Posted by E!!
on November 21, 2008
Uncategorized /
8 Comments
September 17, 2008
Hi,
I finally figured it out!
I have decided to settle down and get serious about a career in Public
Garden Management and Horticulture. This decision allows me to work in
areas where public transportation is readily available, work in a greenhouse
environment, avoid the stress of production related capitalism, contribute
to the beauty of urban areas, preserve plants for future generations, and
educate people who are really interested in plants. It also solves the
dilemma about what I want to do when I grow up, because this way I can do a
little of everything.
Cornell and the University of Delaware both have fellowship only programs
for Master’s degrees (both fully funded with a living stipend). There are
other programs out there as well.
I have joined the Horticulture club as an active member (I might consider
running for an office) and am taking an extracurricular Urban Gardeners
Program with a 40-hour community service requirement at the local community
greenhouse (Hunter Park in Lansing – 2 minutes from my door walking). I am
working on a proposal for an internship with Beal Gardens here at MSU,
probably revamping the website and working on grant acquisition as we all
know that I can weed just fine.
Now to 4.0 everything and do well on the GRE.
Love,
Me
“Cultivated plants are neatly planted; wild plants flourish in chaos.”
– Susun Weed
Tags: botany, garden, gardens, horticulture, Krista Lueth, Lansing, MI, Michigan, Michigan State, missing, MSU, News, police, program, report, search, student, studies
Posted by E!!
on October 23, 2008
ACORN /
No Comments
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Yesterday the
New York Times ran an interesting story on page A17. Excerpts and sum-up (it’s a pretty long piece):
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Apparently an internal report by an ACORN lawyer admits the possibility that there have been violations of federal law in re: to the relationships among ACORN’s partners and affiliates.
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The June 18 report, written by attorney Elizabeth Kingsley, lists concerns about the improper use of charitable dollars for political purposes; questionable
money transfers among the affiliates; and potential conflicts created by employees working for multiple affiliates. In addition to these problems and all the inquiries into its
voter registration efforts, ACORN also faces demands for back taxes by the
Internal Revenue Service and various state tax authorities.
Ms. Kingsley’s concerns about the way ACORN partners work together are sure to fire up critics already upset over ACORN’s voter registration efforts which, as it has been pointed out, are largely underwritten by an affiliated charity called ”Project Vote.” The group hires ACORN to do voter registration work, and the two groups claim to have registered 1.3 million voters this year.
The problem is that as a federally tax-exempt charity, Project Vote is subject to prohibitions on partisan political activity…but ACORN, a nonprofit membership corporation under Louisiana law, is not bound by the same restrictions. Ms. Kingsley says that the close ties between Project Vote and ACORN make it difficult to document and show that Project Vote’s money has been used in a strictly nonpartisan manner.
Ms. Kingsley’s report also raised concerns about which organization actually controlled all the strategic decisions. She said that the very same people were deciding which regions to focus on for both ACORN and Project Vote. “As a result, we may not be able to prove that 501(c)3 resources are not being directed to specific regions based on impermissible partisan considerations,” Ms. Kingsley said.
Kingsley also took issue with the governance of ACORN affiliates including Project Vote. “Board meetings are not held, or if they are, minutes are not kept, or if minutes are kept, they never make it into the files,” she wrote. Project Vote has had only one independent director and he worked for a short two year stint. Since then the board has consisted of ACORN staff members and two members who pay monthly dues.
But two people listed as board members for 7 and 8 years, respectively, say they were not aware they were on the Project Vote board. One of them, George Hampton, said he had never even heard of Project Vote. And even though Project Vote recently assembled a new board, five of the six new members have longstanding ties to ACORN.
Tags: 501(c)3, ACORN, Board, charitable, charity, federal law, fraud, illegal, IRS, Kingsley, New York Times, Project Vote, report, voter
This 2006 Pew Hispanic Center report is entitled and contains “Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population” by state. Nevada is 15th with between 150,000 and 200,000 illegals. As you’d expect, California and Texas are #1 and #2 followed by Florida, New York and Arizona. When combined, the illegal population of these five states is estimated at between 5.6 and 6.4 million.
The top ten list is rounded out by Arizona, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey and North Carolina. States with the lowest totals (under 10,000 each) are Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Maine, Vermont, North Dakota, Montana, and West Virginia.
What struck me most about the report was not numbers but the title. The word “Unauthorized” in place of the more commonly used “Illegal” smacks of political correctness. But I suppose it’s not as bad as other words that could have been used like: Non-certified, Unaccredited and/or Unempowered.
Really, I’m surprised some Lefty pro open borders group hasn’t already dreamed up that last PC label and re-cast our illegal population as “Unempowered Newcomers.”
Tags: by state, Hispanic, illegals, migrants, Pew Center, population, ranked, report, Unempowered Newcomers
