Another Victim of Hurricane Ike: Reliant Energy

As my fellow Houstonians and I are finally getting back to some sense of normal post Hurricane Ike, Reliant Energy says that they are looking for a buyer. The Houston Chronicle reported a week ago that the power outages related to Hurricane Ike will cost Reliant more than $300 million in lost sales. In a statement this morning the wholesale and retail electric giant said it is exploring “strategic alternatives,” a phrase that generally means a company is either looking to be bought or to sell off a large part of its assets.

Given the fact that almost 3 million of us went without electricity for days and even weeks, Reliant’s loss is not surprising. At least we have begun to put the pieces back together; the same cannot be said for Reliant.

As my neighbors and I were moving into day 10 before our power came back on (some areas were without power for 3 weeks), I kept singing this old Schoolhouse Rock song to get me through the boredom, heat, and misery:

Pink October: National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It seems that each and every one of us has been touched by this horrible disease in one way or another. According to BreastCancer.org:

• Estimated 180,000 women will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
• Roughly 41,000 will die from breast cancer this year.
• More than 2 million women are survivors of breast cancer.
• 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
• 1 in 33 women will die from breast cancer.
• Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women, behind lung cancer.
• When it is detected early, the five-year survival rate exceeds 95%.

But this type of cancer is not a gender bias disease. Although rare (approximately 1% of cases in the United States) men have the possibility of developing breast cancer as well. Unfortunately, men are more like to be diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease due to the fact that they do not undergo yearly screens or monthly home exams.

Many events are taking place this month to not only bring awareness about this disease, but also to raise money for research and a possible cure.

Despite Hurricane Ike weeks ago, a record breaking 30,000 people participated in the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event on Saturday, October 4th in Houston. The American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event will held on Saturday, October 11th.

For more information about breast cancer, including risks, signs, and treatment, check out BreastCancer.org.

Also, look at these organizations that support breast cancer awareness in October:

The Breast Cancer Site Store

7-11 Stores and the pink ribbon donut

Comcast

Target

Walmart

Kroger

Campbell’s Soups

Yoplait

and many, many more… Look for the pink ribbon when you shop.

Edouard Who?

This storm came up so quickly that when my mother-in-law phoned yesterday afternoon to ask us if we were ready, my husband and I looked at each other and said, “Who’s Edward?” A few hours later, my husband received yet another phone call from his National Guard unit, calling him once again. It hasn’t even been a week since he came home from Hurricane Dolly.

Now corrected by others in other states about the tropical storm’s name, I have realized that Edouard popped up in a matter of hours and it seems that everyone around the country seems to be more panic stricken than our very own Houstonians. Panic leads to chaos, which is exactly what I had to deal with when I stopped by the store on my way home from classes today.

The check out lines were long with people snatching up batteries and water. I only came for something for dinner and chlorine granules for our pool. I’m sure some of these shoppers had family members (like ours) calling from outside of Texas, doing the same thing which made people think that they needed to run to the store for emergency necessities.

Now why is it that those of us in hurricane areas know that hurricane season is from June to November, but yet still fail to have their hurricane stuff ready? They wait until the last minute and freak out, which only leads others like me to be completely frustrated when I just wanted to but something for dinner and the pool! People need to just chill out and calm down.

Everywhere you turn, the news is reporting the storm’s path which is making a bee-line right through Galveston. Now don’t get me wrong, those people on the coastline SHOULD be preparing. But those of us on the north end of Houston? Get a grip people. It’s too early in the hurricane season to be losing your marbles.

Along with the rest of southeast Texas, I’ll be watching the storm’s route. It is expected to make landfall by morning around 1pm, but the storm’s strength is anyone’s guess. It failed to pick up strength overnight, but that doesn’t mean much. Remember Humberto? That hurricane popped up in a matter of 18 hours and was supposed to hit land as a tropical storm, but decided to turn into a Category 2 hurricane. I won’t let my guard down, but I’ll remain rational which is what more people should be doing.

