Soldier Sarvi Files To Run Against Rep. Kline by Travel Deals

Meanwhile the mainstream media has begun to cool on Second Life as the Next Big Thing. It was a particular thrill when Tony Wheeler visited the BootsnAll offices this past summer. interpersonnel issues. I think you maximize all of the red vs. So there's a lot of expectations we have to knock down as well.

It's a growing process. I'm good at it. and have to come over to an environment like this. Why do you take this type of dangerous to do?
Steve Sarvi: I've been in the military since I was 17, other than a break in service when I got off of active duty. I'm an infantry soldier. Maybe it's my strong suit. The differences were subtle, but noticeable to the trained eye: Gingrich looked to be a good 30 pounds lighter, the protesters were levitating fifty feet above the ground, and the audience was just a slight bit furrier than typical beltway insiders. It's different than the work I was doing in Kosovo, where I was actually working and helping to mentor a small village government. They get infrastructure needs identified and some taken care of. Same with in Kosovo. That's just not the kind of person I am.

What are you doing in Iraq?

Steve Sarvi: I'm what's called a Civil Military Affairs Officer. I'm good at working with my soldiers and I get a lot of satisfaction for the work that I do. According to SLNN, there have been reports of Newt sightings around the grid. In fact, some might say that he actually signed off on the technical specification.

These days, Newt sounds like an elder statesman. But the City of Victoria in my case, and many employers in Minnesota are doing the same thing, and it's very encouraging for us. At one point he promised to return to Second Life to meet with the SL Republicans, so it looks like we’ll be seeing more of Newt in the near future.

When the hour was complete, Gingrich vanished, leaving the audience and protesters behind. The City of Victoria has time and again been called to be true patriots.

During the Q&A session Gingrich told the audience:

“I’m personally very concerned that we not overdo the partisanship. A lot of those skills I think directly reflect on how we do it.

Plus of course we got to bid projects. There's conflicts between individuals.

As luck would have it, Newt Gingrich is a true believer.

Gingrich was in Second Life as part of a series of workshops being sponsored by his American Solutions organization. If he runs again, Kline , a Republican, will be seeking his 4th house term.

For new listeners and readers I'm repeating an interview I did in May with Steve Sarvi while he was still in Iraq.

Listen to the podcast here. So there's a lot of emotion. Maybe there is hope for a more reasonable political dialogue in Second Life.

I can hardly wait until those 7,200 legislators arrive.

Technorati Tags: Politics, Second Life, Newt Gingrich, American Solutions

And as a platoon Sergeant, my job is to train my soldiers for combat. Without that support system, you take your eye off of what you're doing over here. And that's a huge financial burden for many soldiers that come on active duty from the guard. Steve has been in the Army for nearly 20 years and is on track to be part of the longest deployed Minnesota National Guard unit in Iraq. Steve Sarvi has done both and has been mentioned as a possible DFL candidate to face Congressman John Kline (R- MN02) in 2008. And they've been fully supportive. And I hope everyone pauses for a moment on Memorial Day and thinks of the soldiers that we've lost not only in this war, but in other wars.

Photos courtesy of SteveSarvi.com

BBC Buys Lonely Planet

We at BootsnAll were surprised to read the news today that guidebook giant Lonely Planet has been purchased by BBC Worldwide. There's inter-tribal conflicts. And what we're doing is helping the local Iraqis with reconstruction projects. You've got construction workers. And we work through with them the process of doing projects for them. That would be a much richer and more interesting thing than to have the kind of inside-the-party partisan debating we’ve seen so far.”

It’s almost as if he doesn’t remember being in the room the day bitter and polarizing partisan politics was invented. I guess I've really never had that question asked of me...Infrastructure wise they're in need of just about everything. And unlike some other celebrity avatars, Gingrich is actually using Second Life. The bidding process, as you can imagine it's a far different environment than what you have to deal with in the United States. The entire interview is in the podcast audio.

Why are you in the military? The other candidates would apparently rather focus on connecting with voters through more traditional social networks. And I did that at Camp Shelby when we were going through training and for the first three months that we were here.

Such is the nature of politics in Second Life.

Political activists in Second Life have had a difficult time bringing real world politicians into the virtual world. Imagine the reactions the virtual Newt must have elicited as he stumbled around the grid in his Gingrich avatar, complete with blue oxford shirt and tie, the name “Newt Gingrich” floating over his head.

