The Texas 18th District Blog

 What an old anecdote about Mo Udall in the hospital reveals about McCain’s character.  (and Slate has not been kind to Republicans)

A nurse entered and seemed surprised to find anyone there, and it wasn’t long before I found out why: Almost no one visits anymore. In his time, which was not very long ago, Mo Udall was one of the most-sought-after men in the Democratic Party. Yet as he dies in a veterans hospital a few miles from the Capitol, he is visited regularly only by a single old political friend, John McCain. “He’s not going to wake up this time,” McCain said.

On the way out of the parking lot, McCain recalled what it was like to be a nobody called upon by a somebody. As he did, his voice acquired the same warmth that colored Russell Feingold’s speech when he described the first call from John McCain. “When you called Feingold … ” I started to ask him. But before I could, he interrupted. “Yeah,” he says, “I thought of Mo.”

 Mark Steyn: Obama’s a better symbol than president

And why not? Obama in the White House, Obama on the dollar bill, Obama on Rushmore would symbolize the possibilities of America more than that narrow list of white-bread protestant presidents to date.

The problem is we’re not electing a symbol, a logo, a two-dimensional image. Long before he emerged on the national stage as Barack the Hope-Giver and Bringer of Change, there was a three-dimensional Barack Obama, a real man who lives in the real world. And that’s where the problem lies.

The senator and his doting Obots in the media have gone to great lengths to obscure what Barack Obama does when he’s not being a symbol: his voting record, his friends, his patrons, his life outside the soft-focus memoirs is deemed nonrelevant to the general hopey-changey vibe. But occasionally we get a glimpse. The offhand aside to Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth around” was revealing because it suggests a crude redistributive view of “social justice”. Yet the nimble Hope-a-Dope sidestepper brushed it aside, telling a crowd in Raleigh that next John McCain will be “accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.”

***

Not only has this party belittled working people in this campaign, it has also been part of tearing down two female candidates.

—

The final straw came the other week when Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (a.k.a Joe the Plumber) asked a question about higher taxes for small businesses. Instead of celebrating his aspirations, they were mocked. He wasn’t “a real plumber,” and “They’re fighting for Joe the Hedge-Fund manager,” and the patronizing, “I’ve got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber.”

Having worked in politics, I know that absolutely none of this is on the level. This back and forth is posturing, a charade, and a political game. These lines are what I refer to as “hooker lines”—a sure thing to get applause and the press to scribble as if they’re reporting meaningful news.

As the nation slouches toward disaster, the level of political discourse is unworthy of this moment in history. We have Republicans raising Ayers and Democrats fostering ageism with “erratic” and jokes about Depends. Sexism. Racism. Ageism and maybe some Socialism have all made their ugly cameos in election 2008. It’s not inspiring. Perhaps this is why I found the initial mocking of Joe so offensive and I realized an old line applied: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me.”

 ***

***

Harry Reid

Changes We Can Believe In – American Voters Hit List #3 – Harry Reid D-Nevada

Voters will be voting many members out of Congress that have failed us this year. I sincerely hope that these are among top priorities for American voters across the nation this election year.

Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader

The Majority leader customarily serves as the chief representative and “face” of his or her party in Senate, and sometimes even in all of Congress if the House of Representatives and thus the office of Speaker of the House is controlled by the opposition party.

As much energy as Las Vegas uses, you wouldn’t think Nevada voters would elect a brainwashed eco-nut to such an influential position as a top legislator in the Senate.

Maybe he doesn’t know that certain “fossil fuels” like natural gas burn very clean in combustion engines. Maybe he is like Nancy Pelosi and doesn’t know that natural gas is a fossil fuel. Maybe he hasn’t heard of clean coal technology. Maybe he doesn’t realize that it takes a while to turn a big ship and we are going to be dependent on various fossil fuels for at least another decade in a transitional period as we advance cleaner and renewable energy sources.

