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Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Defense Fund and Kinky

The nice thing about not having a defense fund is that I don't have to worry about reporting donations to it -- or failing to report all of it.

Not a lot of people are rolling in so much dough that they would actually miss reporting $20,000 of it but it happened (see the highlighted story).

I had a conversation with a self described conservative Republican woman at dinner the other night - after I overheard her mention "Kinky" to her dinner companion (who turned out to be her husband).

When I dropped by their table and introduced myself on the way out, she explained that she had been at the packed Ft Bend Chamber luncheon where Kinky Friedman, independent candidate for Texas Governor, spoke. It was a packed house. He made a big impression.

She said every conservative in the county was there - many trying desperately not to laugh at Kinky's witty remarks (after stifling a laugh she said they'd look around the room to see if anyone saw them trying not to laugh).

She said Kinky made a good impression and had a shot at getting the 45,000 signatures, even from conservative Republicans. Even many conservatives are not impressed with our present leadership. Very interesting.

Mr. Friedman did say things, quoted in the Ft. Bend Herald, which I agree with -- such as: "We need to put teachers back in charge of the educational system. We need to have people in charge who have actually seen the inside of a classroom."

"Friedman said a border policy with Mexico is an issue which needs to be addressed as 'New Mexico and Arizona have declared a state of emergency on their borders, but Gov. Perry says all is well with our borders.' "

Very interesting. Before I left the lady said she knew my name, and had voted for me when I ran before. That made my day.

Monday, October 24, 2005

George Will on K Street Conservatism

No one can accuse George Will of being a liberal.

In his column in the October 17, 2005 edition of Newsweek he made some interesting points. Will said: "DeLay, who neither knows nor cares any more about limited government than a camel knows or cares about calculus, probably will never return to the House leadership, and might even be voted out of the House in 13 months." (my italics)

He goes on to say:

"Furthermore, in 2004 DeLay won with an under whelming 55%, running nine points behind President Bush in his district."

Finally, he says: "...some Republicans think 'big government is good government if it's our government.' Since 2000 the numbered of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled, from 16,342 to 34,785. They have not been attracted to the seat of government, like flies to honey, for the purpose of limiting government."

Mr. Will makes perfect sense.

Our present wild spending and episodes of K Street lobbyists writing bills in Mr. DeLay's office diminishes our future, leaving less prosperity for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. This activity also diminishes Congress.

Instead of being an independent branch of government Congress has become one selling favors for donations. There is a word for that.

We have to change directions and start doing what is right for the people who aren't big donors or lobbyists. Congress is supposed to be serving people, not PACS. That is one of the things that drove me to challenge the incumbent previously. That has not changed.

On Houston 740 am radio Saturday, a commentator, interviewing Pat Buchanan said that perhaps "the GOP should spend a few years in the wilderness (out of office) because of this out-of-control budget situation….”

Pat Buchanan responded by saying that instead of replacing the Republicans with Democrats:

“What the GOP needs is fresh faces.” Mr. Buchanan also has a good point.

Either the GOP replaces its faces in office (the ones under a cloud) or, as George Will points out, it will be Democrat faces getting elected to replace the GOP DeLay’s, etc. as the public decides that they have had enough of Congress dining with lobbyists over wine and golf in expensive Scotland resorts while spending trillions for bridges to no where.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Congress: Votes NO on Viagra; YES on Pay raise

It took running up a trillion dollar deficit before Congress finally voted to stop funding Viagra as part of Medicare/Medicade. Duh.

But with the same huge deficit hole Congress is still giving itself a pay raise:

"the raise from $162,100 to $165,200 appears certain, because the House has voted to accept it; it takes actions by both chambers to block congressional pay raises. A yes vote was to block a congressional pay raise."

Give the Senate credit for voting it down. The House, supposedly run by conservatives still continues to spend money like mad and continues to give itself pay raises when it has lost control of the budget and spending.

We need to put Congress on the same social security plan as the rest of us (instead of their elaborate six figure pension plans). Their inflated pensions and pay raises that cannot be justified when they are cutting spending for kids, freezing benefits for military vets, etc. at the same time. That isn't right.

Cutting payments for something optional like Viagra was a rare moment of sanity coming from Congress. Now let's take an axe to the $24 billion in pork in the last highway bill (with the bridge to no where) and cut the rest of the fat on our bloated budget--like an unnecessary pay raise for the Congress that created the budget mess in the first place.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Astros Prove the Impossible is Possible – The Mug Shot

It took 44 years. But the Astros won their first-ever World Series slot last night. I took my portable TV to a bible study class, which wrapped about the 6th inning. It proves that things that may seem impossible are indeed possible.

The news covered up Mr. DeLay’s historic trip today -- a mug shot and fingerprints as part of the felony indictment for money laundering.

TD has hired an attorney who recently got an acquittal for a guy who shot and chopped up his neighbor (Mr. Durst). That’s serious. It was avoidable.