Sorry folks, that avatar is not being ironic. Not only that, he’s apparently been in world on several occasions over the last couple of weeks. And plus six years as the Mayor of the City of Watertown. How do we insure that we're going to have teachers come here. While there’s no mention on the LP site about the deal, here is a link to an mp3 recording of Tony Wheeler explaining the decision to sell - and he actually uses the phrase “selling out.” You can read more here.

Of course, it remains to be seen if there will be any changes made to the way LP operates.

"Simply put, I am a Democrat. Over the years he’s developed a reputation as something of a techno-geek. I’m a feminist. We like to hire locals to actually build the facilities that go into their own villages.

As you can imagine it's a very complex environment.

I would much rather have a dialogue in Second Life with Senator Clinton on her health plan, or a dialogue in Second Life with Barack Obama about national security, or a dialogue in Second Life with John Edwards about how to deal with poverty. He really is Newt Gingrich.

We can laugh about all of the various scenarios Newt might find himself in as he explores Second Life on his own, but the truth is that he is dead serious about this technology. One of the things that has always been so appealing about the Lonely Planet “family” is their independent streak - so you can imagine how the sale of the company would be a little surprising to us.

BBC apparently is looking to increase their visibility and “expand operations” in America and Australia, so purchasing Lonely Planet - based in Australia and wildly popular in the United States - fits right into that plan. And they look out for us. It's working out well in the areas we operate in.

How has your work in local government helped you out with the work you do now in the Army?
Steve Sarvi: It seems like I gravitate towards these positions. My battalion reached out to me because of my background in the city government. This is four plus years since the invasion. Runs 10:27
Just as it takes courage to jump out of a plane or serve in Iraq, it takes courage to leap into politics. So I'm not losing any money by being over here. And then we work through with the local leaders either the Sheik or the village Mayor. The end up taking quite a large pay cut. So my wife, my kids have been just wonderful about it. He has all of IBM’s virtual world talking points down pat.

Still, Gingrich’s enthusiasm for virtual worlds is authentic, and it should come as no surprise. Here the local governments are almost non-existent. He's also the former Mayor of Watertown, MN.

Inside Minnesota Politics has an exclusive audio interview with Steve you can listen to here. As such a force to be reckoned with in the guidebook world, any changes will inevitably be noticed. It certainly is not an easy thing to do, obviously, to volunteer for something like this. But what we really want them to do is learn how to do it themselves. On the other hand, the Legislative Life initiative could cut down on DUI’s and other unseemly Washingtonian behavior (although it could create a whole new problem with virtual call girls, so really, it might not be an improvement overall).

Legislative Life is just one small part of a much larger vision. The Wheelers and John Singleton, who collectively owned the company, will retain a 25% share of the new entity.

The deal was first reported to be for an “undisclosed sum,” but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is now saying the sale price was $250 million. My main focus is in rural villages ...Since he's on active duty in Iraq, he really can't talk much about running for office, but we did get to talk about how he's helping local governments get started in Iraq and how the City of Victoria, Minnesota (his employer) has been very supportive of him and his family while he's been in Iraq.

On his website, Steve describes his political leanings. I guess someone needs to do it. How do we get the approvals through them.

And then as we provide the funding we like to use the local workers because unemployment is so very high. I don’t think you should *ever* comment about war or freedom until *YOUR* neck is around a noose and about to hang from a crane in the “Republic” of Iran. So a lot of the issues, as far as infrastructure goes, a lot of those things apply. To say good bye to my family, my friends, to work...So it's a real mentorship process to get the locals to figure out ways to identify projects that are needed and then go to their own government and get approval.

What the military does then is come in with funding for smaller level projects. Sarvi is seeking the DFL endorsement. We’ll keep an eye out, that’s for sure. And that’s when Newt’s dream of using Second Life as a platform for a constructive bi-partisan debate was put to the test.

Here’s a brief sample of the dialogue that ensued when one of the more conservative members of the audience approached one of the protesters after the event:

Summer Seale: Ana, i have to say something to you: I support bombing Iran. He's been there since March of 2006 and is hoping to return home in late July or early August. You're worried about what's going on at home. why do you do it? That my ideas and values spread from center to left of center, speaks to the strength of the Party. What they've been doing is maintaining my current salary and I just give them my guard pay. I will support the bombing of Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and all other countries which suppress my sisters and force them into slavery. Gingrich thinks virtual worlds might be the solution to overcoming rampant partisan politics. And until the day that this stops, I will support death, destruction, mayhem, and total fucking obliteration of this law in the world. Work (City of Victoria) has been just marvelous. We meet the people. Based on a recent Gingrich blog post, as well as comments made during his speech, it’s apparent that he was given the Second Life Grand Tour by someone at IBM. I don’t care what your stance is and I don’t care to *ever* debate on this point.

