled to link Sacramento Executive readers to another side of the global warming debate.

Have fun with this series of global warming posts, but keep in mind this debate is very serious and deserves immediate attention.

Publisher's note: Local Sacramento Executive Ed Ring is the editor/publisher of the popular Eco World website.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

We are fair and balanced here at The Sacramento Executive. About a week ago, we suggested the must see movie "An Inconvenient Truth" - a documentary on global warming (www.climatecrisis.net) from the democratic viewpoint, starring Al Gore. We think it is very important to present the republican view...so here it is...the latest movie starring President Bush.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

First, go see An Inconvenient Truth. That will provide you with lots of motivation. Then go visit www.climatecrisis.org. The website gives many ideas as to how you can reduce your impact. Some of them we know all too well - more fuel efficient cars, insulate your home better, recycle, etc. etc. But some of them were new thoughts to me - and pretty simple too.

Unplug your cellphone charger that sits plugged in waiting for you to charge your phone.

Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!

Eat less meat.

Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

Buy locally grown and produced foods

The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.

Buy fresh foods instead of frozen

Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

Seek out and support local farmers markets

They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.

Buy organic foods as much as possible

Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!

For lots more ideas as to how you can make a difference and stop the destruction of our world, visit www.climatecrisis.org

And if you think this is all about Al Gore and his political aspirations, check out Tom Brokaw, the latest convert, when he hosts a program on the Discovery Channel next Sunday (7/16) at 9PM PT. Last I checked, he wasn't running for anything, except retirement!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

This past weekend I saw the movie "An Inconvenient Truth", starring former Senator Al Gore. This is a must see movie. It is the movie of the year!

I stand corrected. The top two issues of America are not health and education - these are number two and three. The number one issue we face is the environment. The movie was a giant eye-awakening event for me. I just didn't know what has been going on regarding our environment. What's amazing is that since the 1970's, I have had my head in the sand on environmental policies. I should know better, but I chose to avoid the environmental issues...not any more.

Dr. Harrison, I owe you a big apology. You spoke so prophetically in the 1970's on energy, environment, and economics - but no one really listened. Perhaps now they will, thanks to Al Gore's message. Dr. Harrison, my former professor of three classes on the issue of the environment, put his money where his mouth was....he funded the Harrison Program.

The Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda promotes research, teaching, and public dialogue on issues related to ecological security, long-term sustainability, energy and environmental policy, global governance, and transnational society. Located within the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, the Harrison Program hosts international visitors, sponsors doctoral students as Harrison Dissertation Fellows, conducts conferences and workshops, sponsors an occasional speaker series, and conducts a vigorous program of research and publication on core program themes.

The Harrison Program is named in honor of University of Maryland Professor Emeritus Horace Harrison, a longtime member of the Department of Government and Politics and a pioneer in university teaching about global issues. Dr. Harrison bequeathed an endowment to the University to support a center and professorship for the study of global environmental problems and related global issues.

I will be writing much more on this hot topic in the coming weeks. To get the juices flowing - does anyone believe global warming is not real?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Good news for the Central Valley. Nuts are good for you. Eat lots of them. So says a study out of Spain, and published in the most recent edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, which studied the effects of a Mediterranean diet on heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol. The results showed that eating the good fats in olive oil and nuts had a much more positive effect on health issues than low fat diets.

So, here's where it gets fun. As if getting to eat lots of olive oil and nuts isn't fun enough. Second highest producing nation of nuts - the United States. And 98% of those nuts come from the Central Valley. (Of course, Lake County, which always seems to be a couple of years out of step, has just ripped up numerous walnut orchards and replaced them with grapevines).

Largest nut producing nation - Iran. Let's hope that's not the next thing we go to war over.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Lindsey Tanner of the the Associated Press poses the question today in her Star Tribune article, "Is it OK for doctors and parents to tell children and teens that they're fat?"

That seems to be at the heart of a debate over a proposal to replace the fuzzy language favored by the U.S. government with the painful truth - telling kids whether they're obese or overweight.

Labeling a child as obese might "run the risk of making them angry, making the family angry," but it addresses a serious issue headon, said Dr. Reginald Washington, a Denver pediatrician and co-chairman of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity task force.

"If that same person came into your office and had cancer, or was anemic, or had an ear infection, would we be having the same conversation? There are a thousand reasons why this obesity epidemic is so out of control, and one of them is no one wants to talk about it."

Unhealthy Americans is one of the two biggest problems that we face today (in my opinion) - the second being our failing educational system. Actually Ms. Tanner's article is rather timely. This past week while visiting my doctor, Kristen Casenave at the Southwestern Medical Center, I told her I was planning to write a book - The Dumbing Down and Fattening Up of America. We talked about the obesity of Americans and she remarked, "Look, if a person is fat we should tell them they are fat." I agree with Dr. Casenave. How can a person fix a problem, if they don't know they have a problem.

It's simple, if you are fat, then you need to be told you are fat. The consequences of being fat are enormous. Fat people are discriminated against by society - in the business world and the dating game. Fat people die prematurely from being fat. Big is not beautiful. It is deadly. If you love your fat child, and you don't tell them they are fat, do you want to see them die from being fat? I don't. I would. It is the right thing to do.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Can it be true? Only 21.7% graduation rate in the Detroit public schools this year? How is this acceptable? What are we doing arming less than a quarter of Detroit's 18 year olds with a high school diploma? Is this a path to prosperity?

More disturbing data, according to Kristin Collins of the National Science Teachers Association - only half of the American Indian and African American students graduated with a diploma this year. And a paltry 55% for Hispanics. The most alarming trend - 30% of our ninth graders across the board are failing to graduate with a high school diploma.

This does not bode well for the future of America. Education is the key to success. Are we on a path to success?