The claim that Earle’s case is “just political” falls apart when you look at the facts. According to DeGeurin, Earle gave DeLay the option of pleading out on a misdemeanor. If he had taken that plea offer, DeLay would still be majority leader.

It was a “slap on the hand” offer. If it was a vendetta, there would have been no misdemeanor offers. Mr. D should have taken it. It’s too late now.

After three recent reprimands Mr. D has received, people would not have been shocked or surprised by a misdemeanor (unfortunately). He would be in power now; instead of unplugged from it. He’d be on easy street. It was his call.

My condolences to Mr. DeLay’s family.

I attended a great briefing on Houston homeland security upgrades this week. More on that later. Go all the way Astros...

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Pakistan needs American Relief - Saddam's Trial and a Plea Bargain Offer

I got a message from a person who went to Pakistan and saw the immense earthquake damage - Entire Mountain cities destroyed. The death toll is 50 times Katrina - over 50,000.

He says: "present top priority is given to medicines and other items like tents." So if you can help, please do. In Houston call the Pakistan Center via Tasleem Siddiqui. He will be available at the Pakistan House but you have to him to set up the timings: Cell 281-236-7597. . Drop your donations there at Dairy Ashford and Bissonnet. Floods, hurricanes and earthquakes are killing far more than Al Qaeda.

Meanwhile, Saddam’s trial is starting up. He is another guy who spent over 20 years in power and loved to squeeze the little people -- to death. Saddam shows the danger of having “one party” States where your guy never pays a price for stepping over the line.

Today's Chronicle had an interesting tidbit –Before the indictment Mr. DeLay had been offered a plea bargain by Ronnie Earle. DeLay could have pled guilty to a misdemeanor (yep, a slap on the hand) and he would have been able to retain his job as majority leader. DeLay turned it down, according to his lawyer, Dick DeGeurin. Now he faces a felony and had to step down as majority leader. After 3 ethical reprimands, what the heck is a misdemeanor? It would have saved him millions in legal fees and bad press and he could have kept his job. Duh.

I have to wonder about his decision making. DeLay had no where to go but down and he passed on a safe deal.

Don’t forget the “DC RULE” – Once you lose power, you never get it back (e.g. LBJ, Nixon, Jim Wright, etc.)

That’s the cool thing about American democracy -- and keeps it fresh. And it gives a chance to those of us on the bottom who have no where to go but up.

America remains a dictator-free zone because we prosecute people regardless of party affiliation when they “play the ethical edge” even if they have Saddam-like powers. Iraq and countless other places could use the same judicial checks and balances.

P.S. Don’t you love those Astros! After 45 years they are at the front door of their first World Series! Don't let that distraction or donor fatigue keep you from helping our many neighbors who need it.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

A World of Hurt

If you pay attention to the world you might have noticed that we are experiencing a world of hurt. While some of us were caught in the Katrina and Rita disasters, Hurricane Stan blew the Hades out of Guatemala, an earthquake killed over 40,000 in Pakistan and even New Hampshire and Rhode Island are flooding and washing away people.

All this since the Boxing Day Tsunami last Christmas killed an estimated 300,000 or so and lead to the Bush-Clinton Fund.

And this year we have actually hit the end of the alphabet on hurricane names - Wilma (?) is forming.

Obviously we need to do a better job paying attention and addressing mother nature's terrorism - hurricanes and flooding have killed vastly more people than Al Qaeda. It will take a combination of public and private efforts to deal with these threats to the global economy and peoples' lives.

The billions lost in our own economy are staggering. Multiple that globally and it is in the trillions.

But we could turn these disasters into global economic generators – new homes, new construction, new schools for kids in places like New Orleans and Pakistan. New jobs and better opportunities can be the result of these upheavals.

For over 20 years of the incumbent’s watch, we have not had an organized system for dealing with these issues in an organized, global/local/regional approach.

I will insist on it.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Avian Flu - Are we prepared?

I have always felt that a good representative made efforts to avoid disasters instead of merely reacting after each one. The Titanic could have used someone telling the Captain to slow down in iceberg country.

Today we face the possibility, along with terrorism and high gas prices, of something worse than either 9 11 or paying $3 a gallon for gas --a new flu virus from Asia that could be a worldwide Pandemic. The last one in 1918 killed millions. Much more should be done nationally and internationally to minimize the potential destructive power of this invisible killer.

My concern is that our rep is so focused on his own legal troubles (as one should must when charged with a felony) that he is less able to pay attention to, or deal with, these critical issues before they become critical.

We all know what happened after the side of the Titanic was gashed one watertight compartment too many. Ironically, the ship would have survived had the crew turned it TOWARDS the iceberg instead of away (so the berg merely sliced the side like a long, fatal knife cut). A front end collision would have damaged fewer compartments, and the damaged Titanic would have remained floating, instead of floundering.

We need to tackle this virus head on.