One of his worst blunders was to prematurely wave a white flag of defeat in IRAQ:

Americans just can’t tolerate this kind of irresponsible Legislative leadership grinding down realistic economically viable energy plan progress and waving the white flag of surrender, interfering in International affairs.

Why do Americans keep electing energy ignorant representatives in legislative leadership roles during the middle of an energy crisis? You would think that his limited views of what it will take in the energy conversion interim would also be indicative of his lack of financial knowledge and budgetary foresight.

I am sure I can speak for the majority of Texans and many across the Nation when I ask Nevada Voters to fire Harry Reid and elect someone who will represent the rest of the Nation responsibly.

Harry Reid has a demonstrated deficit of knowledge and prowess in dealing with American energy solutions, the economy and International Affairs. Why would anyone reelect him to office?

He oozes “grey caulk” every time he speaks… The best think he could do for America is never speak in public again!

Harry Reid took $77,000 from Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae. 

Engineer2

American Voters know which politicians failed us in the Mortgage Meltdown!

Changes We Can Believe In – American Voters Hit List #2 – Nancy Pelosi D-California

Voters will be voting many members out of Congress that have failed us this year. I sincerely hope that these are among top priorities for American voters across the nation this election year. 

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of The US House of Representatives

The Speaker of the House is second in line to assume the Presidency,  just behind the Vice President. Maybe California voters just didn’t know that when they elected her.

It’s beyond belief for most educated voters that a House Majority Leader could so ardently discourage Bi-Partisan voting on urgent issues in The House of Representatives and doesn’t know anything about energy and energy sources. How do representatives like Nancy Pelosi even get elected?

2 Heartbeats Away - Nancy Pelosi and Natural Gas

Can you imagine a President of the United States that doesn’t even know natural gas is a fossil fuel and has to be drilled for?

We are asking California voters to please keep in mind that Nancy Pelosi as President is just plain scary. In fact, Americans don’t need or want anyone in Congress who doesn’t have sound energy knowledge going forward.

Americans all over the country are asking California voters to fire Nancy Pelosi so that the country has a better chance at a reasonable energy policy. We can’t face the possibility of her ever assuming the Presidential role.

California, please spare the rest of the Nation of another term with an energy ignorant Congressional Leader by voting Nancy Pelosi out of office this year.

Nancy Pelosi took $56,250 from Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae.

Does a National Representative in Congress come any more pathetic than that?

Engineer2

American Voters know which politicians failed us in the Mortgage Meltdown!

Houston’s Oily Politics – John Faulk vs Sheila Jackson Lee (The Issues)

Not long ago (about a month) I sat down to eat lunch, picked up the remote and flipped over to the Congressional Coverage Channel and almost choked on my food. There was Sheila Jackson Lee taking the podium. Congressional Members are allowed 5 minutes on occasion to “free-range” on topics to state their positions.

Right away she started out on Energy. This is paraphrased but here is what she had to say:

“Of course I have to support the Oil and Gas Industry representing the Texas 18th Congressional District.”

She went on to qualify that statement by sharing her vision of “America’s energy choices in a fruit basket”. She said that she viewed the energy choices before her as if she was selecting them from a fruit basket, noting that some weren’t as tasteful choices as others. She made it obvious that she preferred “clean energy choices” over hydrocarbon. When it comes to voting for energy policy in Congress she can’t be trusted to support her constituency in Houston because she doesn’t particularly like that “fruit” in her “fruit basket”.

As an engineer that served in the Oil & Gas Industry for 25 years, that “Fruit Basket” energy presentation made me sick… I didn’t even finish my lunch.

I think most Houston Voters will agree there are several problems with electing a Congressperson representing Houston who doesn’t fully support the local job creation that the 5000 energy related companies in Houston can provide in the interim as we become more energy independent over the next 10 years. Here we are in down economic times and Houston is represented in Congress by a “fruit case”.

I was speaking to John Faulk on the phone a while back clarifying his position on energy and he immediately jokingly stated something to the effect that; “I don’t care if we have to generate electricity with a squirrel cage, we are going to do what’s best for the American people at any given time”.