Wow!!!! I am extremely dismayed by these statistics. Further evidence of the dumbing down of America.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Another interesting post at AlwaysOn

So warns MIT’s Henry Jenkins. Government regulations would widen the “Participation Gap” Panic, hysteria and overheated media coverage of privacy issues at MySpace threaten the growth of emerging social networks, says Henry Jenkins“, co-director of the Media Studies program and Professor of Media Convergence at MIT. Henry believes that social networking will be essential to young people as they organize in groups for social and political action. He is concerned that the backlash surrounding the problems with MySpace could force Congress into creating restrictive laws which would bar computers in libraries and school from using social networking software.

Much has been said about the “Digital Divide.” Henry sees a real danger in what he calls the “Participation Gap” – the gap between young people who can participate in social networks and others who are blocked – and says the backlash against MySpace will only widen this gap......

Andy Plesser

I wish we would stop reacting to a very small number of incidents by passing ridiculously restrictive laws. The short-lived attention the politicians get have long-lasting negative effects.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2)

I had a chance to hear Colin Powell speak on Tuesday in Washington D.C. at the AFCEA TechNet 2006 Conference. I thought his speech was great. Little did I know about Mr. Powell's humor. The speech touched on leadership, politics, military, technology, and his life's journey. I was amazed at the depth of his understanding current technology issues.

One area that I didn't agree with was his anti-Michael Moore comments. Why does the mainstream political leadership disrespect Michael Moore so much? Is it fear? Does Michael Moore speak truth or folly? Here's truth - U.S. military deaths continue to mount in Iraq - we are over 2,500 at this time. Does Powell have any remorse regarding the handling of the Iraqi war? He commented that we should have deployed more troops in the region. I was rather surprised by has candidness.

Moving on to other topics, Colin Powell sees the global playing field will focus on three key areas - economics, energy, and education.

I agree with him. I believe education is going to be the discriminator. From a macro perspective, the more educated a nation is the greater the advantage that nation will have on the global playing field. An educated nation will grow in economic standing. An educated nation will see the errors of fossil fuel energy dependency and seek out alternatives. An educated nation will solve problems such as affordable healthcare for all, environmental issues, intolerance of those who are different and crime.

A point of interest on the diplomatic front, if Powell could be granted one wish from a genie, he would wish for a Palestine state living side by side in peace with Israel.

Hopefully some day the genie will grant Colin Powell his wish!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Local entrepreneur, investor and photographer, Mike Posehn, has created a beautiful film that can currently be seen on the Independent Film Channel. The film was shot with a digital still camera over a period of three days in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. The final film was prepared from 35,000 digital photos. The progression of nature over the three day period, enhanced by the beautiful music from the album "Shiva Shakti Om" by Angelika, is a truly awesome sight. And the staggering beauty and simplicity of nature coupled with the complexity of the technology makes for an amazing combination of opposites. Check it out and if you like it, give Mike a high rating. That way, we can see this masterpiece in full screen mode on the IFC Channel.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

As we drove from Sacramento to Dallas, there was almost never a time when we didn't see the pollution. We began our drive down 99 deep into the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, which now has the worst air quality in California (and the highest asthma rates). The air was heavy and the pollution clouded the sky. The next day, we drove on through Bakersfield, Barstow and the Mojave Desert on the way to Phoenix. Everywhere we looked, we could barely define the outlines of huge mountains shrouded in almost opaque air. Even in the desert where one imagines open spaces and clear air, the pollution was seeping in from LA. When we arrived in Phoenix, the temperature was 110 and the air pollution was clearly visible. It really wasn't until we arrived in Texas, just outside of El Paso, that we began to see clearer air, although as we drove closer to Dallas-Fort Worth, the yellow-tinged area was back again.

What amazed me most was not that the air of our cities is polluted, but that the air of our cities is now polluting places I imagined to be pristine. Surely between saving money on gasoline and health care costs, we could make a life changing argument for cleaner burning fuel?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:50 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The California Lecture Series has announced a very exciting new season. I am sad to be leaving having been a charter subscriber. Please consider supporting this series. First, because it's wonderful, entertaining, educational and a great way of stretching your mind every month or so during the fall, winter and spring. Second, because a series like this shows that Sacramento is really growing up and we all need to support that.

So, special event on October 4th - Joan Didion. A Sacramento treasure, National Book Award Winner and Best Selling Novelist, Essayist, Screenwriter and a featured favorite on this site. If you haven't read "The Year of Magical Thinking", you are cheating yourself.

The six lecture series including Alexander McCall Smith, Robert Hess and Terry Tempest Williams, Frank McCourt, Anita Diamant, Sarah Vowell and Paul Rusesbagina.

Every year, it just gets better and better.

Tickets will be on sale soon. In the meantime, for sponsorship information or for more information contact Suzette Riddle at sriddle@californialectures.org

The Sacramento Executive is very proud to be a media sponsor.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (3)

This morning I turned on the weekend version of the Today Show. They were giving the headlines. 5 soliders killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq...blah, blah, blah....the winner of the Kentucky Derby broke its leg coming out of the starting gates of the Belmont at Preaknes. They showed the photo over and over. Co-host Campbell Brown talked about how 'incredibly sad' it was.

Am I crazy, or is the loss of 5 soldiers' lives (today and every day) a little more serious that the fact that a horse (even a winning horse) broke its leg? Don't get me wrong, I am an animal lover - just check my house for all of the strays that now call my house home, but in my book people's lives rate higher.

I think if we showed the 5 soldiers dying over and over again, we might bring our interest in Iraq to a swift halt. Please check out my recent entry on Baghdad ER.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I urge each one of you to watch the HBO special Baghdad ER. It shows a typical few days in the emergency room of a US military hospital in Iraq.

