Valley Character Seeks Board Nominations

As you may know, I am a member and a new Board Member of Valley Character which is an organization committed to character development in the greater Roanoke Valley: www.valleycharacter.org

Valley Character is responsible for programs such as the Sportsmanship Awards, Ethics in the Workplace, Hope Follows Work, and Character Counts in our area schools.

Valley Character is seeking 5 new energetic board members to expand our involvement in the community.

Board members are expected to have a strong belief that character development is essential to our community, and be willing to work for it. If you or someone you know is willing to work hard to improve the character development in our valley, I encourage you to nominate yourself or someone you may know by emailing me at sam@samrasoul.us.

Please respond with your full name and contact information (and the contact information of your nominee if necessary) and someone will contact you shortly. Please have your nominations in by February 24th.

My participation with Valley Character has been enjoyable over the years and watching this organization help our community has been my pleasure. I hope you will consider becoming active in helping Valley Character.

We Did It For Yahiya From Gaza

As you may know, I work with and am now a new board member of an organization called The Hope Fund (http://www.thehopefund.org) which provides scholarships for Palestinian refugees to come and study in the United States and obtain a 4-year college degree. This is a great opportunity to help educate the Palestinian youth in need.

Today I have good news. Last month I asked for your help for a young man named Yahiya from GAZA to attend Roanoke College, a private liberal arts college in my area and WE DID IT! We needed to raise $8715 by February 15th and we raised $10,015 with more checks still coming in!

The balance will go towards Yahiya's 2010 account balance with 2009 being the first of four years he will spend at Roanoke College obtaining a Bachelor's Degree. Roanoke College has graciously agreed to pay for the tuition (the most expensive part, over $30,000) every year. The Hope Fund pays for travel, books, health care and other expenses, and I find donors to cover the room and board expenses for Yahiya.

The Hope Fund has helped dozens of young Palestinian refugees start a new life by obtaining a college degree in America that helps these students escape the violence in Palestine and dream of something bigger. If you would like to help by sponsoring a student or just learn more about The Hope Fund, please contact me by email or by phone at 540.312.9449.

Da'Mes Appointed To The Planning Commission

I am honored to announce that MuAwia Da'Mes has been appointed to the HarrisonburgCity Planning Commission by the new city council.

MuAwia is a tireless worker who impressed so many this past election cycle workingfor Sam Rasoul For Congress and other candidates. Some of you may only know me because of this young man with four kids. MuAwia wrote to me:

"As you know, my disposition is to become completely committed to what I get involvedin without any intention of personal gain. I can only hope to live up to the expectationsafforded me by Council's selection as its my understanding they had 8 requests forconsideration with only two openings and they took extra steps in the vetting processby interviewing the candidates, most of which were highly qualified and whom I respectand know for their community activism. As you can imagine their selection was humblingand I consider it an honor."

MuAwia's parents immigrated from Palestine many decades ago and he has grown up in Harrisonburg. A special thanks to his loving wife, Heather, who allows him togive so much back to his community.

Best of luck to MuAwia and look out in years to come for him to make a strong impactin the Valley.

Healthcare In Crisis: Virginia Public Forum

Please try to attend.

Greatest Dangers Are From Within

Eventful as the last few months may seem, the infamy of this era may live on in the history books as marking the demise of our great Republic. With the massacre in Gaza, unrest in Africa, and world economic recession at the top of our minds, American citizens must realize that the greatest threat to the world would be a rapid deterioration of the United States as the world’s lone remaining superpower.

Contrary to neo-conservative views, while terrorism is of utmost importance for the federal government, economic and political instability are the greatest threats to our nation’s long-term viability. Under attack, our political and economic freedoms are in danger due to the abuse of our financial systems and widespread political corruption.

Economic Woes

Our economic solution must focus on how the stimulus package is spent, should include health care reform, and needs to be mindful of inflationary dangers. Obama has recently announced $300 billion in tax cuts as part of his economic stimulus package, which will account for some 40% of the projected $800+ billion stimulus total. As he continues to craft a centrist image, these tax cuts for the middle class have pleased conservative congressional leaders.

The problem with these tax cuts lies in the in the lack of focus on the spending of these funds. Not only is the impact not immediate with the tax cuts, but most of the tax cuts will not be spent on projects with the optimum multiplier effect throughout the economy. Consider the $150+ billion stimulus passed last spring; our economy felt a very minor positive impact and for only a few weeks.

Last month I spoke about 10 points to help rebuild our economy, but critical in the short-term is helping states and cities with their budget shortfalls. Even directing a small portion (7-10%) of the stimulus funding to states and cities will help to secure millions of jobs and ensure that vital services are not interrupted. As for the long-term, if the money is going to be spent, Obama’s choice of infrastructure investment for much of the remaining balance is a good one.

Missing from the conversation completely is comprehensive health care reform, which has been mischaracterized as too expensive. The reality is that a reform package like the bill H.R. 676, which has 91 co-sponsors in Congress, would actually save our nation health care dollars by eliminating inefficient health care insurance while maintaining a privately delivered health care system. This will allow for American businesses to operate with a similar cost structure to the rest of the developed world.

Inflation is a problem pushed to the back burner with the recent decrease in oil prices, but will be a serious issue facing our country in the next 12 to 24 months. With the Fed’s target rates near zero (increasing the money supply) and a massive stimulus package being passed in the coming weeks, we must be concerned with flooding the system with dollars. An abundance of dollars brings the value of the greenback down, raising prices and potentially triggering a downward spiral where we have inflation and low economic growth, or stagflation.

Political Challenges

In the midst of this “change” transition, Democratic Governor Blagojevich has highlighted the corruption that plagues our political landscape with his “pay-to-play” games. Sadly, the Blagojevich saga has become more the norm than an anomaly. Without question, we have a leadership crisis in America and in my opinion this presents the most dangerous threat to the long-term viability of our country. One of the most important steps our republic can make to counter this threat is to enact public financing of our federal elections.

Our partisan hats must be put aside when we confront political corruption because ethical double-standards do nothing but make a mockery of our political system and create increased apathy amongst our citizenry. Whether it be Democratic Congressman Jefferson or Republican Senator Larry Craig, our nation must begin to weed out these elected by having strong bipartisan condemnation of irreprehensible acts and pushing for public financing of federal elections. We must work on political reforms at this level so we can begin to elect leaders and statesmen again and not just corrupt partisan powermongers. If we hope to ensure our status as a premier superpower, we must change the way we bring our leaders to be.

Our greatest challenges are from within. With our economic hurdles needing to be met with a long-term approach, to our political shortfalls requiring systemic change, our nation must look within our borders to ensure long-term political and economic stability.