Ana Herzog: corporatist

Summer Seale: thank you, and good day. My family has been completely supportive. they're in some very bad shape as you can imagine. Learning how to engage people, talk to them, figure out what their needs are, work around issues...Find out what their needs are. It's difficult of course, but they understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. blue bitterness and you make it harder to get things done. Steve Sarvi filed the papers today to run for Congressman John Kline's seat in the 2nd Congressional District. So we're able to provide the funding while they end up doing all the heavy lifting and getting approvals through their government.

It sounds like you're helping people learn how to run a local government.
Steve Sarvi: Yes, to a certain extent. We’re fans of the LP books, and we think extremely highly of LP founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler. But I don't think I could have looked my soldiers in the eye and watched them go off and stayed behind. With these two year long campaigns we spend the first year and a half having all of the Republicans go of to one room where they attack Democrats, and having all of the Democrats go off to another room to attack Republicans. So what we do is we go into these areas and we do an assessment. And on our side we gain security by becoming friends to them, in some sense. You have to stay focus obviously when you're here.

We wish you the safest travel from Iraq back to the United States.
Steve Sarvi: Thank you. There's a lot of pent up demand.

The Gingrich Who Stole Second Life

When Newt Gingrich strolled up to the podium on the steps of the virtual Capital Hill last week, it was almost like any other Washington photo-op.

The thought boggles the mind.

Picture, if you will, the former Speaker of the House and conservative icon, locked in his study, at his computer, aimlessly roaming the Metaverse. Over the past few months glowing accounts of virtual real estate millionaires have been replaced by sensational stories of illicit gambling, deviant sex, and, worst of all, a questionable virtual economy.

If Second Life has any hope of becoming a legitimate platform for real world politics, it’s up to the true believers to take action and make something happen. You've got contractors who are all basically tottering on the edge and they need jobs and it's a life or death matter to them.

Gingrich told the audience that American Solutions is planning on creating a sub-division of Second Life called “Legislative Life”, a virtual world that will be accessible to 7,200 legislators nationwide.

“Imagine that every legislative committee that wanted to work on the environment could get together in Second Life with their peers … They could all get together by just going into their computer without having to travel…”

As strange as Second Life can be, I’m not sure we’re ready for a virtual world overrun by flying politicians. I appreciate the willingness of Democrats to embrace the things that bind us together, rather than focus on that which sets us apart".

Here are some text excerpts from the interview. I hate them, I hate those rules, I hate those who enforce it. I don’t care what your humanitarian excuses are, I will not rest until all those mysoginistic pigs who make those rules are dead, dead, dead. I felt like I needed to give something to my country at a young age and found I was good at it. That is to say, he’s sitting at his own computer and driving his avatar. The startling truth of the matter is that the political spectrum in the United States has swung so far to the right that Newt Gingrich now qualifies as a moderate.

Newt, to his credit, stuck around after his speech and answered every question posed. I guess that’s what seven years of Bush and Cheney will do.

At least Summer said “thank you”. But I understand the basics of it from the work that I do in the US and I've learned an awful lot being over here about the way that they work.

You gravitate towards these positions no matter where you are in life. I've been a city administrator for the City of Lanesburo, City Administrator in Watertown and currently in Victoria. Of the current crop of presidential candidates, only Mike Gravel has authorized a campaign headquarters here. But we quickly learned that we needed to do civil-military projects even in the remote areas. And I get to see a different side of the war than most people get to see.


What kind of support have you received from home to get through these months, these years that add up when you're overseas?
Steve Sarvi: I'll tell you, without a family, without friends, I can't imagine getting through this. And for some reason whether it was in Kosovo or here, I just end up doing these types of projects. It's much more "we need a school in this village" so how do we engage the minister of education. They thought their lives were going to improve immediately. So we're not really doing much as far as that goes with setting up a government and talking through process and procedures. Oct 15 - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0600 GMT on Monday.