This is the reality of war - the death and maiming of our young. Whether you are pro or antiwar, you must understand fully the realities. The show is unbelievably painful to watch. But watch we must. Because war causes unbelievable pain to so many for so many years to come. There is a reason it's called the horror of war.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Every now and then I pull out a long forgotten piece of information from the deep freeze of my brain. The Abilene Paradox is a perfect example. While in Business Management school over 20 years ago, my professor introduced Jerry Harvey's classic parable on managing agreements (actually disagreement would be a better description). Harvey first published the Abilene Paradox in 1974.

Basically, the Abilene Paradox shows how a group ends up doing something, when not a single person in the group supported the decision in first place. They each assume the others wanted to do it, so they merely went along with the program so not to make waves. Sound familiar? This is a quick fascinating read.

Click here for the entire reprint. What's your thought and reaction?

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Real estate, real estate, real estate. Location, location, location. Sacramento, according to this month's Fortune Magazine, is a Dead Zone. One of seven Dead Zones, Fortune is projecting the price of a home in Sacramento will decline this year. Other dead zones are Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Washington D.C., Phoenix, and San Diego.

What's going on in the California real estate market? Affordability is the key issue. The medium priced home is $561,000. On average, it takes a $134,000 salary to qualify for the medium priced home. How many people in California make this kind of money? Not many.

My own barometer - Bob Shallit of the Sacramento Bee. For the past six months, Bob's column has been full of real estate stories. This no doubt is a strong signal that the local real estate market is poised for a downturn. How big of a downturn are we looking at? My research shows that in the early-nineties, the Sacramento region endured six years of declining prices. If you bought a house in 1990, prices tumbled and it was not until 2000, ten years later, that the medium price of a home in Sacramento returned to the 1990 levels.

Sacramento buyers beware! Prices could fall 5 to 10 percent. And if they do, be prepared for a long recovery. Two nice things though about real estate. Over the long term, Sacramento real estate is a great investment. Also, you can buy real estate just about anywhere. Fortune Magazine suggests seven U.S. cities are safe investments right now, with projections of 3 to 7 percent annual appreciation over the next few years - Cleveland, Columbus, Kansas City, Omaha, Ptitsburgh, Houston, and Dallas.

One of our friends bought a rental triplex in Cleveland last year and is enjoying a nice positive cash flow. We just bought a house in Dallas and will be looking for other Dallas area investments.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Today Pierre received our May issue of Fortune magazine at our new house in Dallas. The cover story is the Real Estate Survival Guide. It lists 19 cites and puts them into 3 categories - dead zone, danger zone, and safe haven.

Sacramento is listed in the dead zone - in the opinion of Fortune magazine, it is overpriced :
Average home price: $363.3
Fair value estimate: $231.1
Percent difference: 57%
Rating: Overpriced
We sold our home in Sacramento two weekends ago in 1 day for more than our asking pricing.

Dallas is listed in the safe haven:
Average home price: $160.8
Fair value estimate: $186.4
Percent difference: -14%
Rating: Fair Value

We bought a house 6 weeks ago in Dallas.

Now that could be termed as a great strategic investment move. We call it dumb luck.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Americans are getting fatter and dumber. This trend is very alarming and will have dire impact on our country in terms of productivity, creativity, and long term economic turmoil. Health and education. These are the two most critical issues facing America today. Every day I see the evidence to support my premise. Here's today's news:

According to the Dallas Morning News, the Associated Press reported that research shows the British are healthier than Americans. To wit: "Americans had higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, strokes, lung disease, and cancer - findings that held true no matter what income or education level." The statistics - diabetes among the British 6% compared to 12.5% for Americans; high blood pressure among the British 34% compared to 42% for Americans; and, cancer among the British 5.5% compared to 9.5% for Americans.

Most alarming is the annual cost of health care - $5,200 per person in America, versus $2,600 in England. What's going on here? Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out (if there are any left here in the U.S.). It's simple - fish and chips washed down with ale is healthier than a supersized combo number four from McDonald's.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Press Release from the CA Department of Corporations

SACRAMENTO -- The state Department of Corporations (DOC) today identified the Top 10 Scams for 2006 that Californians should be aware of to protect themselves from fraud. The release of the information coincides with the California Summit on Financial Literacy being held today at the Sacramento Convention Center.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed this April as California Financial Literacy Month and the list developed by DOC highlights this month's theme of "Prepare Now for a Strong Financial Future." DOC has joined in partnership with the state Department of Financial Institutions during California Financial Literacy Month to alert consumers of the most common and sinister scams that may part them from their money if they are not careful.

"Financial scams are constantly evolving as thieves try to stay one step ahead of law enforcement," said acting Corporations Commissioner Wayne Strumpfer. "Unfortunately, unsuspecting consumers continue to be victims of con artists looking to take their hard-earned money. The best defense against these scams is to be aware and informed."

Californians should always contact DOC before they invest to check the status of the transaction or investment they are considering and the licensing status of the person who is selling it. A toll-free Consumer Resource Center (1-866-ASK-CORP) and language-line service for languages other than English makes the process easy for consumers.

Consumers need to be on the alert for the following scams:

Continue reading "Top Ten Scams for 2006 - California" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

YOUTH VIOLENCE COMMUNITY MEETING
May 1, 2006 @6:30p.m.
3939 Broadway--All Nations Church

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT COMMUNITY MEETING TO SAVE THE LIVES OF SACRAMENTO YOUTH

The last 3 weeks involved several multiple youth homicides throughout the city and/or county of Sacramento. Youth are dying in Sacramento and youth are being convicted to life sentences. Often in 2005 and in recent weeks in the 2006 year youth are considered the suspects for crimes of older and elderly adults. There is a youth violence crisis existing in Sacramento.

Continue reading "YOUTH VIOLENCE COMMUNITY MEETING" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Lots of fun to be had at last week's Sacramento Executive event at the Supper Club
Check out the photos.

Details coming soon re the next event in late July..that's what you guys voted for!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:02 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Over 200 countries are impacted by the Internet, and are looking to make the Internet work to help their people. Many interactions between the United Nations and ICANN, the organization that coordinates top-level domain names, have been made to discuss the future of the Internet and how it can be used to improve the quality of life for the world's population.

IPv6 stands for Internet Protocol Version 6. The current Internet, based on TCP/IP, has been in use in more or less its current form as IPv4 since January 1983. IPv4 uses a 32-bit address, enabling only 4 billion addresses. With increasing demand for IP addresses the supply of new existing addresses becomes smaller and smaller with each passing day. As time goes on cell phones and PDA devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated and Internet enabled, which will create even greater demand for IP addresses. What if we wanted to give every cell phone it's own IP address, so that you would be able to order movie tickets from Fandango, or book a flight to Barbados for the weekend while standing in line at the grocery store? Not enough addresses. What if you wanted to give each car an IP address so that your mechanic will automatically know when it is time for you to schedule an oil change, or if you wanted to learn the current traffic pattern between Dulles International Airport and Leesburg, VA while driving down Interstate 70? There are 56 million new vehicles made each year, and almost 800 million on the road today. Not enough IPv4 addresses for this either. The list continues with dozens of product categories; Boeing estimates that the average home in the US has over 250 different devices that could benefit from being connected to the Internet. Multiply this by 500 million households, and you can see there is a great demand for the current supply of remaining addresses.

Continue reading "What is the New Internet and why is it important?" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:49 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

I have before me resumes of two great candidates. One is about to graduate from UC Davis with a Master's Degree in Molecular Biology; the other with an MBA from Sac State. Both have amazing undergraduate degrees - one has a Bachelor of Science in Cellular Biology and the other a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and minors in Computer Information Systems and English - both graduates of UC Davis. In addition, they will both soon be graduates of the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy, an amazing non-profit organization in Sacramento that through a year long program mentors and coaches young entrepreneurs. One of them spent last summer at a program at Oxford University and had an internship at a London, UK-based venture fund.

So, one would think that potential employers would be fighting each other off to get to these two multi-talented individuals. But, no, they are worrying about what they are going to do for a career when they graduate.

As a region, we need to figure out a much better way of steering this next-generation of senior management and potential new business owners into supportive companies here in the region. And these two are representative of hundreds of more just like them that will get sucked out of this area, their talents lost forever to Sacramento. And we keep saying Sacramento is going to be the center of biotechnology. How is that possible if we let emminently qualified candidates leave the area?

Is anyone ready to step up? Can one of our readers start with helping one or both of these bright, smart, hard-working candidates? If so, I have their resumes and I am very happy to make introductions.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

The Sacramento Speakers Series featured renowned oceanographer Jean-Michel Costeau on Wednesday night. I wasn't very inspired, but I had tickets and my business partner's daughter, who was 14, was excited to attend. So what a great surprise to find him so charming, interesting and thought provoking. And what a sad story he told of the devastation that we are creating in even the most remote areas of the world.

In conjunction with PBS, he has chronicled his travels to and exploration within the remote

Northwest Hawaiian Island Archipelago, the most remote island group in the world. There, they discover diverse wildlife populations above and below the sea and investigate these species' fight against extinction and the devastating effects of pollution, mining, fishing and development.

Check out the first episode at 8PM on PBS on April 5th, the second on April 12th. I think you will be fascinated and maybe even be spurred to consider what you can do to stop the pollution that is reaching even these remote islands.

And try to get your teenage children/grandchildren to watch too. It is important that they see what is happening to the world they will soon inherit.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Pierre has been talking about writing a book on this subject for at least a year. Nothing has spurred him to start writing. Today he saw this cartoon. He is now spurred.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The other day I told my business partner, the outstanding geof lambert, we should design a new product - a way of using a cell phone as a navigational device. I like the idea of a navigational device all by itself, but when added to my IPOD, my XM Radio and my cell phone charger with attached cell phone , there is hardly any room left in the car for me - the driver. As is his usual manner, geof agreed..and then, I am sure, completely forgot about it. This, by the way, is a good way to deal with me. Nod your head approvingly at the many new ideas that pop into my head and out of my mouth every day. And then wait for me ever to mention one of them again, which means I might even be serious about it. geof is terrific at this.

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Verizon has just announced a service just like this...coming soon to one of their cell phones - a Motorola priced at $80. But, with a 2 year contract, you can get the phone for free. (I sound like a Verizon commercial). The service is called VZ Navigator.

Continue reading "Just What I Wanted..Coming Soon" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Brian Steidle, a former Marine captain who served as the United States representative on the African Union’s peacekeeping mission to monitor the conflict in Darfur — where the world’s worst refugee crises is unfolding — will discuss what he saw and photographed in the region during a talk at Sacramento State at 3 p.m., Monday, March 6 in Hinde Auditorium in the University Union.

Steidle's appearance is part of the “Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide,” a 21,000-mile speaking tour of 22 cities in 11 states. His campus visit is sponsored by Sacramento State’s Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution in association with the Sacramento Committee on Conscience. The talk is free and open to the public.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:57 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Ed Ring was the winner of the Ski Trip for Two at the January Sacramento Executive event.
Here is his report:

Gillian, Pierre,

This email is to thank you for having such a great door prize at your first get-together. On Saturday 2-25 my nephew and I took advantage of the offer and joined Alpine Adventures for a trip to Sugar Bowl. We got on the bus at 7 a.m. and slept until they were entering the parking lot. What a great idea - I'm not sure I'll ever drive to a ski resort again for same-day skiing - we got there totally rested and ready to go onto the slopes. At the resort the folks from Alpine Adventures helped us navigate the ski rental ordeal which is always a bit hectic - they kept us company and made sure we got our equipment quickly and with a minimum of fuss. The weather was perfect, we skiied every mountain and rode every lift. I skied every blue run and several black runs, my hot-dog 18 year-old nephew who grew up on skis in Utah skied every black and double black run they had. The lines were short, the lifts were fast, there was no wind and it was sunny all day. We skipped lunch and went for nearly seven hours non-stop. At the end of the day we just had enough time to sit out on the deck at the new lodge beneath Judah mountain. This lodge has a giant deck on the south-west corner, and at 3:30 p.m. last Saturday, there were hundreds of contented skiers relaxing at the tables in their shirtsleeves, enjoying bright sun that brought the temperature up over 60 degrees. The smell of burgers and beer washed over us, there was a musician singing and playing guitar off to one corner, the white snow-covered mountains shone all around us, the air was clean and crisp, the sun was warm and it felt like a small slice of paradise. All in all taking this ski trip was a perfect way to spend a day after watching the winter olympics for the last two weeks. The ride back was comfortable and we were able to rest and relax instead of fight the traffic. Alpine Adventures is a class operation, we were made to feel like VIPs, and I can't thank you enough for offering their prize. We enjoyed it to the fullest.

Ed

Thanks Alpine Adventures for donating such a great prize. You can check out their website here

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Customer support is alive and well at Maui Jim. My husband bought a pair of these pretty expensive sunglasses several years ago. He bought them not because they were in fashion but because they fit him well. At least three times during the intervening years, he has sent them back for repair under the warranty program offered by the sunglass manufacturer. And every time they come back completely renewed.

A couple of weeks ago the screw fell out of one of the arms. The fact that he had found the sunglasses after a week at the bottom of our pool might have had something to do with that! We bundled them up and mailed them in. As soon as I mailed them, I realized I forgot to include the check for $8.95 for repair. So a couple of days later I called the company. They told me that they had already fixed them and we were receiving a one-time complimentary repair.

A couple more days later and the sunglasses arrive with a completely new frame.

We would certainly buy Maui Jims again...if we ever need to...these ones seem to go on forever.

Thanks Maui Jim...you really take good care of your customers..

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Thanks to Pat Livingston, one of the artists at the Sacramento Executive event, who has sent a link with some great photos. Check it out Type in executive and the imagery will show up.

Thanks Pat, they look terrific.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:54 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Sacramento Executive announces our upcoming event which continues our mission to link executives to all that is great in Sacramento. The Supper Club located on Del Paso Blvd is a triumph on the Sacramento dining scene. And one of its best kept secrets. Housed in an urban space and expertly tended by David Berkeley veterans, Matt and Yvette Woolston, the Sacramento Magazine says “The Supper Club is the place to Dine with a capital D — a place to savor with the eyes and the taste buds incredibly prepared food at tastefully adorned tables. This is an “occasion” restaurant.”

So what better place to hold Sacramento Executive's next quarterly collaboration building on the rave reviews of the January event at Mason's? Two hundred people registered for the event and had some great things to say. Check out the photos and more here.

Registration will include heavy hors d'oeuves and wine pairings. The all inclusive price before March 20th is $60. The cost will rise to $70 thereafter. Yvette has promised that no one will leave hungry and having experienced the quality and quantity of their exquisite appetizers at a previous event, I am absolutely sure she is correct.

We are looking forward to seeing you on the 19th. Please be sure to register right away because January's event sold out, people are asking on a daily basis to be added to our invitation list to the next event, and this venue is smaller than the previous one. It would be a shame if you wanted to attend and we had had to close out registration.

As always, no speeches, no interruptions. Just great business contacts, catching up with old acquaintances and meeting new ones, some special guests and some great prizes.

Register here. We think you are really going to love the Supper Club.

Gillian Parrillo
Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The unemployment rate is hovering around 4.7% nationwide. This is down from a high of more than 6% in mid 2003. Steadily, the tide is shifting from an “employer-driven market” to one where job seekers and career changes are in charge.

The Bureau of Labor statistics projects labor shortages of more than 10 million worker by 2010. This is fueled by the impending boomer retirement and an ever-increasing need for creative, nimble workers who can solve problems in a changing work environment. Strong reasoning skills, excellent communication skills and the ability to innovate will be in great demand.

So, what does this mean to you? If you are one of those “workers”, it increasingly makes no sense for you to stay with a job you dislike. It’s the right time to direct your career and your future, taking advantage of the developing talent shortage.

Continue reading "An Employee Driven Market" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

From Marketing VOX

The total number of U.S.-based searches conducted across approximately 60 search engines in December reached nearly 5.1 billion - or an increase of 55 percent from the 3.3 billion searches conducted in Dec. 2004, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Google accounted for nearly half - 48.9 percent - of the searches.

That's a lot of trips to the library that are not necessary anymore? Do you even remember what life was like before the Internet? And some people thought it was just a fad!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:22 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

This article originally appeared in the January 15, 2006 edition of the Casey Energy Speculator, a monthly newsletter which focuses on junior exploration energy stocks. It's a very thought-provoking piece on what is causing the high price of oil.

All kinds of theories have been floated over the past few years to explain the rapidly rising price of oil. But few analysts have noted that expensive crude might not be a function of supply and demand, but rather a simple function of inflation.

Since the younger Bush took office, the U.S. has been frantically printing money to stave off recession and keep the bloated American economy from collapsing. Fiat dollars have made their way around the world and now constitute the major foreign currency holdings of most countries. Central banks in China and Japan hold an estimated combined total of $1.3 trillion. With the modern equivalent of printing presses going flat-out, the world supply of money has almost doubled since 2000, from less than $2.5 trillion to just below $4.5 trillion. Interestingly, as money supplies have increased, so too have oil prices. While there are certainly other factors at work, it is hard to ignore the correlation between the doubling of the money supply and the rise in crude.