John Faulk has a much better understanding of the economic problems American families and businesses are facing right now. As owner of an accounting firm serving Houston companies, he fully supports the Oil & Gas industry knowing that as Americans we are going to have to rely on oil heavily in a transitional period.

John Faulk knows that the 5000 Oil & Gas related companies in Houston can help prop up job creation, energy independence, and the local economy as we walk through this shadow of difficult economic times. He fully supports the “Do All and Do It Now” energy drive, tempered with what is most expedient and cost effective, without prejudice.

Early on, The Faulk for Congress Organization was one of the first to endorse the “Boone Pickens Wind Generation Energy Plan”. John is supportive of both oil & gas and economically viable alternative energy programs.

Texas is and will remain a National Energy Leader serving the nation’s push for energy independence, creating a wealth of jobs in the process, if we elect leaders like John Faulk to Congress.

It seems that if either presidential candidate is elected, we may be subject to a “Windfall Profits Tax” or other redistribution of Oil Company profits toward alternate energy sources. When that happens we need to make sure we have elected an economically & energy wise Congress such as John Faulk. He can walk into Congress right now with knowledgeable energy advisors backing him.

We are stuck in the mud right now with a Democratic led Congress. Look at the facts, Nancy Pelosi (House Speaker) didn’t even know that natural gas was a hydrocarbon and had to be drilled for here and now!

Let’s cut American’s pain, support Houston, Texas and American voters by electing John Faulk to Congress this year. It’s past time to replace Sheila Jackson Lee. Let’s send Sheila Jackson Lee back to Queens, New York… Deep down we all know she’s a misfit in Houston.

Related Blog Posts and Web Pages:

• Sheila Jackson Lee on the Oil & Gas Industry
• Faulk Congressional Platform - National Energy Policy
• John Faulk Will Help Keep Houston Running Day & Night - This Election Year is All About Energy Development for the Future!
• Sheila Jackson Lee stands in the way of lowering gas prices!
• The Truth About Developing Alaskan ANWR Oil Reserves

Engineer2

When congress passes a bill that covers many things they call it an omnibus bill.  I saved this document before I put a title on it and was afraid I had lost it.  Fortunately the software gave it a title, post # 298.  That wasn’t very descriptive so I changed it to something else undescriptive.

Palin envy - Katie Couric wore her hair in the Governor Palin style last night at the annual Afred E. Smith dinner.  Do you think Palin is influencing American women.

Agent provocateur - 20 people including secret service agents at the McCain speeches were interview to get more information about the hecklers shouting kill him pertaining to Obama.  No one saw or heard them.  It was made up by Obama and he said it on national TV.  I believe even the hecklers at the Obama speeches were setups by Obama to make McCain look bad.  Would someone who steals votes and pads voter roles do something like that?

I also think the person at McCain’s rallies shouting take the gloves off may be an Obama plant.  McCain has maintained a calm, polite manner when talking about Obama even in the debates.  Obama calls attention to McCain’s negative ads when there aren’t any.  An ad referring to something a person has done in his past is not negative if factual.  An ad pointing out that a senator has voted present instead of yes or no 99% of the time is not negative.

The voter registration workers in Ohio have identified 200,000 registrations they believe are fraudulent and want access to the drivers license database and social security number database to verify their suspicions (they are permitted to look at the last 4 digits only).  The Secretary of State in Ohio has refused to allow them to do that.  Federal law requires that the registration people check each new registrant against those databases.  The Secretary of State has been taken to court to force her to obey the law.  She is still refusing.  Her defense, “it would take too long”.  The registration people have already identified the suspicious cards.  Well, after going through 2 lower courts the case is now in an emergency session with the US Supreme Court.  Talk about audacity and determination to commit fraud.  I contend that a group of people could look up 200,000 social security numbers manually within 3 weeks.  My conclusion:  Obama must be desperate.

Students from Palestra, a college group, have done independent investigation on those questionable voter registration cards and have established that they are fraudulent.  One person who lives in England flew in to Ohio, registered, voted early and returned to England.  The students have identified that although he is a US citizen he has no connection to Ohio.  They have hard proof of all 200,000 being fraudulent.  The problem now is that the Supreme Court Justice, Stevens, is a liberal and may enact a new law overriding the law congress passed.  This of  course is unconstitutional but it is nothing new.  It is called judicial activism.  Ignore the actions of congress, the representatives of the people who sent them there, and do what you want to generate the outcome you want.  Supreme court judges are not elected to represent the people.  They are usually lawyers appointed by the president and congress to determine if laws are within the constitution and have been applied correctly.  What the law profession calls judge-made law is actually not law. BTW why isn’t our representative doing something about it?  What’s her name again?

McCain said the other night that nuclear power is the only way to go for the immediate future along with more offshore drilling.  Those who for whatever reason oppose nuclear power point to the 3 Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania as an example of what can go wrong.  I lived in Pennsylvania and had spent a few months in Harrisburg at the time so I had an above average interest in the event.  No one was harmed and the safety features of the plant operated according to design.  That big concrete dome that you see in pictures of nuclear power plants is called the containment facility.  Its job is to prevent the escape of the super heated (non-radio active water) should something burst. The radioactive material is in rods deep in the ground.  The water flows through those rods and creates steam.  The steam rises and turns blades like a fan (in reverse).  The turning mechanism is attached to a generator.  The steam is then cooled and flows into cooling ponds as purified water and after reaching air temperature flows back into a river or stream.  No water escaped the plant.  When the gauges on the control panels indicated a problem, the operators shut down the plant.  Nothing was harmed.  No one was killed.  It was all media hype.  We have about a dozen nuclear power plants in this country that have been in operation since the 1960s.  Nuclear power is the main source of energy for many European countries and China.  They have hundreds.  The opposition to nuclear power has to be radical politics.

Obama also talked about farm subsidies by the taxpayers.  Small family farms today are rare.  They cannot compete.  It is not immoral.  It is a problem for those who wish to be farmers but  it is just like the Mom and Pop grocery stores.  The large grocery chains as the large agribusinesses can buy in large quantities and get better prices.  They can also hire experts to research technology, fertilizers, pesticides. etc.  Family farms were essential years ago but today they are functionally obsolete.  So if Obama subsidizes farmers with  your tax dollars, he is in fact making you pay more for your groceries.  This is occurring today already and should be stopped.  But those large agribusinesses make campaign donations that congress just can’t resist.  The answer to who is our representative today above is “Sheila jackson Lee”.

“One criticism of subsidy comes from proponents of free market economics, stating that subsidies are against the principles of free trade. Prices are the signals by which farmers, and other entrepreneurs, find out what people want.”  Go here for pro’s and con’s

More information here and more here

Agribusinesses don’t need subsidies.  It reminds me of Wall St.  Let the inefficient and mismanaged businesses go out of business or hire better management.

Let’s work together to put John Faulk in office. We need to elect members of Congress with strong financial backgrounds.

Crude Oil has Dropped 47% and Unleaded Regular Gas has Only Dropped 21% at the Pump

Most American motorists are probably asking themselves why crude oil has dropped 47% off its highs, so why is gas (regular unleaded) at the pump lagging so far behind at around 21% off its highs?

Granted, there will be some logistical refining and delivery lag in the process, but AAA’s Media Site for Retail Gasoline Prices also reports that wholesale gasoline prices have much more closely tracked the precipitous fall in crude than retail gasoline prices have.

Even if it takes a Congressional Investigation, someone needs to answer why American motorists are still suffering under the high prices at the pump with the current average of $3.29/gal when it should be closer to $2.18/gal (excluding reasonable lag time).

Ken

A couple weeks ago I took a lunch break and sat down in front of my TV. I picked up the remote and changed it to the Congressional Coverage Channel. Almost immediately (to my horror) Congress was allowing 5 minutes to Congressional members who had requested 5 minutes of time to present positions in a “freestyle” manner, and there was Sheila Jackson Lee taking a position behind the podium.