So, as I settle in for an afternoon of wind, rain, and news, I’ll continue to trudge on through a final research paper that is supposed to be due tomorrow. Come Edouard or not, I still have to have the stupid thing emailed tomorrow. Ugh. 😦

I’m just glad that I filled up my gas tank yesterday. You should do the same before those lines get long too.

UPDATE as I’m getting ready to post this, my university has canceled classes tomorrow. I still have this paper though. sheesh.

UPDATE as of 4:00pm CST, the National Hurricane Center says that expected landfall at Galveston is 1pm, Tuesday.

Houston’s Dr. Michael DeBakey Dies at 99

Dr. Michael DeBakey has been considered by many one of the parents of cardiovascular surgery thanks to his discoveries and inventions in the domain. The famous surgeon died Friday night of natural causes in the hospital where he worked most of his life, the Methodist Hospital in Houston. He was 99.

Watch the video about Dr. DeBakey’s life here from Houston’s ABC Channel 13.

His many innovations (including medical instruments), procedures, and causes made him truly an angel.

Houston Air Traffic Controllers Are Recently Hired with Little Training

I’m already nervous enough when I fly, but this morning’s story from the Associated Press has now confirmed my need to drink when I’m soaring above the skyline.

From the AP:

Feds: Many of Hobby’s air traffic controllers have little training

 10:09 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 18, 2008

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Two big airports in Texas have among the least-experienced staffs of air traffic controllers in the country, according to congressional researchers.

Many of the controllers who guide flights in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport are recent hires with little training, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued last week.

Hobby ranked last in the percentage of fully certified controllers, at 56 percent, although officials for the Federal Aviation Administration say the airport has since added more certified controllers.

Hobby was followed by LaGuardia Airport in New York, with 61 percent of its controllers being fully certified, then DFW at 62 percent.

Five airports had at least 90 percent of their controllers fully certified.

Controllers are hired by the FAA, not the airports. The agency is facing a tidal wave of retirements in the next few years — 15,000 by 2017. That’s because many current workers were hired soon after President Reagan fired more than 11,500 striking controllers in 1981.

The article also points out that some of Houston’s air traffic controllers are too busy monitoring trainees; therefore, stress and fatigue levels are rising. One of the contributing factors to the FAA’s decrease in the number of air traffic controllers being hired is the smaller recruiting pool from the military. With larger re-enlistment bonuses being offered, trained and certified controllers are staying with military career and not merging into the civilian workforce.

The average salary for air traffic controllers ranges from $45,000 – $104,000, depending on experience. More information about employment can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor.

This weekend’s DVD rental pick:  Pushing Tin (1999) starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. Comedy/Drama.

from IMDB:

Nick “The Zone” Falzone (Cusack) is an air traffic controller at New York TRACON, where it’s busy 24 hours a day. He’s acknowledged as the best, until a quiet guy Russell Bell (Thornton) arrives on the scene from the Southwest somewhere. Russell and his wife Mary don’t quite fit into the close-knit community of controllers and their wives, and a rivalry soon builds.

Cheers to Drinking Liberally

 

Photo from Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Cheers to J. Courtney Sullivan of the New York Times for today’s article about Drinking Liberally, a progressive social networking group that meets weekly (some cities less often) to discuss politics over a few drinks!

Liberal bloggers are very familiar with the networking group who’s tagline is: “Promoting democracy one pint at a time.”

From the article (free subscription required):

On Thursday night in Hell’s Kitchen, an impassioned discussion of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s remarks about the Bobby Kennedy assassination as a reason for her staying in the presidential race took place in the backyard of Rudy’s Bar and Grill. Across the yard, Rachel Maddow, a host on Air America Radio, poured glasses of beer for a table of friends and debated Senator John McCain’s war record.

Among the regular patrons at the bar on Ninth Avenue were a few unsuspecting tourists. Dozens of people were squeezed together talking politics, drinking beer and eating free hot dogs. The conversation was cut short for an anniversary toast.

“To many more years, and many more chapters,” said Justin Krebs, 30. Mr. Krebs was one of the founders of the progressive social networking group called Drinking Liberally that has been meeting at Rudy’s every Thursday night for the past five years.