Continue reading "Is the Declining Dollar Causing High Oil Prices?" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Over the past couple of months I questioned the United States' position banning Cuba's baseball team from playing in the World Baseball Classic tournament in Puerto Rico in March. Per a recent post, the U.S. has reversed their decision.

When this issue first hit the mainstream press late last year, I petitioned my Congresswoman Doris Matsui, encouraging her to work to get this situation resolved. It gives me great pleasure to share with you a letter that I received today from Congresswoman Matsui on the Cuban embargo topic. Very seldom will I push a political issue in the Sacramento Executive forum. But in this case, because Matsui is a local Sacramento Congresswoman, I feel it is appropriate to communicate in this forum her view on Cuba. I recognize that this may be an opinion not shared by the majority of U.S. citizens, but it is extremely valuable to hear the dissenting opinion once in a while.

Dear Pierre:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the World Baseball Classic and U.S. policy towards Cuba. I appreciate the time you have taken to inform me of your views on this important issue.

As you may know, the Bush administration recently reversed its original decision to bar Cuba from participating in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. The Cubans will now be allowed to send a team to play in this first-ever international tournament. This is a positive development, and I believe that the time is right to expand our relationship with Cuba. Often, policies such as our approach towards Cuba are legislated through amendments to the annual appropriations bills. This year was no exception, and I voted for several amendments that would have eased the hard-line positions towards Cuba that were put in place during the Cold War and have been strengthened by the current Bush administration.

Specifically, I supported amendments that would have ended the outdated economic embargo, would have made it easier to send humanitarian aid, and would have eased the current travel restrictions. Unfortunately, all of these amendments were defeated. Please be assured that I will continue to monitor the situation, and will keep your comments in mind should any further legislation concerning Cuba come to the floor of the House of Representatives.

Again, thank you for letting me know your views on this matter. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui
Member of Congress

Just maybe, Congresswoman Matsui will help me fulfill my life long dream - to be able to own a grand old house in Havana.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Another meeting, another parking meter, no quarters. Is this on purpose, so I will for sure get a parking ticket?
And then I read an article about a parking meter that is actually user-friendly and gives municipalities five times the amount of revenue of current on-street meters. Nirvana.

Photo Violation Technology recently announced its parented PhotoViolationMeter. Product trials are underway.
Drivers have the option of paying by coin (multiple currency accepted), phone, debit, credit card, or smart card, right at their vehicle. User friendly options include a No-Fine option (where you have paid up front via credit card and the meter can automatically keep adding time until the vehicle pulls away), and a Grace Period option, which allows payment at the meter for expired time, rather than receiving a violation.

On the municipality-friendly side, the meter can enforce itself by issuing photo violations automatically. This drastically cuts down on violation disputes and court time by providing a picture of the offending license plate.

Come on, Mayor Fargo. Let's jump into the future, bring parking in Sacramento into the 21st century and stop once and for all those little three wheel vehicles doing U-turns to beat citizens to their car to give out those $50 tickets.
Now how will the City spend all that extra revenue?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Six years ago, Lichine's Liquor at 7101 South Land Park Drive (at 13th Street, just north of Florin Road), sold a $5M California Lottery ticket. Saturday they sold one of the two winning tickets for the $9M jackpot. Lichine's ranks 10th in the state in gross lottery ticket sales. Word has it that a regular customer walked in today to check his numbers with no clue at all that he was a winner. Minutes later he was on track to receive 26 annual payments starting at $113K and increasing to a final payment of $229K.

Since the lottery began, there have been 107 winners of $1M or more in Sacramento County.

Who's going to be next?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Mayor Heather Fargo, the Sacramento Police and Fire Departments and the Department of Utilities will hold a meeting at Sam Brennan Middle School, 5301 Elmer Way, Sacramento, tonight from 6:30-8:00PM to discuss the latest information for Sacramento neighborhoods on Emergency Disaster Preparedness. Updates will be provided on Levee Conditions, Rescue Information, Where to Go. and Emergency Information. For more infomation call 916-808-7464.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

The Crowd at Mason's Park Ultra Lounge

Scott Steward of NetSales with Advisory Board Member Marilyn Edling, recently retired VP from HP

Amira Menoufy and Belen Calaza, Delegata

Andy Eppinger, Sacramento Speakers Series and Event Sponsor and Sacramento Angel CEO, John Allen, Merrill Lynch CAL Group

Barbara Grant, American River Ventures and Christina Borberly - Third and Fourth from Left

Registration Desk - Sherria Weiss, Event Sponsor Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman and Will Merchad and John Williams , Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy 2006 Class Members

More to come shortly. And if you are not on our mailing list for the next event, send us an email
Gillian@sacramentoexecutive.com.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (3)

* Energetic crowd * Great turnout * Fantastic venue * Large amount of new people but solid representation from the "old guard" * Genuinely fun Great job on the initial event --let's get everyone to bring a friend next time!!

We really made a lot of wonderful contacts. Pierre was like a gracious host, stopping by throughout the evening to make sure we were getting what we needed.

WoW! what a fun event with such excellent people! I found it to be an excellent network opportunity to meet some cool people from alot of interesting companies. I even ran into some old HP compadres.

Just wanted to say congratulations on the outstanding inaugural Sacramento Executive event last night – it was really superb, a great location, great turnout, great mix of people. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Well first of all I want to say that your event was undoubtedly the best one I've been to in this town in my six years living here. Some of the comments on your website echo my own sentiments - it wasn't stuffy, and it was in a great place. I think your own personalities - fun loving and spontaneous - and your own motivations - not trying to promote your business or whatever but just wanting to create a good time and help build the community - were reflected in the atmosphere and are the reason it was such a success. Thank you very much for doing this.

You definitely hit a home run with this one.

It was nice to see some familiar faces and I am beginning to feel like home more now in Sacramento.