She is faced with quite a few issues right now, having placed herself in many adversarial positions. She spoke on several issues, but spent some time trying to clear herself from election year positions against the Houston Oil and Gas Industry.

It was pathetic, I almost choked on my lunch… There was Sheila Jackson Lee stating that (paraphrased): “Of course I support the Oil & Gas Industry, I do represent Houston”… LOL (Laughing Out Loud) she went on trying to justify her energy positions in a “fruit basket” analogy.

As we know she has never been a real friend to the 5000 Oil and Gas Industry Companies in Houston, including companies in her district such as Halliburton.

It was worse than sad… She described a scenario in which she views all energy choices stuffed in a fruit basket and some choices she likes better than others…

Surely those of us in the Oil & Gas Industry know by now that her “choices” in the “fruit basket” are not in line with her constituency, the Oil & Gas Industry or the immediate job creation that our industry offers Houston, nor the lifesaver we can help throw the nation in the short term right now, during dire economic times.

Why does Houston keep electing someone to Congress, for 14 years now, who doesn’t support her constituency, the oil & gas industry, the Port of Houston or job creation in Houston?

The “writing is on the wall”, it’s time to send her home to Queen’s, NY, she doesn’t understand or support Houston! A New York law firm will snap her up and we will all be much happier and prosper. She will make more money, and so will we, and we won’t even have to watch her on TV every day! 

Related Post: “The Truth About Developing Alaskan ANWR Oil Reserves”

Engineer2

Help Houston clear the way for us to support the nations energy crisis. Help us move Sheila Jackson Lee out of Congress!

Before I go into the email let me make a comment.  I read an article by Dr Walter Williams a few months ago where he responded to someone asking: why do we hear about the price of oil per barrel dropping and it takes a few days before we see the drop in gas price at our local pump.  His response, when an oil company buys it at say $140 per barrel, they want to sell it at a price that will recover some of that price before they drop the gas price to reflect the purchases at the new lower price.  Now the email.

“By: John David Powell

I hang around educated and talented people. Each individual has at least one university degree. Most read, watch, or listen to more than one news source every day. They span generations with ages ranging from the 20s to the 70s.

Yet, not a single person among them knew the answers to some basic questions
pertinent to the growing discourse regarding the rising price of oil. A few knew some of the answers, and some knew a few of the answers. To be fair, I had to look up the answers, or else I would have been among the shoulder shruggers.

For instance, how big is a barrel?

Answer: 42 gallons. So, now you know that when the price for a barrel of crude oil hits  $140, that’s the same as $3.33 a gallon.

What nation supplies the most crude oil and petroleum products to the United States? 

Answer: The United States. According to the Energy Information Agency ( www.eia.doe.gov> >), our country supplied 41 percent of the oil we consumed in March of this year.

What nation, other than the U.S., supplies the most crude oil and petroleum products to our country? 

Answer: Canada. Our northern neighbor accounts for 12 percent of our nation’s oil and 20 percent of all the oil we import. 
The rest of the top five include Saudi Arabia (7 percent and 13 percent); Venezuela (6 percent and 11 p ercent); Nigeria (6 percent and 10 percent); and Mexico (5 percent and 8 percent).

How much oil do we import from Persian Gulf countries? I’m glad you asked.
Persian Gulf countries accounted for only 16 percent of our foreign oil imports each year from 2005 to 2007. In fact, our Persian Gulf imports declined most of this decade, from a 15-year high of a little more than 1 billion barrels in 2001 to 791.9 million barrels in 2007.

What’s the difference between crude oil and petroleum products?

Answer: Crude oil provides, among other products, gasoline, diesel and jet fuels, heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas, lubricants, asphalt, plastics, synthetic fibers, detergents, fertilizers, ink, crayons, bubble gum, deodorant, tires, and heart valves.

One barrel of crude oil (which is 42 gallons, remember?), yields about 19.6 gallons of gasoline. The other 22.4 gallons go into the products just mentioned.

How much of the cost of oil goes into the price of gasoline?

Answer: A bunch. We consumed about 390 million gallons of gas a day last year in our cars, trucks, recreational vehicles, boats, farm implements, and construction and landscaping equipment. Back when crude was $68 a barrel (that was just last year), it accounted for about 58 percent of the price of a gallon of gasoline. The rest of the price came from refining costs (17 percent), federal and state taxes (15 percent), and distribution and marketing (10 percent).

By the way, the price of crude accounts for about 77 percent of the cost of gas at $4 a gallon.

Here’s a little something you may not have considered. What products that you buy on a regular basis are sold with tax included?

Answer: Gasoline. For everything else, you add the tax at checkout.

The folks in California pay 63.9 cents a gallon in state and federal fuel taxes, the most in the nation. That’s just the base, though.  Motorists there also pay an additional 6-percent state sales tax, with some paying another 1.25-percent county sales tax plus applicable local sales taxes. Same in Illinois, where Chicago motorists pay 12.75 cents per gallon
on top of the 57.9 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes. Some Illinois motorists also pay a 6.25-percent sales tax.

Politicians, pundits, and other TV talking heads don’t like to provide these answers, because facts get in the way of positions that pander to the mob.  We don’t point fingers at Canada, because it’s de rigueur to paint the Saudis with the broad brush of blame. Folks float the idea of a moratorium on state and federal gasoline taxes without explaining its minimal impact on gas prices, or without mentioning the $3 sales tax some motorists pay on top of a $50 fill up. Policymakers don’t explain that oil trades in the dollar, which is weak vis-a-vis the Euro, because that would require solutions for strengthening the greenback.

And, it’s easier for simple minds to convince simpler minds to impose windfall-profit taxes on pension funds and owners of Individual Retirement Accounts who invest in oil companies than to take on credit card issuers charging double- and triple-digit interest rates to the millions of people using plastic to pay for food and fuel. Talk about irony.

And, we sure wouldn’t want to impose a windfall-profit tax on someone who goes from making $56,000 a year as, say, an Illinois legislator, to $165,000  year as, say, a U.S. senator, an increase of nearly 200 percent (not counting book deals or real-estate related loans).
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW OIL: MAYBE NOT”

Also every additional barrel of oil produced affects the world amount available.  So if we produce several million more barrels it increases world supply thus lowering world price.  Even though we may use all of the additional oil we pump there will be less world competition for what is available making life a little easier for other countries.

When our politicians condemn Exxon-Mobil for making big profits, remember that you are an owner of Exxon-Mobil if you have a mutual fund, 401K, 403B or some other retirement fund.  Even unions own shares in their pension funds. 

If a small company makes a 10% profit it distributes it among a small group of shareholders.  If a large company earns a 10% profit it is a bigger number but it too is distributed among a larger group of shareholders so the net effect isn’t a whole lot different.

I think the tax breaks the politicians talk about (corporate welfare) are actually the depletion allowance and the tax return deductions for espenses related to drilling holes that turn out to be dry.  Depletion is the same as depreciation expense on a factory machine.  Uncle Sam doesn’t want you deducting the cost of the machine when you buy it.  He lets you deduct a little every year while you use the machine.

I am not an oil industry veteran so if you have any information that would supplement  or correct what I have said, please feel free to comment.

Let’s work together to put John Faulk in office. We need to elect members of Congress with financial backgrounds.

Who would you rather elect to represent you?

Sheila Jackson Lee who stands in the way of lowering the cost of gas at the pump or John Faulk who will work hard to get us back on track by drilling Now, Here, Offshore?

Who would you rather elect to represent you? Sheila Jackson Lee who voted with Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Al Green (D-TX), Gene Green (D-TX), or John Faulk who would have vote with Ted Poe(R–TX), John Culberson (R-TX) and Mike McCaul (R–TX)?

We all saw a little political theater earlier this week. Pelosi and Sheila joined forces again to create a bill that like most of the things Sheila does is 100% pure publicity! H.R.-6899 has no provisions for royalty sharing with states that agree to allow drilling off shore. This bill would make the temporary prohibitions on Outer Continental Self (OCS) permanent.

How is that for a step forward? This bill would not allow exploration where it is common knowledge that the undiscovered oil is located. Leave it to Sheila to push a bill that will not produce positive results. The Bush Administration released a statement that reported this bill Sheila voted for would:

• Impose targeted tax increases on energy companies, which would reduce domestic production, increase energy costs, reduce the competitiveness of American companies doing business abroad, and hurt the U.S. economy.
• Impose a one-size-fits-all national renewable power mandate that ignores regional differences, effectively overriding the individual mandates or policies established by more than 25 states, and increasing electricity costs in States where there are relatively few renewable resources.
• Draw down the oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve simply to manipulate prices, and reducing our ability to respond to severe energy supply disruptions (demonstrated most recently during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike) and thereby jeopardizing the Nation’s energy security.
• Force holders of certain deepwater oil and gas leases issued in 1998 and 1999 by the Clinton Administration to renegotiate the terms of their leases or pay an excessive fee in order to remain eligible to bid on new leases.
• Expand the application of Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage requirements contrary to the Administration’s long-standing policy of opposing statutory attempts to expand or contract the Davis-Bacon Act. The full text of the statement can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/110-2/saphr6899-h.pdf

It is expected that this bill will be DOA (Dead on Arrival) when it reaches the Senate. I would expect President Bush would veto it if the bill gets to his desk.

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress today.

The Office of Emergency Management, Houston Mayor Bill White and Judge Emmett just concluded their 8am Hurricane Ike Update.

Over night Hurricane Ike took a more Northerly path and is now projected to make landfall in Galveston with 20-25ft sea surge and 20-25ft waves on top of that. Videos from Galveston are already showing the seawall being slammed by waves thrashing water 20-25ft in the air starting to flood coastal roads and we are still 17 or 18 hrs out from landfall there at the time of this blog posting. With the combination of a potential 20-25ft sea surge and 20-25ft waves on top of that we are looking at the potential of another 1900 Galveston Hurricane event. IMO (In my opinion) not even reporters should stay behind. Everyone should leave Galveston Island now! With up to 40-50 ft water encroachment (surge + waves) projected for Galveston, there is no safe place on the island for anyone.

All Scientific Meteorological Hurricane Path Models have converged on Galveston – HURRICANE IKE IS COMING HERE! This is a “life or death event” which has the potential to rival the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. We can most probably expect many times more property damage than what was sustained in Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina. This is most likely already the most extreme American National Disaster most of us will have witnessed in our lifetime. Fortunately, predecessor weather events have led the way for more serious national disaster planning and implementation.

Everyone in mandatory evacuation zones who have not left yet, need to do so now. The storm surge predictions have been raised by 10ft to as much as 25ft in accordance with the more direct hurricane path.

Anyone in high-rise buildings should know that for every 100ft of elevation the intensity of the storm will increase by 1 Category level. You should make preparations to move to lower levels if staying behind.

Mayor White is advising that the highways are clear for late evacuees. I-45 may become more congested than 59 to Lufkin or 290 to the Bryan - College Station areas. Mayor White also noted that we do not want people on the highways in high winds with flying debris, they will advise when the highways are no longer safe to travel. Please note that the Greater Houston area will be experiencing hurricane force winds well before projected landfall between 1 and 2am Saturday morning. Many gas stations were re-supplied over night.

If you are going to leave – LEAVE NOW!

Make sure and do last minute checks on elderly or loner neighbors and don’t leave pets behind!

This is an extremely serious life and death weather event, so serious that there is really no reason for news agencies to leave their employees exposed on Galveston Island. None of us want to see news agency reporter casualties reported by their own news agencies because they had them step out too close to the beast. This is not necessarily the view of the Faulk For Congress Organization, but it is mine and I stick behind it:

News Reporters, Emergency personnel…everyone should probably evacuate Galveston Island now… No-One needs to ride this one out there. The American public doesn’t need to witness first hand reporter’s unnecessary endangerment or deaths who were hung out too far by news agencies. I think many of us would prefer that all news agencies step back and take your employees out of harm’s way. In doing so you would also help convey the seriousness of this storm to your audiences.

Asking the rest of the nation for your prayers and best wishes,

Ken

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress today.

Below is a table with a comparison of views on issues by the candidates; John Faulk and Sheila Jackson Lee in their race for the Texas 18 Congressional seat.

Candidate views represented above are presented true and accurately as best I know. Make sure and bookmark this page because this table may change as we wind down to election day, most everyone seems to be “flip-flopping” this year, except John.

Ken

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress today.

The Truth About Developing  Alaskan ANWR Oil Reserves

A great number of uninformed talking heads continue to dissuade Congress and the American public against developing one of our richest oil reserves without presenting the real  facts, so here they are:
Sarah Palin on Glenn Beck:

• Polar Bears aren’t an endangered species
• 3.13 square miles of oil field development in Alaska will not effectively threaten any species
• The targeted ANWR oil & gas development region is a small footprint comprising approximately 2000 acres (3.13 square miles) – smaller than LAX (Las Angeles Airport), which is a grotesque poluter in functional comparison with a fully developed ANWR oilfield supporting America toward energy independence! (look for the red dot in the green region of the map)



• Oil production technology is safer than ever before as demonstrated in the recent Hurricane Gustav event – Not a drop was spilled. It’s much more dangerous to ship oil by tanker than to produce and pipeline product out.

There is not much truth to entertain in the current Democrat Party Chant;  “8 more years of the same administration” when we have had the last 4 years of a Democrat led Congress who have unreasonably sided with extreme environmentalists fighting almost every form of energy development proposed by the Bush Administration from the beginning:
The “Do All Energy Policy” Americans want, already exists and has for almost 8 years.
There is nothing wrong with our current well researched “Do All National Energy Policy”, except that Extreme Environmentalists, led by Al Gore and the current Democrat led most “Do Nothing Congress” (110th Congress) continue to prohibit soundly researched energy development in disfavor of the American Economy and Security for political purposes.

Just the other day I was on the road listening to a talk radio show sound byte of a Pelosi interview where she was encouraging Americans to get away from “Fossil Fuels” and turn to Natural Gas (LNG) to fuel their cars. That’s right the current Speaker of The House Pelosi (Democrat Congressional Leader) didn’t have a clue that “Natural Gas” is also a “Fossil Fuel” which also has to be drilled for here and now!  I almost had to pull off to the side of the road laughing in disgust at the lack of energy knowledge our current Democrat led “leadership” continues to exhibit.

One thing for sure it would be a freak event if a hurricane struck ANWR – LOL. Looking a little deeper, we can also be reasonably assured that it’s not likely an earthquake will hit the ANWR region or any other cataclysmic act of nature would cause production disruption or an environmental event of concern.

Americans need to vote Energy Idiots out of office this year. If you don’t like our poor energy planning, then let’s re-take control of Congress and vote Republican Energy Experts back in office.

Let’s send both Pelosi and Sheila Jackson Lee back home “looking for a new job” like they are trying to do to their constituencies.

Houston, Texas and the Nation can no longer afford to pay $4 at the pump, paying for energy administration ignorance by Congressional Representatives every time we fill up and buy goods or groceries!

If you really want “change”, you value your jobs and you are fed up with Congress you will vote for John Faulk to replace Sheila Jackson Lee in Congress this November.

It’s time Americans quit listening to anyone’s political rhetoric, educate themselves and take back control of an “out-of-control Congress”.

It’s time to silence Nancy Pelosi’s ignorance and political discord and send Sheila Jackson Lee back home to Queens, New York.

It’s time to vote John Faulk into Congress.

Engineer2 

You can help us send John Faulk to Congress in November, today.