“We knew our friends wanted to talk about politics and the state of the country, but it felt like that was a taboo thing to do in a social setting,” Mr. Krebs said. “We wanted to create an environment where people would be told that politics is not off the table — that in fact, it’s what we’re here for,” said Mr. Krebs, a founder of The Tank, a nonprofit space for performance and public-affairs events in Midtown.

In the beginning, Mr. Krebs and his partner in starting the club, Matthew O’Neill, 30, would show up on Thursday, with just the two of them sharing a pitcher of beer. Since then, online social networking has helped the group grow into a national organization with 250 chapters across the country, at least one in each state.

“Eight years ago, someone told me that the Nader folks were trying to create a sort of potluck dinner group in every state across the country — the idea being that you organize people socially and out of that can grow a network that will move progressive politics forward,” said Sam Seder, a radio host on Air America. “The brilliance of this group is that they’ve actually done that.”

Four years ago, a person who attended meetings in New York moved to San Francisco and started a second Drinking Liberally chapter.

After the 2004 Republican convention, the Daily Kos and Atrios, two political blogs, began posting Drinking Liberally meeting times on their sites. By the time Election Day rolled around, 16 new chapters had sprung up.

“For a lot of us, it’s the only time that we really get to talk politics across generations, other than at Thanksgiving dinner,” said Katrina Baker, 27, the group’s national organizer.

Fred Gooltz, 30, was one of the early regulars in New York. At the time, he was an actor, but through Drinking Liberally he was introduced to political organizations that were experimenting with using online social networking to reach potential voters. Mr. Gooltz started volunteering with several of them.

“The Howard Dean movement went viral on the Internet, and all kinds of new technology emerged,” he said. “I walked out of the 2004 election with a newfound understanding of how to organize politically through the Web.”

Since then, he has worked for several campaigns, including John Edwards’s last presidential run, using online social networking tools to promote voter registration.

“While working on campaigns, I would go to other states and bring a bunch of Drinking Liberally buttons with me to recruit people,” he said. “But everybody had already heard of us because of blogs.”

So it is my duty to inform you! The Houston chapter meets the second Wednesday of every month (the next meeting is June 11th) at 7:00 p.m. at the Pearl Bar.

Check out their blog at http://houston.drinkingliberally.org/.

Look for a chapter near you.

Jenna Bush Gets Hitched

Jenna Bush, 26, was quietly married this weekend at the Bush family’s Crawford Ranch. The bride wore a white Oscar de la Renta gown and no veil. The press was not invited, but the White House released pictures late Sunday afternoon. Her grandparents, George H. W. Bush and Barbara, spoke at the ceremony.

Jenna wed Henry Hager, 30, less than one year after he proposed at dawn atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park on Maine’s coast. The couple were married around 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening.

From the AP:

Jenna’s twin sister, Barbara, was maid of honor and 14 other women were in her “house party.” Barbara Bush wore a long, moonstone blue dress with a low-cut back. The women in the “house party” were clad in seven different styles of knee-length dresses in seven different colors that match the palette of Texas wildflowers — blues, greens, lavenders and pinky reds.

The ceremony began about a half hour or so before sunset. The couple stood at a cross, made of beige colored Texas limestone, that was erected near the ranch’s man-made lake. The cross and altar, made of the same stone used to construct the Bush’s ranch house, will be a landmark at the ranch for years to come. The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston officiated.

Henry Hager met Jenna during her father’s 2004 re-election campaign. He graduated from Wake Forest University and worked as an aide to Bush’s former top political adviser Karl Rove. He is set to receive a master’s degree in business administration later this month from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

After the wedding, the couple is rumored to be honeymooning in Europe, although the White House would not comment. After that, they plan to live in a two-bedroom, two-bath town house on the south side of Baltimore. She plans to return to teaching and he will work for Constellation Energy, a power supplier based in Maryland.