And like the Venture Capitalist above says, everyone bring a friend next time.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:07 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Last night Sacramento Executive held their first get-together. We had over 180 people in attendance at Mason's Ultra Park Lounge. It was fun to listen to the buzz and watch people meet each other for the first time or catch up after not seeing each for a long time. The feedback was very positive. "This is fun", "I met so many great people", "Networking usually feels like hard work, but this feels like a party." "I loved that the vibe was so relaxed and non-stuffy". Or received this morning, "I am glad that I came to your event. You should be proud of the response and turn out. It was nice to see some familiar faces and I am beginning to feel like home more now in Sacramento."

So, if you came, I hope you had a great time. And if you didn't, I hope you come next time - we will announce a late April date soon. And in the meantime, the winners of last night's prizes:

Two tickets to the Sacramento Speaker's Series event tonight featuring Jane Bryant Quinn - Neil Paschall
The new book by Jane Bryant Quinn - John Argo
Two tickets to the Sacramento Kings - Utah game - Barbara Grant
A free consultation and two free workouts at Get Physical for Fitness - Mark Ferreira, Allison Goodman, Doug Cook
Ski trip by Alpine Adventures - Ed Ring
Two tickets to the SF Giants - Wendy Sipple

To claim your prize, contact me via email

And finally a big thank you to the sponsors
Merrill Lynch CAL Group, Comerica Bank, Montgomery Professional Services, Coldwell Banker, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Grubb & Ellis. And other in-kind supporters: Amplify, Hoppy's, Crystal Basin Cellars, Goodchap Design and the students and alumni from the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. And especialy Tricia Quan. Thank you for supporting my germ of an idea and turning it into a reality.

M7 Design is already signed up as a sponsor for the next event. If you would like to get sponsorship details, please contact us.

And if you have friends or business acquaintances you would like to have added to our mailing, let us know.
And if you have suggestions for making the next event even better, we would love to hear them.

And please send us stories, comment on posts. Let's continue the buzz from last night on the website.

Thanks to all for being a big part of Sacramento Executive and their aim to make Sacramento a better place for business, fun, and giving back

Gillian Parrillo
Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Some people have asked about the event tonight.
First, it's sold out. We have 180+ people registered.
The event starts at 5:30-8:30PM
Mason's Park Ultra Lounge15th and L Street
Note: 15th is one way North to South and L is one way East to West.
Valet parking at the restaurant is $5.00
Limited parking at parking meters in the area - free after 6PM - bring quarters if you come earlier
Public lots at 10th and L, 12th and L, 12th and J, and 13th and J
Appetizers and a chance to sample some free beer and wine (while supplies last) and a no-host bar.
The venue has a pretty strict dress code, so if you choose casual, please make it business casual
Bring lots of business cards for networking and prize drawings.
See you then
Regards
Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2)

Here are excerpts from their press release:

The Center for Genetics and Society (CGS), a public interest and advocacy group, today released a comprehensive progress report critically evaluating the first year of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the agency running California's new multi-billion dollar stem cell research program. The report assesses the CIRM's performance, assigns grades in key areas, and offers specific policy recommendations. The overall grade it assigns for the CIRM's first year is C-.

Continue reading "Group Rates Stem Cell Program - Gives it a C-" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Here are excerpts from their press release:

The Center for Genetics and Society (CGS), a public interest and advocacy group, today released a comprehensive progress report critically evaluating the first year of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the agency running California's new multi-billion dollar stem cell research program. The report assesses the CIRM's performance, assigns grades in key areas, and offers specific policy recommendations. The overall grade it assigns for the CIRM's first year is C-.

Continue reading "Group Rates Stem Cell Program - Gives it a C-" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

12/20/05 Jesus Zamora Hernandez 28 years murdered

12/22/05 Daniel Valdez III, 17 years of age murdered

12/22/05 Tina Valdez, 18 years of age murdered

12/27/05 Eric Bluford, 20 years of age

1/1/06 24 year old male with life threatening injuries injured at New Years Eve Party

1/1/06 Koron Kyle Lyles, 21 year old murdered

1/3/06 James Ramirez, 18 years of age murdered.

1/5/06 unidentified male shot in back while driving near MLK Blvd and 47Th Ave

1/6/06 Devin Lepierro, 24 years of age fatally shot by police

1/6/06 11 year old Arturo Islas was shot in the head, his 17 year old neighbor shot in the back.

1/7/06 Robert Francisco Maisonet, 15 years old murdered

and counting...

And history is repeating itself. The 15 year old murdered 1/7/06 was the son of a 19 year old named Robert Maisonet who was murdered in 1993. A 16 year old was given life for the murder.

What is our answer - to keep arresting those we can find, to lock them up, to build more youth camps, jails and prisons? Or could we figure out how to put more money into prevention? More Boys and Girls Clubs? More programs like NCCT? More mentors and tutors? More hope? More GEDs? More scholarships? More something different?

Let's get some new ideas circulating. What are your ideas?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (4)

I was lucky enough to be the recipient of a last minute email invite by a friend to attend the John Edwards event last night at the Mondavi Center. It encompassed a meet and greet over cocktails, a dinner at which the former Senator spoke, and his speech in the main auditorium.

Since his unsuccessful run for Vice President, Senator Edwards has been leading the University of North Carolina's Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. He is laser-focused on finding ways to improve the lot of the 37 million Americans who live in poverty (up a million in just a year, according to the Senator). While he did talk briefly about other issues - Iraq, health care, a strategy for the Democrats returning to power - his major focus was on poverty reduction.

Continue reading "John Edwards at Mondavi Center" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Neil Peirce a member of the Washington Post Writers Group pens a thought-provoking article about the immgiration dilemma with which this country is struggling. In the article, he details a plan put forth by Fresno businessman, Peter Weber.