We don't need to flounder in a global world of events when something is happening 12,000 miles away which can forever change our tomorrows in a negative way. We do not have a vaccine or the international controls necessary to avoid this biological creature potentially more dangerous then Al Qaeda.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Need for International Emergency Plans

First we had Katrina, then Rita and now Pakistan's worst natural disaster in their history. Instead of standing on rooftops, people are standing on mountaintops next to collapsed homes, waiting for aid.

I published a piece about the need for local/national/international emergency aid today at my Global American group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Preparing for the Next Disaster

A reader makes a good point.

I did downplay the potential disaster of another hurricane evacuation. Or any evacuation caused by a natural disaster or terrorism. I was trying not to scare everyone, although the same disaster could happen again.

We have major chokepoints in adjacent counties that are overwhelmed by 2.7 million people fleeing a Cat 5 storm from the Texas coast.

Our population will DOUBLE in the next 20 years. How will our evacuation handle even more people? it won't, not without changes.

One great idea I heard today from an Indo-American friend was using high speed rail between Houston, San Antonio and Dallas as an evacuation tool to move elderly and countless others out of harm's way. It was tried between Houston and San Antonio on an Amtrak line during RITA, and worked.

However, because of lobbyist’s influences on our Congressman, our commuter rail system is now a decade behind Dallas, Atlanta, etc. We

Adding commuter and high speed rail should be considered as part of our improved evacuation plans after the lessons of RITA.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Where There's Smoke There's Fire

I am back from checking on the post-Rita disaster photo mission being conducted by the Civil Air Patrol for the Texas office of Emergency Operations - a first of its kind that has heads spinning with its success. In 7 days we have flown 125 sorties, photographing damage from overturned boats leaking fuel to trees in houses.

I picked up the Chronicle, and saw yet another story on yet more ethics probes of our incumbent representative. According to the article, it could be DC based scandals that finish off the incumbent and not the Texas indictment. I doubt he'll have much time for focusing on the district. Not when he's facing up to two years in jail. "Where there's Smoke, there's usually a fire."

Last week the incumbent's attorney had to contradict his own client, saying that the incumbent was wrong when he claimed he didn't get a chance to tell the grand jury his side of the story. It doesn't look good to get indicted and then get caught telling a fib the same week!

I have to sign off this to work on an article on Homeland Security implications for the Houston area I discovered the past few days working with CAP. We have bottlenecks in our regional evacuation system that makes future hurricane or terrorism evacuations even more dangerous.

P.S. I fell in love with the red, white, blue of the new USAF Aux 8 seat, single engine GA-8 aptly call the "Air Van." It looks like something the "Jetsons" could use for a flying SUV. We use them for photo missions and ferrying people and cargo. I can't wait to fly one.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Major Changes in the Wind, Like a Fall Breeze

Major changes are in the wind.

Mr. DeLay stands indicted. The trail back to the dirty money is so clear that little kids could trace it --sequentially numbered checks in blank sent back days after delivering the illegal money. Dumb! DeLay’s team should be in the running for TV’s “America’s Dumbest Criminals.”
Fact: DeLay is no longer majority leader.

Therefore he is no more effective than a freshman Congressman. In fact, he's less effective than a freshman because he is now focused only on his own hide instead of our community.

And he won't be able to shake the fact you don't get a felony indictment for jaywalking. Or that in the jungle of DC you don't get the power back once you lose it. I cannot endorse criminal activity -- whether it is by a Democrat or Republican.

Those who back DeLay from here on out are backing a person charged with a high crime not a misdemeanor. The law was clear and so was the intent to avoid it. DeLay is now in the same category as Al Capone. He put himself there, not the Democrats.

Mr. Earle as a Democrat has charged four times more Democrats with high crimes than Republicans, and unlike DeLay, he has been bipartisan in approach.

I started on this mission because of his negative use of power and activities like this.

We can all debate policy decisions but money laundering to skirt a 100-year law is pretty serious. It wasn’t a simple accounting error. It wasn’t because he was forced into it. It shows how corrupt power has made Mr. DeLay.

It is time for it to end.

My mission from day one in 2000 has been to replace the Congressional face of this district --from DeLay’s arrogant, corrupt, overly partisan, negative persona to mine.

Mine is focused on cooperation, respect and finding common ground and common sense solutions in this global economy.

I invite all readers and potential supporters to say goodbye to the ways of DeLay and be a part of my 21st Century diversity team –the only team headed by someone with the global skills our country needs after the avoidable blunders made in Iraq, FEMA, Katrina, Pork barrel highway bills, runaway deficits, etc.

For more info, please call my coordinator/press secretary Jason Kniss and introduce yourself. His cell # is (281) 630-4917. Or email him at: Jasontheaggie@yahoo.com Or email me at: GlobalAmerican2020@yahoo.com Or call me at Cell 713 213 5080.

P.S> On my first try after announcment of DeLay's indictment, I received a pledge for $50,000. We expect that to mushroom as word spreads.

Standby for some major announcements ahead...

Fall has always been my time of the year...