You have to be impressed in how well Jenna has matured from her early days in the White House. She could have picked a huge, overpriced, gaudy wedding at the White House, but chose to keep it simple and away from the cameras.

By the way, why does their wedding cake look like the top is going to come tumbling off?

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Texas Caucus Missing Precinct Packets

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Following up on my Texas Caucus nightmare, 74 of the 874 precinct packets have yet to be located! One excuse is that some precincts didn’t have any democrats – but 74 of them???

Isn’t this proof enough that the 2008 Texas caucus needs to be thrown out or redone as a LEGAL process? I’m just so completely appalled by the whole fiasco and the fact that a week later Texas Democrats are still waiting for an official caucus count.

Sen. Clinton’s Campaign and LULAC (The League of United Latin American Citizens) has even considered filing lawsuits over the caucus while Texas Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie urges the party to work from within to prevent such lawsuits.

From the Houston Chronicle:

March 11, 2008, 8:42PM
Harris County Dems have yet to start caucus tally
Files still being collected as clerk eyes irregularities

By CAROLYN FEIBEL
Copyight 2008 Houston Chronicle

The outcome of the March 4 Democratic caucuses remains unknown in Harris County.

The count has not even begun. Instead, Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerry Birnberg said Tuesday, party volunteers still are collecting packets from the 874 precincts, copying the caucus documents, and tracking down precincts that did not deliver a packet to party headquarters.

About 800 of the precincts have been accounted for, said April Lloyd, the assistant primary director.

“We think there are some precincts with no Democrats, so they didn’t have a caucus, and some may have (incorrectly) mailed theirs to the state Democratic Party,” Birnberg said.

Precincts should have turned in their caucus materials to the county party by last Friday. The delegate lists from each precinct will be sorted into their respective state senate districts — there are seven covering Harris County — and sent to the district officials for the actual count of local delegates. The handover to the districts could be completed as early as today, Birnberg said.

Regional party conventions are set for March 29. Before then, party officials in each district will have to screen the people who caucused on March 4. If any are found ineligible, the delegate allocation between Clinton and Obama could be adjusted for the regional convention.

Some caucus-goers may be found ineligible if their primary vote is disqualified. The Harris County Clerk’s office is reviewing voting irregularities. The clerk’s office said 1,473 provisional ballots were cast — a record for a primary election. Two-thirds of those have been disqualified as ineligible, said county clerk spokesman Hector de Leon.

The office also is reviewing 884 voters who appeared to have voted twice — during early voting and on election day. The office also is examining 1,091 voters who appear to have voted in both the Democratic and Republican primaries.

“(They) took literally the admonition that they should ‘vote twice,’ ” Birnberg said. “It’s also a criminal offense.”

Under the state election code, voting twice is a third-degree felony.

TEXAS DELEGATE COUNT

This is an unofficial delegate count for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. (The precinct caucus count is not yet complete.) Based on popular vote: Clinton, 65; Obama, 61

Projected from caucuses: Clinton, 30; Obama, 37

Superdelegates: Clinton, 12; Obama, 10; uncommitted, 13

Unofficial total: Clinton, 107; Obama, 108

 

Super Tuesday Part II; Texas Just Has to Make This Difficult

Make or Break Tuesday? A Democratic Presidential candidate could be decided today. Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont all hold their primaries today. Ohio has 164 delegates up for grabs while Texas has a whopping 228. Should Senator Clinton take Ohio, Texas, or both, she may charge on; however, if the votes are not close and she loses by a wide margin, there will be pressure from the Democratic Party for her to throw in her hat.

As for Texas, we just can’t seem to do primary voting like everyone else. Some states have primaries and some have caucuses. Texas does everything bigger (ok, at the least more confusing) so we have both. What has become known as the “Texas Two Step,” voters not only have to show up at the polls to vote, we then have to return to our precinct for the caucus.

What is the caucus (a.k.a. precinct convention)? The caucus turnout will determine roughly one-third of the Texas delegates needed by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Republicans distribute delegates based entirely on primary votes, although they will caucus Tuesday night to conduct party business. Be sure to bring proof that you voted in the Democratic primary, either a stamped voter registration card or a receipt of primary voting from the polling place. If you have neither, you may still participate in the caucus; your vote will be confirmed later.

Arrive before 7:15 p.m., but be prepared to wait. Caucusing cannot start until polls close, and high turnout means voting could run late. You may “sign in” your presidential preference and leave. Your “sign in” will be used to allocate delegates among Clinton, Obama and other candidates. If you stay, you can also vote to choose delegates to the next level from your precinct. Depending on turnout in your precinct, you may be there a while.

I foresee chaos and confusion at the larger precincts. This will be my first time participating in the caucus. Had this race not been so close, I’d actually look forward to going to the caucus and chit-chatting with other voters about the candidates, taking the vote, and going back home. Turnout for the caucuses are usually low, but this time things are different. It’s gonna be a long night. 😦

Obama in Houston – The Hype Has Left The Building

The crowd awaited for hours outside and in. Doors opened at 6pm and a mad rush was made for the chance to be as close to the podium as possible. The place was sold out and some with stand-by tickets were allowed in while others waited outside. With chants and anticipation of 19,000 people filling the Toyota Center, the time FINALLY arrived about 8:45pm. No, this wasn’t a major rock concert or even a Hannah Montana venue, this was a democratic presidential candidate rally.

Odd? I was baffled at the amount of people that had shown up. I guess just not the amount of people, but the cross-cultural audience itself. I was amazed to see people of all ages and races cheering and supporting the same ideas as those sitting around them. Amongst the chants of “Barack Obama” and “Obama ’08,” the democratic candidate finally stepped out from behind the black curtain.

The crowd was boisterous, leading Obama to start off stating, “Houston, I think we’ve achieved liftoff here.”

After thanking those who were involved in and putting on the event, he made it a point to stress the importance that Texas will play in his nomination as the democratic candidate for the race in November.

“Early voting has started here in Texas. And so everybody has received one of these [voting] cards, and everybody knows that you can start voting today. And if you didn’t vote today, you can start tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that. But we have early voting in Texas. I don’t want you to wait until March 4th. I want you to go ahead and start voting tomorrow here in Texas.

You’ve got February 19th until 29th to vote, and you can also vote on election day, March 4th.

Now, I know this was explained to you. This is a little confusing. You’re going to have to do two things for me now. Not only do you have to vote — and we would prefer you to vote early — but on election day, March 4th, you’re going to have to attend the caucus at 7 p.m. to get us a few more delegates. Can everybody do that, Houston? Everybody going to do that?

And on the back — on the back here are all the sites for all the early voting locations, so you don’t have an excuse for not going. And we want you to grab your cousin, and your uncle, and your niece, and your nephew. Don’t go alone. Take some friends and family to the polls.

He acknowledged his win in Wisconsin which the audience had seen projected on the screens aroud the Toyota Center prior to him coming out.

He repeated his rhetoric on hope and change that we have come to know as typical of his speeches, but he interlaced some of his plans for the types of change. Although I wish he would have elaborated more on just HOW some of the changes would be implemented, he gave a “cliff notes” version of his plans.

I put forward a plan that says everybody will be able to get health insurance that is at least as good as the plan I’ve got as a member of Congress. And if you already have health insurance, we will lower your premiums by $2,500 per family, per year. And if you can’t afford it, we will subsidize your care, and we will emphasize prevention so we have a health care system instead of a disease-care system.

And we won’t do this 20 years from now or 10 years from now. We will do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.

Sounds great…but HOW???

He talked about how CEOs get tax breaks while the workers get nothing.

I want to take away those tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas. We’re going to give them to companies that invest right here in America.

And we’re going to rollback those Bush tax cuts that went to all the wealthy people, and we’re going to give tax cuts to ordinary families, people who are making less than $75,000. We will offset your payroll tax.

Senior citizens who make less than $50,000, we want to say to them: You don’t have to pay an income tax. You’re already having a hard time making ends meet.

We want to promote trade and we embrace globalization, but we also want our trade deals to have labor standards and environmental standards and safety standards so our workers aren’t undermined and our children aren’t playing with toys based in lead paint. That’s the change we want.

Great again! But HOW?

And I will raise the minimum wage not every 10 years, but to keep pace with inflation, because if you work in America you should not be poor. And that’s a goal that we should set for ourselves when I am president of the United States of America.

Nice goal, but unreachable in any immediate sense such as in 4 or 8 years.

As for education:

We can assure that every child in America has the best education this country has to offer… every child needs to be nurtured and embraced. And so we are going to invest in early childhood education to close the achievement gap.

And I won’t just talk about how great teachers are; I will reward them for their greatness…by giving them higher salaries and giving them more support.

And I want the highest standards in our schools. We have to have high standards, standards of excellence in order to compete in this global economy. But I don’t want our standards measured just by a single high-stakes standardized test, because I don’t want our teachers teaching to the tests.

I want our students learning art, and music, and science, and literature, and social studies.

And I don’t know about you, but I think it’s about time we made college affordable for every young person in America. So we’re going to provide a $4,000 tuition credit, every student, every year, but, students, you’re going to have to give back something in return. You’re going to have to participate in community service. You’re going to have to work in a homeless shelter, or a veteran’s home, or an underserved school, or join the Peace Corps.

Hey, I think this is one of his best ideas yet. We don’t have enough young people getting involved in their communities. Had this been an opportunity for me, I would have been more than happy to pay back my loans in this way. By the way, here is his plan for Lifetime Success Through Education. Is there a reason why he didn’t mention that some of this funding comes from our space program? Oh wait, this is Houston – home of the Johnson Space Center.

Next was talk on energy and immigration, phrasing that immigration has been used as a “political football.”

We can get serious about our borders and crack down on employers who are taking advantage of undocumented workers and undermining U.S. labor.But we can also provide a pathway for those who are living here. They can pay a fine and learn English and go to the back of the line, but we’ve got to give them an opportunity, too. We’re a nation of immigrants.

Of course the war in Iraq came up with the billions of dollars that have been and will continue to go in to the fight.

We are spending $9 billion a month in Iraq, $9 billion. We can invest that money in rebuilding roads and bridges and hospitals right here in Houston, building schools, laying broadband lines, putting people back to work, employing young men and young women in our inner cities, in our rural communities. We can create the kind of foreign policy that will make us safe and will lead to renewed respect of America around the world.

Respect? We’re still going to be seen as power and money-hungry Americans who can never get our fill. Hey, I’m right.

We will hunt down terrorists; yes, we will lock down loose nuclear weapons that could do us harm. But we are also going to lead on climate change. We’re also going to lead on helping poor countries deal with the devastation of HIV-AIDS. We’re also going to lead in bringing an end to the genocide in Darfur.

We are going to lead by example, by maintaining the highest standards of civil liberties and human rights, which is why I will close Guantanamo and restore habeas corpus and say no to torture.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I really like Barack; however, knowing that he doesn’t have any military experience, I urge him to sit down one-on-one with military issues and discuss Guantanamo and torture. That’s all I’ll say about that.

While John McCain’s wife was mocking Obama’s wife, Michelle’s comments about being “proud of America for the first time,” Obama praised McCain’s military service and called him an American hero but disagreed with McCain’s support of Bush’s economic policies.

He says that change isn’t going to be easy and that change is also attitude but it can be done. While I admire his push for change by driven hope, I came away from last night’s speech with little more than what I started in with. I really didn’t learn anything more about how these changes will take place or if there are actual plans rather than just a “plan” such as an idea. I’m a very detailed-oriented person and I want specifics.

One thing is certain, Obama has that certain appeal that Bill Clinton had when talking to an audience. When he speaks, you listen. He stands tall and projects himself with a positive and confident aura. Kool-aid wasn’t passed out at this rally so I’m beginning to think that it’s something in the air and coming through the airwaves that has made democrats follow him like the pied piper. 🙂

Here is the complete transcript of his speech.