This is an excerpt:

... a Republican businessman from Fresno, Calif., is proposing a truly thoughtful formula we might start debating. He's Peter Weber, himself an immigrant from Lima, Peru, in 1959. Now retired from CEO-level positions in several major corporations, Weber has plunged into civic leadership roles in Fresno -- a city especially heavily impacted by immigration.

Continue reading "Fresno Businessman Proposes New Immigration Plan" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Andy Furillo reports today in the Sacramento Bee that Governor Schwarzenegger and Duf Sundheim, the Chairman of the California Republican party met to discuss the controversy of the appointment of Patricia Kennedy, former Governor Gray Davis' aide, as his Chief of Staff. (See earlier story). After the meeting, Mr. Sundheim was quoted as saying, "I think he made it very clear that she is there to implement his policies," Sundheim said. "She's totally committed to that, and we support his decision. He has the right to pick who he feels would do the best job to implement his vision."

Great, so everything is back on track and everyone is happy and can get along again? So they say, but read between the lines and a little deeper into the story. And I quote from the Bee story:

Continue reading "Republicans make peace with Schwarzenegger over Kennedy?" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Let’s imagine that we could make the Internet accessible to millions of children around the world. Let’s imagine how that would change the world as we know it. Frankly, I don’t think I can imagine the entire impact that it would have, it’s just too vast, but it would certainly be one of those giant steps that the world takes every 50 years or so. An amazing non-profit organization, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) created by faculty members from the MIT Media Lab, and led by Nicholas Negroponte announced, in January of this year, a goal to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. The laptops would be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines would be rugged, Linux-based, and so energy efficient that hand-cranking alone could generate sufficient power for operation. Mesh networking would give many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal would start near $100 and then steadily decrease. What a goal!

Continue reading "Imagine One Laptop Per Child - Sacramento Challenge" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Sacramento's Community Service Planning Council released a draft of the "10-year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness" in November. This draft document sets forth conceptual strategies to address chronic homelessness in Sacramento over the next ten years. The Council is soliciting county residents for feedback and suggestions on the plan. Click here for more information.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

Little did I know when I traded in my attorney power suits to stay at home and raise my three children that not only would I be supervising play dates and changing dirty diapers, but I would also be putting my professional skills to work to raise money for my children’s schools. The public elementary school that my son attends as a kindergartener this year must raise an unprecedented $100,000 just to maintain the music, physical education and technology based instruction that I took for granted when I attended elementary school just 30 years ago.

Continue reading "Raising Kids and Money Too!" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

The world has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. In 1979, I entered Monterey’s Defense Language Institute to learn Russian. While I was learning Russian, Mikhail Gorbachev joined the Soviet Union’s Politburo. One year later and armed with my Russian language skills and a top-secret special access clearance, I set off to Europe to ply my military intelligence training against the so-called “evil empire” of the Soviet Union.

Continue reading "Mikhail Gorbachev - Man Of The Century" »

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (2)

A quick search on the Internet and I am reminded how long Susan Kennedy has been the Chief of Staff for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - 6 days, 23 hours, 14 minutes and 2 seconds....and counting. Actually, the website www.StopSusanKennedy.com marks the countown 'as the time since the Governor handed over the keys of Administration to Gray Davis Democract Susan Kennedy.' The California Republican Party Board issued a memo that in part said: 'The CRP Board of Directors strongly disagrees with this appointment, and we will be meeting personally with the Governor to discuss this issue and plans for 2006." The Democrats have been surprisingly quiet, which is a sure sign that they are secretly delighted and are smelling a distinct victory.

Continue reading "Can't We Try Something Different?" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Kenneth and Timothy Ouimet founded KhiMetrics in 1997 in Sacramento.

They built a product to deal with 'price optimization'. Almost no one had heard of price optimization. The brothers were ahead of the market. But a few people believed in them. One or more were members of the Sacramento Angels, an Angel investor organization. They invested seed capital in the startup.

But then the company needed additional funding and no local funding was to be found.

In November 1999 the Compay received $3M in funding from Telos Ventures Partners of Palo Alto, CA.

They got a new CEO. The CEO had run successful companies in Arizona. The company moved to Scottsdale, AZ.

Continue reading "KhiMetrics - A Sacramento Story of What Could Have Been" »

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

New home builders are offering incentives to buyers this month. Six months ago there was a waiting list a mile long to get a new house.
Inventory of resale homes is growing.
There was a small increase in mortgage defaults this quarter.
The market is definitely slowing, especially at the higher end.
Some experts think the pricing boom will end, but there won't be a bust.
What do you think? Weigh in.....

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:35 AM | Permalink | Can you digg it? | Comments (1)

Early next year your travel experience at Sacramento International Airport could get a lot less tedious. By paying a fee of approximately $100 and getting pre-screened, which includes being fingerprinted, having your eyeball screened and passing a background check, you will be able to pass through a special pre-screened line at the airport, saving considerable waiting time.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors recently approved installation of the Clear system offered by Verified Identity Pass, Inc. at the Sacramento International Airport. This will be the second system in use in the United States. The first was installed at Orlando International Airport in Florida in July of this year and already has more than 10,000 members paying $79.95 each.

There have been no complaints about preferential treatment or privacy issues so far from Orlando. The biggest benefit reported is that pre-screened travellers no longer have to arrive at the airport an hour (or two) in advance.

But experts are concerned about invasion of privacy issues. And what's to stop a terrorist with no criminal record paying $100 and slipping through security?

Weigh in. Do you think the benefits outweigh the negatives?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?

On Tuesday evening, November 8, Sacramento's City Manager, Bob Thomas, formally announced his retirement. According to the Sacramento Bee, Thomas will retire effective December 31.

Readers, do you know the details behind this sudden departure? Do you think this is a positive or negative thing for the City? We would like to hear from you. Please weigh in with your opinions and comments. (Photo taken by Sacramento Bee's Hector Amezcua).

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Can you digg it?