Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The Nevada City Chamber emailed me this announcement:

Barbi Jackson of Scott Jackson’s Real Life Fitness was elected Monday as 2011 President of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce.

Gary Tintle, owner of Tintle Inc., was elected as the chamber’s president-elect and Bob Buhlis of Nevada City Postal Co. was elected as treasurer.

Other board members are:

Michelle Litton, THE FRIENDSHIP CLUB
Jesse Locks, NEVADA CITY FILM FESTIVAL
David Painter, SPD MARKETS
Jim McConnaughay, COUNTRY COLLECTIBLES
Bob Weiner, JUDI’S OF NEVADA CITY
Peggy Peterson, ASYLUM DOWN
Dave Iorns, NEVADA CITY CRYSTAL & GLASS
Mike Byrne, THE WILLO
Kimberly Barnes THE FUR TRADERS
Tom Coleman, NATIONAL HOTEL

The new officers will be installed at the 109th Installation and Awards Dinner on Jan. 29 at the Miners Foundry.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Here’s the holiday card from the NorCal Tea Party Patriots. Though I enjoy the “Merry Christmas” greeting, it does sort of exclude the “Happy Hanukkah” and “Happy Kwanzaa” groups:

Filed under: Uncategorized | 58 Comments »

“Meg Whitman’s former lead spokesman is starting to speak up about the candidate’s losing race for governor,” the L.A. Times is reporting. “And he’s shouting about the need for Republicans to stop the demagoguery over illegal immigration.”

Whitman lost to Jerry Brown by 54 percent to 41 percent, despite spending a record $160 million-plus, roughly $142 million of it her own money.

The mini-landslide size of Whitman’s loss is being blamed on dust-ups over illegal immigration that alienated Latinos from the GOP, as The Times notes.

On Nov. 2, a record 22 percent of the California electorate was Latino and are by far California’s fasting-growing voter group. “They voted heavily for Democrat Brown — somewhere between 64 percent and 80 percent, depending on which poll you believe,” according to the Times.

“Republicans need to understand that they live in suburbs with second-generation Mexican American neighbors whose parents came here and worked in agriculture and the service industries and are very proud” of their families’ success, Rob Stutzman told the Times.

The article is here.

Around here the extreme right — including our “electeds” Tom McClintock and Dan Logue, as well as CABPRO supporters — are still deeply entrenched in demagoguery over illegal immigration. CABPRO’s “Keeping an eye on California’s evolving demographics” is here.

Exit question: Can the local hard right stop the illegal immigrant demagoguery for the benefit of Republicans in California?

Filed under: Uncategorized | 12 Comments »

If rain or clouds don’t obscure the sky tonight, a total eclipse of the moon will be visible — here and across the nation.

This one starts at 9:55 p.m. and will be total at 11:41 p.m. It ends at 12:53 a.m. Tuesday.

“It’s a really democratic event,” Andrew Frakoni told the San Francisco Chronicle, “because you don’t need an expensive telescope or any other sophisticated equipment to enjoy the spectacle – just your eyes or, if you like, a pair of binoculars.”

The weather forecast projects clouds and a high chance of rain tonight, but it’s worth a peek.

Otherwise, a website called shadowandsubstance.com will show a NASA video of the total lunar eclipse.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Though little noticed, Congress passed the Local Community Radio Act this weekend, opening the radio spectrum to hundreds, if not thousands, of local independent radio stations (also known as LPFM).

It caps a 10 year effort to get such legislation passed by grassroots media democracy groups, including civil rights groups, musicians and “garage-bound radio dreamers.”

“Anyone tracking the rise of radio personalities like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage understands the primary political significance of gaining access to spectrum,” writes Timothy Karr in The Huffington Post.

The new law creates the opportunity for many more stations to occupy unused space on the FM dial.

As with the internet, removing the bottleneck of communications is boost to rural areas including ours.

More details are here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »