Photo: This morning's sunrise over Clear Lake.

Fresh winds blowing this morning, our first real taste of cool air and fall.

Yesterday I was at Brady's Landing and heard Michael Berry talking about the election. He said a couple interesting things to calm nerves. It was his opinion that President-Elect Obama is NOT a socialist and that he thought he would be smart enough to govern as a centrist to avoid the Clinton backlash that happened in 1994 after going too far too fast.

But I found his explanation of the results lacking in fact and objective analysis. He blamed the loss on "Republicans who stayed home" -- despite the fact that turnout was at historic highs for both sides.

Second, he said the business is a cycle and we just happened to have an election during a "down" cycle. He didn't say it was a financial meltdown caused by Wall Street getting drunk that we haven't seen since the 1930's - a lot more than an ordinary business cycle.

As a result the folks in that room got a nice (Michael is a nice guy) but one-sided view of what happened. Not addressed was that our bad paper has given the rest of the world that bought it an equal dose of man-made financial disaster that has put Europe's biggest economy in recession and makes everything worse worldwide.

I finished yesterday at the UH Cullen Auditorium listening to Rick Steve's (PBS) talk about Iran, Amsterdam coffee shops that sell Marijuana instead of coffee and the need for Americans to travel overseas and broaden their view of the world. His comments on how the Iranians treated him were insightful and fascinating. The Iranian people were very friendly to him even after they discovered he was American. Watch for it on PBS - it should be a must-see program with Iran's nuclear ambitions still a big deal.

Steves also mentioned that Europe is on a $500 billion infrastructure upgrade - building high speed "bullet trains" etc. everywhere. That means that China is spending $500 billion on infrastructure, Europe is spending $500 billion on infrastructure so both will have 21st Century stuff, the Middle East is doing the same with their Petrodollar wealth, while we borrow $700 billion to buy stock in banks and our highways and bridges are falling apart.

Since China has $2 trillion in savings made from selling us stuff to buy at WalMart we should insist they spend part of their $500 billion buying U.S. pollution control technology to clean their thick brown air.

We should tap the Mideast billions for road upgrades in the U.S.-- roads that run on their oil.

Finally, we need to invest $500 billion in our own infrastructure starting in 2009 - which would create jobs and give us the modern transportation and high tech systems we will need to stay competitive in the global economy. We need to save the 1 in 10 jobs connected to the auto industry while still requiring them to gut 7 levels of management at GM and invest in R&D and fuel efficient vehicles instead of coddling them as we have done for the past 30 years.

If we are going to stay in the game, we need a change folks!

Managing in the 24/7 World

The office today is mobile.

In a tight economy combined with financial concerns it becomes more important to manage efficiently and stay on top of things. This is what I do to make that happen.

I have a Blackberry World Edition 8330 phone that allows me to have a mini laptop 24/7 for email, phone calls and checking the calendar. It syncs to the laptop and vice versa so I am always up-to-date. it also lets me make calls anywhere on the planet. Yet it is still a local call for anyone calling me 24/7.

I also use the Blackberry as my connection with the laptop when a wireless is no where in sight. I discovered on a road trip how disconnected it can be to have a laptop and no Internet. I was totally cut off - unable to send or receive a document.

I fixed it so that now my phone connects the laptop to the Internet when I am remote. It still works as a phone at the same time.

Believe me, things change fast. In the old days I once missed an important radio appointment during a campaign because I forgot to write down a date after getting a call in the car. Now I don't miss anything I can put on the calendar.

My GPS is my new best friend - I go no where without my TomTom. It doesn't require a subscription and is simple. It has been a life and major time saver -- there is nothing worse than missing an exit in Houston. LOL. Don't leave home without it.

Got to run. Service and networking is No. 1, 2 and 3 priorities...Better days ahead.

Showing the World

The photo of President Bush and President-Elect Obama sitting together in the oval office is historic and special.

It shows the world that special American role model of peaceful transition between opposing political camps. Others should strive to copy it in places like Zimbabwe, China and Russia.

In the meantime now the auto makers want a bailout - GM with 7 layers of excessive management and refusal to build high mileage cars, and Ford, whose highly paid executives have cut R&D to zero, insuring failure. If they get money it should be required they cut the bureaucracy and invest in hybrid, high mileage cars to compete.

Otherwise it will be a failure and more wasted money. Detroit's management has become fossilized and narrow. They try to build 30 different cars that look the same - the Japanese use a fraction of platforms and are more efficient. Detroit's global competitors are making profits by using their brains and building high mileage cars right here in the U.S. I've seen the giant Japanese factory in Mississippi.

Detroit has to change to survive and, eventually, thrive. Our financial institutions also need to be reformed.

Now we see reports that the Fed is refusing to release the names of the recipients of $2 trillion of taxpayer money. Where is American transparency here? A major overhaul across the board appears necessary.

These are amazing times.

The change the GOP Needs - From a former candidate

The Change the GOP Needs
I was a GOP candidate as recently as 2006, in a primary challenge against Tom DeLay. I can tell you why the GOP lost this election in a landslide - and the change it needs to make. I doubt they want to hear it.

I went from a GOP candidate (in 2000, 2002 and 2006) to an Obama Precinct Captain in 2008. I made the change because I saw the party go from the moderate “kinder and gentler” approach of George H.W. Bush, to a narrow, highly-negative partisan approach with a focus on religious subsets under leaders like Tom DeLay and the current President.

At a time when Houston needed rail transit and federal dollars were abundant and budgeted, he had those funds stripped from Houston, leaving us over a decade behind in our transportation capacity. He would claim to support NASA, yet strip $1 billion from its budget over winning the primary.

It was all about using power to hurt. It was all about demonizing a target group, be it minorities, immigrants, Muslims, gays, whoever the next target of hate would be. That hate speech by the party against a group (immigrants for example) is what drove away Hispanic voters that had voted for George W. Bush four years ago.

The GOP has allowed itself to become too narrow and mean. The campaign speech about “palling around with terrorists” is the type of hate speech that has driven away a majority of voters to the Democratic Party that has been expanding its tent to include moderate centrists like me who have been driven out of the GOP.

I have heard some conservative commentators blame the GOP loss on “moderates” when the fact is that most moderates have left the GOP –pushed out would be a better description. All that is left are the hard core which is a small, dwindling group of mainly aging white, religious voters. The GOP convention was 94% white people. The Democratic convention was a sea of colors that looks like the real world of our growing neighborhoods. Even President-Elect Obama gained votes from evangelicals who believe in protecting the earth from climate change and other moderate issues.

When I walked Texas Congress district 22 in places like Ft. Bend, every three houses had three different ethnic group living there – Chinese, Indian, Muslim, White, etc. Those changes have made a GOP-drawn district more diverse and Democrat-leaning in recent years. It will eventually switch to Democrat as more diverse people move into one of the fastest growing counties in the United States.

Change is happening in America. We are diverse in cultures and lifestyles. We need more tolerance, not less. We need more bipartisanship to solve our problems, not less. The Democrats have embraced that diversity that is our strength – Jews living peacefully next to Muslims, Pakistani’s next to Indians, in places like Sugar Land, Texas that doesn’t happen in other places in the world.

Until the GOP stops focusing on narrow groups and narrow issues and begins offering fair solutions for the new majority, it will remain a minority party. Some of the GOP evangelical base is even attacking other Christians, e.g., Catholics, for their beliefs. Why should a political party favor one religion over another or even one subset of Christianity over another?

The GOP has lost its way. It has gotten off in the weeds and needs to return to the mainstream as a centrist party if it wants to return to power.
To his credit, President-Elect Obama and his Chief of Staff are Centrists, not leftists. Americans want a Centrist government, not either extreme.

In my opinion this is the change the GOP needs to make. I wish them luck. In the meantime I will continue supporting centrists who provide real solutions to real problems facing all Americans.

Right now the only Centrists in town are in the Democratic Party.

Cuba How a Hurricane Could Change a Failed Cuba Policy

As I write this Cuba is being hit by the third hurricane in 2008 – Hurricane Paloma, a Category 4 hurricane. We should use this disaster to rectify a mistake that has left Castro in power for over 50 years. We allowed Castro to paint Americans as bad -- and made it possible for his countrymen to believe that lie by prohibiting Americans from visiting Cuba. That policy ended up costing the GOP Cuban-American votes in 2008 that it normally gets.

Hurricane Paloma is a rare late-season event, occurring at the same time blizzards are sweeping over our northern States. Hurricane Paloma is the second strongest November hurricane in recorded history, and it has caused extensive damage in Cuba. It also creates a rare opportunity to start a dialogue long overdue – with Cuba. Both President Bush and President-Elect Obama should offer Cuba humanitarian assistance if we are truly the “Christian/ religious” nation people say we are.

Cuba was also hit by Hurricane IKE, which didn’t stop until it hit Houston as a CAT 3 then it went on to knock out power and leave a path of destruction all the way to Ohio. The Cuban people have lost most of their crops and our government has cut the money Cubans in the U.S. can legally send to relatives in Cuba. It is our government that has prohibited our right as Americans to travel freely to Cuba. Cuba does not prohibit Americans from visiting. It is natural disaster made worse by bad policy.

We have had dealings with Communist China, Vietnam and Russia for decades. It makes no sense to deal with them but not a country with a Communist government only ninety miles from our shore. Cuba is shunned for being “Communist” when we routinely travel to and buy billions of goods each year from “Communist China” without a second thought. Cuba has the same type of government as China, so why the problem with having better relations with Cuba?

We fought a war in Vietnam and now our companies are doing business in Vietnam and we are buying goods from them. The Bush administration actually signed a Bilateral Trade Agreement with Vietnam! Yet they have made even visiting Cuba a crime! It is a nonsensical double standard.

This not only makes no sense -- it gives Castro an advantage since Cubans are kept from meeting real Americans, which would show the Cuban people that we are not the bad people Fidel says we are. This policy needs to change under an Obama administration. Three hurricanes and human suffering provide an opening for a new dynamic in our international relationships.

Offering humanitarian assistance to Cuba and a lifting of travel restrictions on Americans would be a positive step for new American leadership to establish a new image in the world. The new Cuban leader, Raul Castro, has been more open to change than his dying brother Fidel, who benefitted the most from American isolation of his island. Our policy has been a failure - it kept Cubans in the dark about the outside world. Our trade with China and contact with Americans has made China an entrepreneurial country with a market economy – not a State economy.

Letting Cubans see Americans in action, helping supply some basic necessities like food, would finally let Cubans know Americans as people instead of whatever Fidel Castro said about us. Fidel Castro is able to control the image of America to Cubans when Americans were nowhere to be seen. It’s pretty hard to paint Americans as ugly when we have access to the people and they can see relief supplies stamped “USA” to demonstrate the good that is represented by ordinary Americans. The Cuban government does not prevent Americans from talking to Cubans they meet. It is American policy that keeping us from talking.

According to sources, 2008 is the only season in recorded history to feature a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) in every month from July to November. 2008 is also the second most destructive season on record, behind only the 2005 season, with up to $52 billion in damage.

These storms are international agents of disaster. But they could also prove to be international agents of change – for better relations. Hurricane Paloma should be used as an opportunity to offer to help Cubans recover from three Hurricanes and build a new relationship between our nations. It could help reduce global hostilities, by treating Cubans with the same respect we have extended to Chinese and Vietnamese.

We need to change a policy that long ago lost any connection to reason.

Hurricane and Blizzard Same Time - A First

We are witnessing a first in weather - a Hurricane and a Blizzard at the same time. It's a record number of Hurricanes, which are rare in November even though the season does not close until November 30.

Having a Hurricane AND a blizzard is really rare and bizarre at the same time. Get prepared folks.

I am in Dallas and heard on the TV that Ford Motor is hurting financially and has decided NOT to invest in new car designs, etc. NUTS! How does any business survive, especially a car company, by NOT investing in new technology? It's a death warrant decision. WHO is the "genius" that approved this idiotic strategy that guarantees failure?

Even our companies need a CHANGE in direction - and a big does of common sense. They need to invest in greener cars. Energy efficiency sells because it saves money. Ford is like a bloated bureaucracy that has lost touch with the entrepreneurial drive that has made the Japanese more successful in the American market than the American carmakers.

It proves that coddling industry does more harm than good. Because the Bush DC didn't force Detroit to get more fuel efficient, they never tried. So they had only bloated gas hog cars to sell, while the Japanese became more efficient and grabbed the lions share of the market with hybrid technology, etc. It's time we learned to be innovative again.

Got to run..

Dallas - 20 million

I'm in Dallas for a convention.

Watching local TV, the local news reports that DART, their rail system has carried over 20 MILLION passengers since it started. Amazing.

A major success. It reminded me of the time I heard my Congressman at the time, Tom DeLay, tell his own constituents that "Dallas rail is a complete failure" which was a complete false picture of reality. But his people elected him even after he was indicted, as they seem to be doing with Ted Stevens in Alaska.

And because of him turning back over $100 million in rail money owed to Houston, our transit system lags Dallas' and most other cities in the U.S. This was shortsighted and damaged our mobility. In fact, since 80's Mayor Kathy Whitmire proposed a Monorail, Houston's rail mobility has been held back by subsequent leadership like Mr. DeLay.

Now we shall see what kind of representative Mr. Olson makes. He is a minority rep with no seniority; yet his district includes NASA. It's like a new crewmember showing up after the Exxon Valdez has run aground on the reef. A new Captain is in charge and the crewmember with an office in the basement won't really play a major role that Mr. Lampson could as a 10-year seniority member who was to be on the Science Committee funding NASA.

Not sure how it will play out but it can't help NASA or the cities whose funding are controlled by the majority Democrat party.

I read in the Dallas paper that the Democrats picked up more seats here also, except for a Commissioner's Court seat. Red Texas has big areas of blue spreading out.

Obama appears to be reaching out across the aisle and that is good - McCain is doing the same.

It is in our best interest that everyone help bail out the boat at this point.

America Makes History

America showed once again its specialness by making history yesterday.

President-Elect Obama was elected by getting more votes from white voters than John Kerry got in 2004 and Al Gore did in 2000.

Now we have done something to stun the world - showing it the best of that American Dream where a poor kid with no family connections or inherited wealth can rise to become President. How many other countries can claim that? In most countries only a small elite have that opportunity.

John McCain gave a concession speech that was deep and meaningful. It was the best he has ever done. He was a gentleman and a gracious loser, unlike those he silenced for booing.

Harris County also changed yesterday - we now have a mix of Democrat and Republican leadership instead of only the GOP in charge. This is better for all of us.

It also appears that the Democrats will not have a 60 seat lock on the U.S. Senate, so the new President will still need to reach across the aisle to get bills passed. And that is also a good thing. I expect it to keep things in the centrist zone, not too far left -- after being too far right too long. Voters rejected that extremism yesterday, and they would do the same if Democrats venture beyond moderate/centrist policies, or center left.

Americans have put a new face on our leadership that sends a strong message to the rest of the world. The Ship of State has been put on a big reef. It will take a massive effort with that global connection to get us off and repair the damage. It is necessary so we can sail back into blue waters.

If the world could vote, they would have voted by a substantial majority for Obama as well. We have the potential of a better future, which will take working closely with our neighbors from Europe to Asia.

A new chapter for America, and the world, has opened...

In Houston, the guy who ran the positive ads got elected County Judge as a Republican, showing the power of a positive campaign.

All the Democrat judge candidates won, breaking a 100% GOP lock on judgeships. That swept out both bad and good people. It was a sweep, but big sweeps can clean out the good along with the bad.

The outgoing bad was Sharolyn Wood, who abused her power as a judge in at least one case that I am personally aware of -- making a Plaintff pay for the Defendant's legal fees (over $40,000) when it was the Defendant's vehicle that had malfunctioned from a computer error that caused it to suddenly accelerate when it was still new. It surged against a gas meter and would not shut off. Awarding a defective product attorney's fees for trying to get a settlement (and the car fixed) was neither fair or just. Ms. Wood should have been removed a long time ago.

The outgoing good (GOP) judge is Judge Lamar McCorkle - a fair and honest judge in my dealings with him.

The problem is when you pick judges based on party instead of their judicial qualities, you lose the good with the bad.

With the return of two parties to Harris County we achieve some balance - instead of a one-party monopoly that leads to a failure of checks and balances.

If a party DA won't prosecute another Republican (or a Democrat another Democrat) then we get the abuses we saw in Sheriff Thomas and DA Chuck Rosenthal's offices --because no one is calling out bad behavior of their compatriots who are crossing the legal line.

If we do this right, we have better days ahead of us, locally and nationally.

Day Before Historic Election

Photo: Sunrise this morning in Seabrook, looking at Clear Lake - with Galveston Bay across the bridge....A beautiful day, the day before an historic election regardless of selection - either the oldest President-Elect or America's first black President.

Tomorrow is it: If you haven't, GO VOTE! That is what makes America great.

Someone asked me: "If you are 50% white, why are you classified as black?" I don't know what the answer is; nor do I care. We focus too much on surface issues like color, religion or sex instead of real issues, like having a global economic game plan that gets us secure financially again.

It's time to get this election over with so we can open a new chapter of American history and move on with a new President.

The good news: When you look at the financial hole we are in, we have no way to go but up!

I talked to my 80 year mom in Iowa today - and she's turning people to vote OBAMA! She's telling people that Palin is too risky for an old President, and we need a new economic direction! Her husband Gilbert also voted Obama.

I have NEVER seen her do anything like this before.

Yesterday, I discovered more damaged buildings where IKE had ripped apart enough of the windows to cause major internal damage. The Houston building I saw is owned by a billionaire Chinese real estate magnate. They had scaffolding filling the atrium to the roof. It looked like a moonscape inside, with huge machines blocking tenants doors and large hoses a foot or more in diameter running down halls and out windows.

IKE has proven to be a wake up call.

People no longer look at me like I'm from Mars when I talk about the need for window security to keep property from being severely damaged during a high-wind or blast event. But now that the economy has fallen off a cliff, we shall see what value people will put on security.

We will need it regardless who is elected next Tuesday.

Photo: Sunrise this morning in Seabrook

The days are FLYING. Thank God the election is almost over. Not sure I can handle one more political commercial without going mad. I've voted so they are wasting their money on me at this point. LOL.

Be sure to watch Houston's PBS "Red White and Blue" tonight. They filmed a debate for Harris County District Attorney. Iran even came up - who do you think executes the most people: Iran, Texas or Saudi Arabia? Watch and find out. It was an interesting debate and repeats on Sunday.

How a Texas Vote Nov. 4 Will Impact America’s Education

There is one Texas vote on November 4 that will actually have a national impact across America, for good or bad. It will impact our ability to lead in the 21st Century – because America’s children may end up remaining ignorant as a result of a strictly Texas vote. That will not bode well for our future.

The Republican candidate for the State Board of Education showed a photo of the Democrat candidate in front of the Taj Mahal and claimed “she supported teaching our children Islam!”

This is incredibly silly -- the Taj Mahal is in INDIA and 80% of Indians are HINDU, a totally separate religion from Islam! The building is a shrine by a king for his dead wife. That’s it.

I know because I have been to India and took a taxi down from New Delhi to see the Taj Mahal—during a Fortune 500 negotiating trip many years ago. How many Americans know this? We are dirt ignorant about the world we expect to lead. This Texas education vote is important to America’s future (and the world’s) because it will either keep us (as an entire country) dirt ignorant -- or it will give our kids a real education they will need for our country to succeed.

Ignorance doesn’t help us. It even hurts our friends. When conservatives pray "in the name of Jesus" they have no idea that they are actually insulting their JEWISH guests! I know most of them have no idea that they are being insulting, but they are. We need kids taught about all the world’s religions, not just one. America is a nation of many religions – why should only one be taught to school kids? That narrowness leads to ignorance and mistakes.

Syria is supposed to be Islamic right? And yet outside the city I found open Christian churches that date back to the time of Christ. The people still speak the original Aramaic. I visited Christian churches that still had the secret entrance in the back where Christians entered in the days after it started as a faith. Today, you enter through a normal entrance in the front. Yes, you can go to a Christian church in Muslim Syria. It is less than an hour drive from Damascus.

Because Texas’ education decisions on things like textbooks tend to get spread across America (because of the number of books bought), if the Democrat Laura Ewing loses the vote for the Texas State Board of Education (which is possible in ‘red’ Texas), America’s children will remain ignorant about these other religions that our people and leadership must know in dealing with them. Will it be leadership that forgets when America bombs Syria that it is generating problems for local Christians there -- and creating more enemies for America, not less? How many Americans know that the Islamic Koran reveres both Jesus and Mary?

Without knowledge of the world's religions, our children will be unprepared to lead. Hinduism and Islam are but two of many religions in the world. Don’t forget there are Buddhists, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, a growing religious movement in China, etc. What do you know about them?

Now the term “Muslim” is being used like a code word for the “N word.” That is also wrong. Radical Islam is very different from ordinary Muslims. America’s Lack of Global Education will be our undoing if we don’t upgrade our education to the global level it needs to be for us to navigate the 21st Century with awareness and strategy instead of blind pre-conceived guessing and misinformation.

When you condemn someone for standing in front of the Taj Mahal and confuse Hinduism and Islam, that does not bode well for America’s future if people like Laura Ewing lose to ignorant fear-mongering and attempts to keep our children ignorant about the wider world we have to deal with on issues from trade to climate change.

Al Qaida endorses....John McCain! Yikes!

They call it the endorsement from hell - an Al Qaida website has endorsed....John McCain for President! Don't take my word for it, check out the article.

Why? Apparently Al Qaida thinks McCain will be like Bush and help them
recruit more people to their flawed cause. WOW. They might even
launch a pre-election attack to help McCain win!

I was a TV Middle East expert during the first Gulf War. On and after
9/11, I was a TV Terrorism analyst in Houston. It makes sense that Al
Qaida would endorse for President someone they think will maintain a
high anti-American sentiment that will make their recruiting easier.

An Obama win would deflate Al Qaida. When Sen. Obama spoke in Germany,
over 100,000 people turned out to LISTEN not to protest. If he is
elected, anti-American sentiment would diminish -- and with less anger
at the U.S. it would make Al Qaida's recruiting much harder.

In short, Al Qaida has benefited from the Bush 43 years which failed
to even capture or kill Mr. Bin Laden. Because of misstatements of a
"crusade" and the religious extremists supporting Tom DeLay and
President Bush, who hoped the war would spark "Armageddon," it was
perceived as a religious war by the West against the East. A President
McCain that thinks of Iraq like Vietnam -- who could be erratic in
policy or die in office leaving the war to an inexperienced former
Governor with no international knowledge -- would boost Al Qaida's
ability to recruit suicide bombers indefinitely.

Al Qaida apparently sees a President Obama undercutting them because
his presence would put an entirely new face on America -- and would
diminish the negative feelings towards the U.S. and its policies. The
evidence was in the 100,000 people in Germany standing for hours to
hear a Presidential candidate speak -- when the current President is
greeted with jeers and protest lines as far as the eye can see. The next President will need their support to get our global financial mess fixed also.

So I can see why it makes sense for Al Qaida, if they could vote,
would prefer Sen. McCain.

So if you want to do want Al Qaida wants, vote McCain.

AMAZING.

Photo: Seabrook Sunrise

This morning's sunrise pics...

The crane parked on the lake has been used in pulling yachts off people's yards, etc.

That's the Kemah bridge in the background. Babin's has reopened. Along Toddville Road debris piles mark what's left of wrecked houses, who are spray painted "Unsafe." You also see bare poles that used to have houses sitting on them. Those sites still look about the same as the day after IKE.

I've been really busy but the economic stress around is plain to see. And sad.

Yesterday I watched the County Judge debate, which will air tonight on PBS-KUHF "Red White and Blue" series. It started dull but don't leave - it got pretty heated before it was over.

Also yesterday, I met a woman who told me that our elected Mr. Paul Bettencourt had actually "bruised" her by sticking his finger into her chest to make a point during a GOP dinner a few years ago. Her husband was not pleased, but nothing was done about it. No man should be inappropriately touching a woman and he should NEVER bruise a lady. If true, he needs to have his butt kicked (out of office).

Then I saw the clip of an interview with KHOU Channel 11, in which Bettencourt was nearly screaming he was so out of control. He hasn't given his staff a raise in 10 years and waits until it is too late to process voter registration applications. How many won't get to vote as a result? Is this really doing his job at taxpayer expense?

I'll be watching for TV follow ups on this messy issue as Nov. 4 approaches.

Crazy Days

Photo: Crazy car on I 45 heading towards Galveston.
Crazy days. Yesterday I was in Pearland giving an estimate -- and saw a sea of blue roofs still left from IKE. Almost every roof had one in the nice neighborhood I went to.

Then a friend locked the keys in her car and my schedule went out the window. I found myself in Kingwood, climbing on a roof as rain started to fall and thunder was rolling in -- to put down a blue tarp. My friend had discovered a growing stain on the wall caused by a poorly patched hole left over from a tree hitting the roof during IKE. I had to borrow a pair of her tennis shoes to keep from sliding off. With the help of a neighbor we got it nailed down --and us off the roof -- before the lightning and hard rain came down. I was soaking wet. It was time for a glass of wine and call it a day.

This morning I was at a Seabrook Rotary breakfast when Pat Lykos, running for District Attorney, spoke. Suddenly, some people got mad because they thought the Democrat should also be there. It was right after I asked her "If elected, would you prosecute Republicans who step over the line the same as Democrats?" She gave an answer but I don't recall her saying "yes." So I went up and gave her another cahnce after the meeting broke up. I was just looking for a simple "Yes." I got an answer but didn't hear "yes." Let's hope whoever gets it does a fair job of prosecuting anyone stepping over the legal line, regardless of party affiliation. The image today in Houston is that only the opposite side gets prosecuted. No one in the party went after the former DA Rosenthal for sexual harrassment or racist remarks up to the day he resigned. If a Democrat is elected, he needs to go after Democrats as well as Republicans who violate the law. THAT is what the job is all about.

It shows that things are getting tense, even at nonpolitical meetings like Rotary.

I decided to join Rotary because it is doing so many great projects around Houston, around America and around the world. They are even stepping in as "Second Responders" trying to help rebuild after the first responders do their thing.

I agree with the author of the attached article, Nicolas Kristoff - that the U.S. needs a "rebranding" in the world - to show that we are more than what people think we are -- after 8 years of the world seeing an American President condone torture and exhibit arrogance, while failing to show respect or listen to others outside his small circle of same-limited-thinking advisors.

Arrogance that proves wrong (like the missing WMD's in Iraq) is worse than being arrogant and right!

Electing someone who shows respect, listens instead of always talking, and can think outside the box would be a huge advantage in getting the United States back into a respected global leadership role.

I'd like to see Americans with a global strategy as well. We'll need it now that we are an additional $5 trillion in the hole after the last 8 years -- while countries like China have nearly a $2 trillion SURPLUS.

No great country has been able to maintain its military leadership without the economic base to support it.

New Hurricane Technology

Houston KHOU (Channel 11) did a story on hurricane window film last night.

I thought Shern-min Chow did a GREAT job explaining how the technology works and what happens in high-wind events.

The IKE clean-up continues and things are starting to look and feel more "normal." I went out to vote yesterday and the line extended all the way to the street! Turnout could double this year. Wow.

It's a political hurricane happening, or so it seems.

Joe the Plumber and the new Global Economic system

A First in Human History

Something really big is happening –bigger than Joe the Plumber. People are being laid off in places like Iceland (not just Michigan and Ohio) because of their banks buying bad American mortgage paper. Like a rare planetary alignment, events have come together to create the need for a new Global Economic system for the first time in human history. Things have gotten so bad that it now requires a “Global Solution” to a World Economic Crisis.

It was American housing paper, built on a foundation of sand that had no oversight and encouraged mortgage fraud, “liar’s loans,” adjustable rate mortgages -- and selling this fundamentally flawed paper to buyers around the world that caused economic collapse from New York to L.A., and from Iceland to steamy Brazil. The SEC Chairman and those in charge of federal agencies were asleep at the wheel or negligent in their duties. Perhaps they were picked more for loyalty to the President and his party than for competence in doing their jobs. Perhaps they were picked NOT to do their jobs –i.e., to let the financial giants do whatever they wanted. Either way, the result was the same.

But the situation is more than that. At the same time the wheels were coming off our financial train, we’ve outgrown the national economic system in a globally-integrated economy, where money races to the best safe haven around the world via wire transfer in micro-seconds.

However, we lack a global set of rules to take us to the next level. Just like the American economy outgrew management by 50 different States and needed organization on a national level in the 1930’s (requiring the development of national laws such as the FDIC and SEC to set standard rules for operating between states) – now it is apparent that economics have outgrown a single national economy. One country will no longer financially control the destiny of the entire planet or be its economic engine. We will sink or swim together.

Europeans found out during the financial meltdown that if only one country insured deposits and others didn’t, then money would be pulled from one country to another–capital flight was causing runs on banks around the world -- until they each offered the same level of security and government insurance. Only when Europeans teamed up to offer the same bank protection was stability achieved. Ironically it was Britain that took the lead in providing a bank protection solution that worked – which was followed by a reluctant American administration whose prior $700 billion plan had not.

President Bush inherited a $64 billion surplus. Eight years later, it’s been replaced by a $5 trillion hole of debt. China presently holds a majority of the world’s currency and foreign exchange reserves of over $1.5 trillion. Russia has over $500 billion in reserves. The U.S. has none. In eight short years, the U.S. has lost its 200-year lead as the world’s greatest financial power. We are now the world’s largest debtor nation. Financial institutions are short of credit and a prolonged recession is taking hold. Continued stability will depend on a global system of securing deposits from America to Asia.

All of this points to a global conference being necessary to create some global rules of the road – what has been referred to as a “Bretton Woods 2.0.” President Bush will start the meeting by the end of this year. The next President will have to finish it as nations seek ways to cooperate economically on a global scale to get us out of this mess.

Cooperation with the world’s governments on a global financial system is the only choice left.

Who has the cool reflective judgment it will take to do this is up to the American voter? Since the current situation was generated by a Republican administration that doesn’t believe in government oversight, I don’t see it as the answer to put America back on top.

Even Joe the Plumber would pay more under Sen. McCain’s tax plan than under Sen. Obama’s. I wonder if it is racial bias that, I’m sorry to say, makes certain lower-educated white men (and some women of a certain age) blind to the candidate, whose tax policies actually favor Joe Six Pack and the middle class more than the rich guy’s plan.

I was sent a photo of a white man on a motorcycle with a racial slur on his back (using the N-word and “white” house), so don’t tell me that there aren’t some real morons out there who hate people based solely on their color—which shows their limited mentality. These Joes will end up voting for the guy whose plan benefits the super rich more than the little guys like them because they can’t get past skin color. Now that is stupid! McCain’s plan favors multi-millionaires--it is a continuation of the Bush formula of favoring the top 5%. How has that helped us? Is a person’s color more important than your pocketbook?

My bottom line: I’m going to vote for the guy with only one house. I’m voting for the one who was poor and had to struggle to make it on his own, not because dad was a Senator. That guy is more like most Americans, unlike the guy who isn’t sure how many houses he owns. He can afford to be wrong. Even if he loses half his houses, he can still sleep in the other 5 or 6! And being married to a beer heiress making $10 million/year, he would benefit more from his tax policies favoring the top 2% than Joe the Plumber and the bottom 98% of us.

The guy with only one house is going to be a lot more cool, thoughtful and careful in making decisions on a global scale. That’s what America needs to regain its global standing at this transitional moment.

Rocky Mountain High

I am in Denver where the official snow ski season opened yesterday - and a few moments ago I settled a case that was set for a trial today. I didn't come into it as a trial lawyer but as a negotiator. My job was to cut a deal. I did.

This is a swing state and the political ads are all over the TV. I saw one large McCain sign and a bunch of smaller Obama yard signs. I read that Sen. Obama leads in normally GOP Colorado by 5 points.

This morning I sent out a Global American article on why no one should kill themselves over their falling 401k and the market. Too many are committing murder-suicide over their bank balance or foreclosure. I've lived through this below (Texas, in the 80's) and survived it, hence the article.

Bunny rabbits are a common sight through the parking lot of the motel where I'm staying, a few miles from the airport. A field abuts the property, along with two other hotels and a small diner --an oasis all by itself just outside town.

A half mile away, a single line of houses line a narrow road -- a lot of them new and for sale. The housing market is in the tank here too. It is beautiful blue skies backed by the Rocky Mountains in mid-October here. It sure beats looking at the Dow Jones Stock market.

Watch them at the airport. The Budget people at DIA sold me a tank of gas for $3.63 when the going rate per gallon in Denver is $2.99 for unleaded. The car had a huge ice scrapper in the drivers seat. Fortunately, I won't need it.

But it's not just at the airport here that people pull stuff. Last week an NTB store in Houston scammed me to buy brake calipers for a car that has just 40,000 miles on it - even claimed i had water in the brake fluid. All I wanted was new tires. The two other mechanics I showed it to said the rotor machining was rough and unprofessional - so not only was it expensive work, it wasn't well done. To their credit, the national HQ called me and offered to refund the cost of the calipers.

Heading out of here tomorrow.

Scenes Behind a Senate Debate - No That's Not Batman

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Scenes from Behind a (Senate) Debate

I had the privilege of observing the recent TV Senate debate between Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Rick Noriega and the Libertarian candidate.

It was unique because it was hosted by PBS Channel 8 but was filmed at the KHOU Channel 11 studio because of all the damage to the PBS facility caused by Hurricane IKE. So it was a unique mix of people from TV channels, the media, the League of Women Voters (which also has male members, including me recently), AARP sponsors, and the campaigns.

I commend KHOU for making this alternative filming possible for KUHF, especially considering that their studios are smaller than those in those at Fox and the other Houston TV stations.

The pre-debate negotiations were intense, from what I saw. Each campaign wanted its own makeup room (yep). One wanted a separate entrance. The negotiations included the size and spacing of the podiums. Sen. Cornyn’s office asked that a certain camera angle be avoided (I don’t know which).

When I entered the studio during the setup the host Ernie Manouse was walking around with a big smile --and tissue paper surrounding his collar, looking like a character from Charles Dickens or an old English court. I asked him if I had walked in on the wrong century. He laughed and said it kept the powder off his clean white shirt until the filming started.

We moved to the large conference room where I saw the drawing for the order of debate. First draw was for who would be on which podium (left, center, right) and the second draw was for –more importantly— which campaign got the big conference room, the medium size one and the small one for makeup and blogging. LOL. Sen. Cornyn did not attend, but left the drawing to a couple staff members.

The Libertarian candidate, Ms. Shick, volunteered to take the smallest room, which was nice of her. Rep. Noreiga won the big conference room. At that point it would be used for maybe 15 – 20 minutes before the debate started.

During the debate, one of the ladies watching it from the Green Room behind the studio said: “Senator Cornyn looks like he has a “Batman” costume behind him.” Sure enough the dark Texas flags positioned behind Sen. Cornyn -- and the fact he was in the center podium facing the camera head on -- made him look like “Batman.”

After she said it every time I saw the shot it looked like a Batman background set. It certainly added some humor to a very dull debate.

I think of it -- and still get a laugh from the Batman incident--especially when the news about the global financial meltdown gets too depressing, like when the G7 met for a whole 30 minutes and went home after doing nothing.

It looks like we need to hang on, and find a laugh where you can, until November 4 brings us some real leadership. Whoever gets it will inherit the biggest mess since the Great Depression. It will take global action to fix it. I don’t think “Batman” will save us from this crisis.

It’s ironic that a Republican administration is the one proposing a “socialist” investment in banks – which is working in Europe’s crisis. It came only after everything else has failed.

But an article in today’s Houston Chronicle, which is linked on my blog, by former Lt. Governor Bill Hobby, shows the path to success, based on what Jesse Jones did in Houston in the 1930’s – and no Houston banks failed. He proposed it to JP Morgan for New York and Mr. Ford for Michigan – both refused his advice and their banks failed.

Maybe the Power Rangers will need to be called in.

Old vs New - Need for Global financial leadership

I shot this in West Texas as the perfect example of the old and new technologies for energy.

Oil pumps are a relic of the 20th century energy driver. The wind turbines lining the ridges in this area represent a growing new industry for the 21st Century --consisting of (free) renewable energy from wind and solar sources.

Twenty years ago these ridges were empty, like many others I saw on the journey from Houston to Odessa and back. We have tremendous potential for growth in wind and solar energy in Texas. It would also preserve Texas' historic role as an energy provider.

Despite the global financial crisis upon us, energy will continue to be needed in growing amounts. The "pump only" strategy risks our entire future as those sources play out despite more drilling --unless we have developed alternatives that allow us to keep the lights on -- and grow. It would also allow us to grow into a cleaner future.

Who will make that commitment for America as the next President?

It has not happened in the last eight years of a GOP administration. And with a replacement VP nominee coming from a rich oil producing state that has never had a tough budget to balance, they are not going to be the ones who take us to energy independence with a "Marshall Plan" that it needs to be.

The other thing bothering me is that I grew up in a little town in Iowa not much different than Wasilla, Alaska.

The big difference is that I got out of that little town and ended up traveling worldwide (over 50 countries) as a young Fortune 500 negotiator. That experience gave me insights in other cultures that you never get as an elected official at the top.

It tells me that if you have never been out of your State or town your entire life, you have no business being a heartbeat from running our Ship of State, especially in a global financial crisis.

That would be like turning the Titanic over to one of the passengers along for the ride. Americans have had a rough enough ride without making it worse. We need leadership who will push alternative 21st century energy technology and bring a global action team together to resolve what is now a worldwide financial meltdown.

Steel Texas Trees - The Future

Yesterday I saw the past and the future combined.

I'm on a quick trip to West Texas (note that the speed limit is "80" out here.)

It's not your father's West Texas. After turning off I 10 near Fort Stockton the car rounded a corner, and suddenly among the rolling hills were forests of tall steel modern windmills turning gently in the wind. I call them 21st Century "Texas Trees."

At one point, rusty oil wells sat slowly pumping next to the road-- while perched up high for miles in each direction the machines spun silently in long clusters lining the ridges along the high ground. The sun sparkled off their blades.

It hit me as a symbol - the old technology and the new. One is fading out and is slowly being replaced by the new renewable technology. One industry has seen its peak; the other is just beginning to replace it as part of the clean, renewable -- American -- source of energy.

The wind doesn't charge for its services. Neither does the sun. Why it has taken so long to do this is puzzling. I've read Mr. McCain voted against this type of alternative energy over 20 times. We can't become independent with oil alone, despite "drill baby drill." That strategy won't keep us from running off the cliff as supplies play out. Oil supplies are not unlimited but consumption is. We must become more efficient and tap our wind/solar potential to the max as part of a real strategy.

I pulled off the road to take a couple photos and discovered one windfarm was part of General Electric. T. Boone Pickens is a leader in wind energy and so is Houston's Horizon Wind company.

It is our future. Who you vote for will either make this happen or delay us further. It's an important vote for our future energy stability.

Private Space Flight - Beam Me Up Scotty

Private Space flight has just become a reality. It may even save NASA the embarrassment of our astronauts hitching rides on Russian (or Chinese) space vehicles during the 5 year gap between shutting down the shuttle in 2010 and the launch of its replacement in 2015. Who wants to hear "Welcome aboard Comrades! We accept only Rubles!"

SpaceX, a private company financed by a billionaire who founded PayPal, has successfully put a payload into Orbit. This is GREAT. It is so American.

Entrepreneurs in space is a good thing. Space flight should not be the exclusive domain of governments. Government development programs take too long and cost too much. They depend on funding that is often erratic and unpredictable.

Getting private companies involved will increase access to space and cut the costs of putting payloads (and people) in orbit -- and beyond. It opens the door to space manufacturing, tourism and cheaper transport of satellites that we depend on for weather information, communication, etc. Can a lunar hotel (or hot dog stand) be far away?

Perhaps the 2001 Space Odyssey movie which had the main character taking a "Pan Am" flight to the moon is possible in our lifetime. But instead of Pan Am, the company who does it may be called "SpaceX" -- and/or "SpaceShipThree" (the British Richard Branson's company).

That could give investors who lost their shirts on Wall Street higher ground to jump from. The Dow lost over 777 points today ("Heck of a job!")

Beam me up Scotty!

Jetman's Solution to Houston Traffic

I have a solution for Houston's notorious traffic - all of us need to get a jetpack like the one used by "FusionMan" to fly over the English Channel at 100 mph.

Just imagine - no more hour long commutes or worrying about accidents and dead traffic lights slowing you down! Just strap on the jetpack, grab your briefcase and leap into the air, faster than a speeding commuter!!

No more road rage! Just make sure you don't fly with your mouth open in case of intercepting flying bugs.

Now, where can I order one of these jetpacks?

Avoiding disaster

I narrowly avoided a disaster yesterday - maybe it was a power surge from utilities being hooked up. But a little foresight saved the day (it would be nice if government did that).

When I went to work on my laptop it gave an error message - after several attempts to boot up it finally reset itself to the factory start-up -- and deleted over 40 gigabytes of information, documents, pictures etc I had stored on it! YIKES.

But all was not lost - because a couple months ago I subscribed to a $5/month service with "IDrive" which backed up my computer to an online storage nook. Without it, I would have had to start over from scratch.

As it stands, the computer is being restored from the online site - even though it will take two days for all of the information to be transferred. That still beats the alternative.

Moral: Always have a (online) backup! It sure beats the alternative. You never know if your laptop is going to crash, get submerge by a hurricane or get stolen. At least this way, all is not lost even if your computer is.

I recommend everyone, including businesses and government agencies do the same thing.

Foresight does seem to be missing where it's needed. I went to several downtown buildings that had windows blown out during IKE. Two of them, one at 1111 Louisiana next to Centerpoint, and the other at the Wells Fargo building, told me that they had banned hurricane film on their windows. What? Our film with attachment would have kept those windows from blowing out even if they had been broken by flying debris. From a liability standpoint, it is NUTS not to use it.

I was agitated enough that I went to City Hall and voiced my concerns over this short-sighted practice. I'm always amazed when common sense seems to be missing in action. But then common sense seems to be a dying art. We'll see what develops.

$700 Billion Bailout vs 11 Days No Power for 500,000

Eleven days after IKE cut power over 500,000 Houston area people are still without power, including some of my team members. Being "in the dark" gives one clarity - like seeing a proposal to bail out investment firms with $700 billion without oversight, in a rush. Yet no one mentions that just five (5) of the investment firms paid out $39 BILLION (with a "b") in bonuses LAST YEAR. Why should taxpayers pay for these? If you had those bonuses repaid, the taxpayer burden would drop dramatically.

Having endured 6 days of no power, I had had enough of being a "caveman." I can't imagine 11 days of no hot showers, air conditioning (it's been in the high 80's again), etc.

The buildings on one side of my Seabrook condo have power - the buildings on the other side are dark and still out of power.

TV has been showing images of the first residents to get back into Galveston - only to find anything below 6 feet was washed into a debris pile. In their rebuilding efforts it is clear that Galveston buildings need to be elevated at least 10 feet, maybe more if we get hit by a CAT 3 storm (or higher). That should be part of any Congress rebuilding plan if they give Galveston the requested $2 billion.

Otherwise it will all wash away again in the next storm. We need to do the same all along the American coasts. Storms are getting strong. Texas Gov. Perry has refused to endorse the "hardening" of our utilities - which means the whole process of losing power for weeks while trees are pulled off poles will continue. It is a shortsighted decision. It could be a long term plan but it needs to happen. We need to start taking care of Main Street if we want to prosper. Main Street has been left out of the Paulson plan.

Traffic lights are still out everywhere and the toll roads are free and clogged to the max. We are one mass traffic jam as gas is now available but being able to move is hindered by the lack of timed lights.

And it appears that the gas shortages in Atlanta and now Tennessee is due to IKE's damaging pipelines that carry gasoline north and east to those areas. It's more confirmation that hurricanes are national threats, just just a coastal one. Power was knocked out from Texas to Ohio due to IKE.

We need to invest in upgrading our infrastructure to avoid these outages in the future. Government, like business, should "plan ahead" instead of just doing bandaide acts that don't solve the problem or prepare for the threat we know will be an annual event. We can't repeal the laws of nature or make future storms go away.

So we either keep rebuilding and living like cavemen and women, or we act like intelligent human beings and upgrade our building codes so we don't have to live primitively unless we really want to go camping for weeks at a time.

We need leadership that will invest in Main Street, not just Wall Street -- and giving billionaires a free pass. If you agree, let Congress know.

IKE - Damage all the Way to Ohio

What is so amazing is that a hurricane (IKE) has caused even OHIO to lose power for over 5 days - not to mention the Midwest mess it also caused. Hurricanes are NATIONAL disasters, not just local ones.

There is a GREAT article in today's Houston Chronicle by Peter Brown, a city council member who argues that we need to rebuild Houston as a sustainable city. The link is at my blog below. Mr. Brown's ideas make sense and should be followed nationwide, not just on the coast. He recommends burying power lines, upgrading building codes to raise the minimum floor level and using "wind-resistant glass."

That must include using products that upgrade currently-installed windows to be wind resistant. I saw so many blown-out windows yesterday throughout Houston that could have been kept in place with our Armor Glass security film.

Council-member Brown's approach is on target and a sensible way to prepare for the next storm to minimize the damage and power outages. Nine (9) days after IKE over 1.3 million Houstonians are still without power. Ohio residents have endured the same mess for days. Council Member Brown's suggestions apply nationwide and should be followed. (Many of those people won't be able to read this until they get their power back).

After doing a damage survey yesterday I volunteered for the Mayor and made a run to drop MRE's at a senior citizens facility in Houston. I have posted a couple photos.

Back in Seabrook - New Meaning of "House" Boats

Photo: Michael Fjetland - view of south shore of Clear Lake next to channel leading to Galveston Bay. The boat is a 'new' addition.

I am back in Seabrook - the Clear Lake condo has power but this building is the last one that does. The rest of the buildings are black. People have generators on balconies. The people in the next street have a giant tree blocking the road, so they have to use a special gate through Pirates Landing to get out.

Across the lake, giant boats rest next to two houses that are next to the channel leading from Clear Lake to Galveston Bay. It's a new meaning for "house" boat.

I'm leaving to volunteer for the Mayor of Houston today. Amazingly, the power is still out for over 1 million people. The other amazing thing is that IKE also knocked out power in OHIO for over 5 days and flooded Midwest farms. Hurricanes have National impact...

IKE Tests Hurricane Film on Galveston Bay

Prior to Hurricane IKE, Armor Glass International installed hurricane security window film on two houses in Seabrook, TX located on Galveston Bay. Here is a photo showing the difference --Armor Glass film is on the (intact) houses. Their windows were not breached. This is where IKE's storm surge hit the hardest in Galveston Bay.

Photos show that both houses survived IKE with no window damage. You can see that the houses on each side of our test houses were destroyed. Once the windows are breached, it's all over for structural integrity.

A photo is also on the bottom of the Armor Glass home page at: www.ArmorGlass.com

Had IKE been a CAT 3 instead of a CAT 2 storm, we would have had more wind-borne debris breakage of windows that leads to structural failure in these storms. IKE should be a wake up call that we need stronger building codes and 24/7 window protection, not outdated plywood. Armor Glass has shown its product provides real security to property owners even on the front line of a hurricane.

Day 6 IKE Aftermath - Shock of Caveman Whose DOW stock drops 450 pts

Photo: Destroyed house on Galveston Bay/Seabrook, TX

What a Caveman Does When DOW Drops 450 Points

When you have been a caveman for nearly a week without power, and emerge from the darkness to hear that the DOW has plunged 450 points, it makes you think that maybe it was better not having power. Or maybe it's a way of seeing the light even more clearly.

Last night a weird event occurred. Sometime around 7:30 p.m., in the dark, a light came on. I wasn't really sure what it was for some time, since I was whacking weeds out of trees when it happened. It seemed so alien. What is that bright light? Hey, I can actually WASH all the dirty clothes!

But it isn't uniform. People I know a few blocks to the west and east in the same area of Kingwood still do NOT have power. The one thing that has saved us was a cool front that dropped high's into the 80's. If not for the cooler temps 1 million sweating, powerless people would be shooting each other. I saw utility trucks from Georgia and Florida yesterday. THANKS!

After days of getting only battery-powered local news about us, us, us, I was finally able to get cable and real NATIONAL (and world) news -- like Dow plunging 450 points off a cliff. At that moment I decided that maybe it was better being in the dark with no news. Then this morning it is announced treasury bills yielded the smallest price since World War II. The dollar used to be worth more than Europe’s Euro – now it is the reverse. Want to check out my cave?

But then most people seem to be in the dark about what is really going on even when they have power. Maybe the solution is to totally unplug America. The current picture of the hangover that comes after a drunken Wall Street that let things get out of hand can only be appreciated when you have been in the literal dark a few days. It makes you wonder why our leaders that let Wall Street drive the economy to this state, with us and our kids’ future in the back seat. America's financial security is in serious jeopardy as a result.

Another thing I noticed last night. Despite the return of lights last night it took FOREVER for the generator people to realize it -- and turn off their droning machines. One is still running this morning. But at least it's not next door and all the neighbors don't have to listen to it with open windows anymore - until the next outage. Some restored power has gone out again in places in Houston.

I had to go 30 miles to find gas yesterday - at I 45 and Rankin near the airport. The next door fast food McDonald's and Popeye's were 20 deep in people wanting something more than an MRE or dry food. Everyone stayed civilized even in the jammed gas line.

Now that my fallback shelter has power and I have some gas I have to go clean out a dead refrigerator at a still powerless Seabrook. The boat is now out of the pool.

Now I can do something to help others who are in worse shape.

We need major reforms and major change if America is to get back on the right track to lead and succeed globally. If you don't think so, spend a few days in the dark. It will make you see the light.

IKE Aftermath: Day 5 With No Power. Cavemen smell bad

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

9 a.m. Day 5 after IKE with no power – of 1.5 million in our area still sitting in the dark. Photo: HEB line in Kingwood stretches forever, waiting on ice.

It was surreal last night driving through black streets lined with dark houses lit by candles or a generator. We are getting more reports of federal people here to “help” us turning away from the Reliant Stadium POD a HEB grocery truck that showed up to donate goods. Heck of a job.

What happened to the State of Texas “pre-positioned fuel trucks” that were supposed to step in during a major disaster like this? They are nowhere to be seen. The folks in Galveston have it the worst of all – total devastation. Don’t forget that it is also part of our port system.

Yesterday I helped rebuild a fence for the neighbor with a tree in his house. He’s gone so a neighbor behind us helped me. As we worked he said he is planning to hook his generator up to his gas line – its running on gasoline and will soon run out. I discovered the source of the loud noise outside the bedroom window – their unit! LOL.

The biggest problem is lack of gas stations operating. It reminds me of the 1970 gas lines, except that we have so much crude that the prices are dropping. The bottleneck is refining. So it is not an oil shortage, but a refining shortage. Most of the refineries here were reported as undamaged by IKE – the problem is that they were shut down ahead of the storm and take time to start up, so they have been down for over a week.

I got up at 5 this morning to see about filling up my almost empty tank. The lines of cars stretched over a mile at the few places preparing to open. Without gas, we are a million plus city STUCK on empty. That will even hinder opening the refineries needed to produce more fuel for the entire country. As a former terrorism analyst, I think we should surround the refineries with high walls to keep out both high water and an RPG missile shot from the highway.

I did see utility trucks from Illinois yesterday. Thank You Illinois and all the other States that have sent utility trucks. The Houston area is America’s energy heartland and the sooner it is up and running the better for all. We are also headquarters of Horizon Wind Corporation which is planting wind farms everywhere, and biodiesel plants, to name a couple. All are affected when your refrigerator is off and the local store has no meat or eggs because they would spoil until the power is running the coolers again.

This is a lesson how much we need to diversify our energy sources. We have gas stations with gas but they aren’t open because they don’t have a generator to run the pumps – which makes things worse. Same for the grocery stores – they didn’t have a backup system sufficient to run anything other than lights. We need to get more alternative standby power systems set up.

And generators need to be required to be muffled. They produce dangerous fumes and the neighbor forced to open windows for ventilation will endure endless hours of a lawnmower running top end non-stop. As more people buy them the noise and dangerous fumes will increase. Getting some form of solar panels on houses tied to a battery system would be a greener, cleaner way to keep noxious generator fumes and noise to a minimum.

So, on Day 5 I remain stuck with some cell phone service but not enough gas to go get things done. I am still charging the laptop and Blackberry off the car, and hoping that enough gas becomes available in the next day or two. They are telling us it could be another week of no power. Thank God I can take a hot shower due to the gas heater. If not for that I’d smell like the caveman lifestyle I’ve been living for 5 days now.

I want a natural gas car so I could get around town – we still have natural gas lines working when everything else is down.

IKE Aftermath - Day 4 - Cavemen and politics

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Day 4 with no power after IKE. Got the tree cut off the house yesterday. I did manage to get the laptop charged on the car with a converter I bought at Radio Shack yesterday, so here is a short report from Houston and the aftermath of IKE. I will send it out via a connection to the Blackberry, which picks up a cell tower.

Without the battery TV and my Blackberry I might as well be just another caveman because without power you have no communication at all. Right now Houston is an area of over 1 million cave people – over 1.5 million of us don’t have power to watch TV or listen to a radio four days into the event.

Before IKE, when people were “stocking up” it seemed as though every grocery basket in Kingwood was stuffed with four things: Beer, chips, water, and toilet paper – the essentials of life.

Now the big thing is ice and gas. I saw over 300 people lined up at an HEB to get ice -- when you could walk right in to the Randall’s across the street that had food but no ice. Without ice, you can’t keep your food from going bad.

Gas is the other essential – without it you are doomed in Houston where it takes an hour or more just to get from one side of town to the other. We are hearing that gas supplies will be tight all September.

And the generator noise! It comes from neighbors running them and the noise starts to get very irritating – not because I don’t have one so much as the loud racket make. It is like sleeping next to a lawnmower running all night. Thank God the film shield on the windows cuts the noise – if it gets cool enough to close them. They are still running them even with the cold front making it chilly at night.

From my experience I recommend everyone add a portable, battery-operated TV to their emergency kit. If it weren’t for an old black & white battery model (and the internet-capable Blackberry) I’d have no idea what is going on in Houston -- or anywhere else. Problem with that is that in Feb 2009 none of them will work on analog, so new digital ones need to be available on the market.

But with the TV, all we get is news about ourselves – no national or world news has been mentioned in days. When I heard a snippet that the stock market had fallen over 500 points yesterday, I was almost glad NOT to be getting the world news.

Politics seems a planet away from here. The President is supposed to visit today – thanks but no thanks. We really don’t need more politicians clogging traffic and getting in the way so they can express their deepest concern. If he was really concerned he’d have paid attention to the fiscal crisis that is bringing us to a scary place and would have encouraged us to move away from oil.

What I wouldn’t do for a solar panel on my house right now – something big enough to power something when the main lines go down. Where is the legislation to make this common? Where is the leadership in encouraging every house and building to have its own back-up solar energy supply?

It’s not here and so we sit in Houston, the energy capital of the world, in the dark. Gotta go recharge the laptop on the car again…

IKE’s Aftermath – FEMA Fumbles and Boats in the Pool

IKE’s Aftermath – FEMA Fumbles and Boats in the Pool

So this is what it is like to be in a third world country. We lost power sometime early Saturday morning when IKE came over. It was a howler as a CAT 2. Had it been a CAT 3 we would have lost more than trees and fences. In the middle of the night Saturday a tree landed on the roof from the neighbor’s yard. Luckily it landed at the same angle as the roof, distributing its massive weight over the roof instead of crushing it.

When I walked back to see about a blown-down fence I discovered the neighbor’s tree had sliced his house in two. He said over a camp stove meal we served that he could hear it breaking each set of rafters in a “20-second slow motion version of a tornado.” It now fills up the room which was a bedroom.

We still don’t have power and this laptop needs a charge again. I finally got a converter from Radio Shack that lets me charge the laptop on the car cigarette lighter – then I connect to the internet via my Blackberry which I am also charging on the car system. That will work until the car runs out of gas and it’s getting low.

Today was the first day they let us back into Seabrook. I needed to see if my lake office was destroyed. They were allowing only residents who live WEST of highway 146 to enter (the east side on Galveston Bay is still off limits with debris blocking roads). A resident who stayed for the storm said that it had been “scary” and would never do it again. A boat was in the pool. My third floor apartment was high and dry but had no power. If I’d stayed the car would have been flooded.

FEMA has fumbled again. Three days into it and suddenly they said the State of Texas was supposed to set up the distribution centers (over 40) instead of FEMA – that was news to the Houston Mayor and County Judge. It has learned nothing from prior emergencies. Incompetence seems to rule FEMA and our government for too long. They pay people to do nothing but think about stuff like this -- and they still can’t get it right. Valuing loyalty for jobs instead of competence has left us with lines a mile long at the few gas stations open and another slow fumble from FEMA.

Only 25% of us have power, leaving 1.5 million of us in the Houston area still in the dark.

Yes, cooking eggs on a camp stove and boiling water for instant coffee was fun -- for a day. Then it gets to be old hat. About noon today even a Wendy’s or McDonald’s burger suddenly looked fantastic. Car lines that wrapped around the block were at any of the very few restaurants open. Fortunately the water heater is gas and it is still going, so a hot shower in the morning is possible even if washing clothes is not (that requires electricity unless you want to beat your clothes on a rock somewhere).

Out of juice. More later…

Here Comes IKE

I worked on last minute installations of our hurricane window film until 8 pm last night - at the Lamar Tower in Houston.

And here comes IKE - a direct hit. The good news is that it is a CAT 2 instead of a 3 or 4.

I evacuated from Seabrook to a house in Kingwood that Armor Glass installed security window film for this purpose. A couple of the houses we did in Seabrook are on Galveston Bay, so it will be interesting to see the result - assuming a 20 foot wave doesn't take out the entire house.

I was going to set up a webcam on an old computer at the Seabrook condo but work demands kept that from happening. It has been 12-14 hour days and no weekends for quite some time now.

We may be losing power so we'll see if we can make an entry tomorrow. IKE is going to be another night storm, so we won't be able to see much of what is happening.

Stay tuned...

Mandatory Evac for IKE - Testing technology

I just heard that our zipcode of Seabrook is under a mandatory evacuation starting at noon today due to IKE. We are going to get a close hit on the "Dirty" side - the one that produces the most storm surge, wind and even tornadoes.

It will be a test of our hurricane window film since we have it on a couple houses next to Galveston Bay - where the surge could be highest, and my condo on the north shore of Clear Lake.

We'll see what it look like after the storm. I'm falling back to north Houston. We are rushing a couple last minute jobs today before we stop to take care of our homes.

Stay tuned.

IKE - Texas Prime Target for the Hit

This morning the computer models show that IKE's potential path is mostly in Texas. So Texas will be taking the WET hit from IKE, unless it somehow dips into Mexico.

Do you remember the old sailor saying: "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning" - ? Here's a morning sky photo from the Texas coast this morning -

I missed it earlier when it was REALLY red...

It's going to be another wild week. Gotta run. I will be from one end of the area to the other each day for the next several days...

Yikes IKE

Yikes, IKE is coming down the slot and once again within 10 days we are in the "cone" for a possible hit.

I was at the Woodlands Home Show all weekend and I can tell you people have no idea how unprepared they are if a big hurricane does smack us head on. Some do but most would look at the sign that said "Hurricane Protection" and walk on - as if they really had any. I could just see 70 year olds putting plywood on a second story house in a high wind...

I'm running so no time for much detail. IKE has killed over 300 and if the computer models hold out we could be on the WET side of this one, instead of GUSTAV's dry side that didn't give up even a raindrop.

If there is a storm surge my Seabrook could look like Atlantis or Vienna...stay tuned

IKE Goes From CAT 1 to CAT 4 in 6 Hours - Dallas goes green

I'm watching events from the road, now near Dallas.

Suddenly the Atlantic Ocean is spitting out hurricanes like a Gatling gun. Now Hurricane IKE has made a record jump from a CAT 1 to a CAT 4 in SIX HOURS. What immense power. It is poised to hit somewhere in the U.S. possibly as a CAT 5 – a top end killer no matter where it lands.

Another study has come out which has satellite data indicating that the hurricanes are getting stronger with climate change. Ocean temperatures have increased –adding more fuel for these whirling dervishes. The rapid jump in IKE’s strength supports this.

It ties in to my argument that we need to become both more energy independent, energy efficient and address climate change at the same time -- unless you really don’t care about your kids and grandkids, who are inheriting a sure-failure “oil only” un-Strategy that will result in a bad ending for our heirs and future generations of Americans.

Go ahead, and “pooh pooh” the climate change thing all you want, but doing so is not smart if you care about your kids and grandkids and their future. We are dumping tons of CO2 and chemicals into the air every day, worldwide -- including smoke so thick in Beijing they should have had an Olympic competition for smog belching, and you don’t think this messes with Mother Nature? Add another 2 billion Indians and Chinese people buying cars to drive for the first time, and add those pollutants on top of the brew. Which planet were you planning to move to when this one gives out?

The commentator on yesterday’s entry says it best – we’ll see. From what I hear, the Fed government has NOT been leading the New Orleans rebuild. It has been volunteer based. People have moved back to areas that could still flood from a levee breach. For some reason the electric company keeps putting lines above ground for the next storm to blow down. Now they think it could be a MONTH to get power restored.
Why not bury those lines and avoid this downtime in the future?

Like I said, our building codes and ways of doing things needed to be upgraded.
I just found that that Dallas is going to make buildings 50% more energy efficient. Is Houston next? San Antonio is on a green binge and upgrading its codes. Yet the Dallas folks tell me that owners resist doing it, although cutting their energy use should also cut their expenses (and improve their bottom line) over the life of the building.

People resist the new. It reminds me of when cars began replacing horses and how the horse owners hated those new things that ended up making transportation easier, faster, better.

Now again, we must embrace the new by cutting our energy waste and improve our efficiency – it will create new jobs; make our air cleaner and cut energy costs, which can only be a win-win.

Change is good and Change is necessary to keep us competitive and productive in a global economy. It is sheer madness not to be building renewable sources of energy while cutting our waste and becoming more efficient to become more self-sufficient and have less negative impact on our climate. This should be done on a “Moon Shot” scale as proposed by Sen. Obama. I hope Sen. McCain will call for the same thing.
Energy independence should be a goal because the efforts we take towards it will improve our country immensely, no matter how far the shot gets.

GUSTAV Was No Katrina - Would Have Topped Levees by 10 ft

GUSTAV was no KATRINA. It hit the New Orleans area as a CAT 2 and a 12 foot surge– yet it was overtopping levees supposed designed for a CAT 3. KARTINA had a 27-foot surge. Imagine another 12 feet of water pouring over those levees.

New Orleans got lucky this time, but it is still a long way from being prepared. They need to get their wetlands rebuilt and this time listen to the Dutch engineers who came over and offered to help design a CAT 5 system like they use to protect the Netherlands, but were turned away.

We got a few wind gusts on the Texas coast near Houston, and that was it. No rain is forecast for the rest of the week – as Hanna, Ike and TD number 10 form a train spinning up along the same path in the Atlantic.

Now we’ll see if people get serious about preparing by improving their structures to take these violent storms.

One thing is certain; we aren’t going to repeal the law of geography. Tomorrow and next year we will be no further away from the coast, or destructive tornados, then we are today. The threat isn’t going to go away or diminish.

And if we get another Katrina with a 27-foot storm surge, will our systems handle it?
Are our buildings capable of ‘Sheltering in Place’ ? Not yet.

One manager of a large institution who shall remain nameless told me that management had decided that they would wait for a disaster before they invested in the protection our security film would provide. In other words, we’ll take action after the Titanic hits the iceberg.

That puts at risk the public who are using that institutions service-- and their own staff including highly paid doctors. In my opinion, good management and government takes action to avoid the damage and injuries from a foreseeable event such as a storm or explosion.

The cost of one liability suit for injuries or death from flying glass would greatly exceed the cost of installing our protection security film.

I saw video on CNN showing how GUSTAV's winds were peeling off plywood covering windows - leaving the occupants exposed to flying glass and the building subject to structural failure once the windows are breached by flying debris.

Gustav - The scariest Place You Don't Want to Be Right Now

The scariest place to be right now would be that part of I-10 that is built over the swamps from Henderson, LA to just before Baton Rouge – it is something like 30 miles of concrete hanging over swamp water filled with half submerged trees. Right now the swamp tops and the road surface could be on the same level. I would not want to be trapped there now in a car…

I just watched footage on CNN of high winds actually peeling OFF Plywood from a building. I intend to copy it to the website ASAP – it is evidence that the old tech way of “boarding up” is defeated by high winds, leaving the windows totally unprotected from flying debris that will let in the winds that will tear a building apart. Our 21st Century technology is on the inside of the windows, protecting from breach by flying debris 24/7.

GUSTAV is hitting just 300 miles to our east. While it is tearing up Houma, LA, I videotaped a bird emptying a nest just outside the Seabrook Condo on Clear Lake. I had never heard of a bird throwing nesting material OUT of a nest. I always thought they only carried it IN (?).

Following that shot I swung the camera to look current Clear Lake conditions – not anything like what is going on a few miles away that has caused 2 million people to evacuate.

The real test will be how much wind and water hits the new levees. They were only built to take a CAT 3 and GUSTAV hit as a 3 – which is cutting it too close! They should be like the CAT 5 systems they built in Holland, especially since New Orleans is a key U.S. refining and transportation center, linking America’s heartland and its products with the Gulf of Mexico and world ports. Once again, we are shortcutting a prime asset for America. Important flood gates have not been installed, etc.

Standby. Our Labor Day will go on without GUSTAV crashing it, but this should be yet another wake up call to upgrade our building codes and window protection from flying debris. There is nothing worse than being in a room full of flying glass and high winds tearing your house apart during a storm. Same for tornadoes spawned by hurricanes which also throw debris. We could then 'shelter in place.'