The wurster, the better

Well, our elections across the country seemed to indicate we don’t agree with Bush. A lot of Democrats won. All of my election choices in Pennsylvania won. I choose the Democrats except for William Adolph our representative. And he won.

A friend in France sent this Bush Speechwriter link. Try it out.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted anything. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write. I just lost track of time. So, what have I been doing lately.

I’ve been volunteering for a couple of good causes both related to the upcoming election: Joe Sestak and environmental issues. I volunteer for the Sierra Club and have participated in several community walks to help inform infrequent voters about what the current administration has been doing in Pennsylvania. We can’t tell people who to vote for because of recent voter rules changes. We can just give them information to help them make a good decision.

Joe Sestak is running for congress against the incumbent Curt Weldon. I have volunteered making phone calls to help inform the public.

I have written letters to the editors of several local newspapers on both of these causes. The letter on Joe Sestak will be published in the Philadelphia Inquirer but I don’t know when. And I will have a letter published in the Delaware County Daily Times on the environemntal issues and support of the current administration probably in a week to ten days. Pretty cool! It will be fun to see my name in print. I think I will make a couple of posts and put the letters in them.

I was on a business trip last week for 3 days to Tempe AZ. Maybe I’ll add a Google map showing where I went. It was a very productive trip as I was helping one of our clients with some issues he was having with our software and tools. It was good to finally meet someone in person who I have been talking to on the phone and conversing via email. Communications is so much more than email and phone calls. We learned a lot about each other. It was great. However, the time change really killed me. I am still recovering.

Today is my wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday Maria!

I’ve also helped someone from Egypt in developing a style for the Vanilla forum software we both use. That was enjoyable and now I have a new friend. I’ll have to make sure that I add him to my friends around the world map.

Like most parents, we have a hard time making ends meet. We have especially run into difficulties with the rise in energy costs to us, the consumers. Having to think about driving to the store or to the doctors and what in our budget will be affected by the additional gas prices is a bit unnerving. It places added stress on us at a time when we don’t need it. I don’t know about you, but we have three cars in our family (my wife and I and our daughter). In the good old days, our budget of about $30.00 per week gave us the ability to live our lives in a normal way. The recent “pricing crisis” has more than tripled this cost to us. With a limited budget, much suffers.

The media has definitely made us aware of the rising energy costs. Our household has personally made a variety of energy saving changes. We’ve installed a solar house fan. We’ve replaced most of our energy-consuming incandescent light bulbs with energy-savings compact fluorescent light bulbs. We’ve also set our central air conditioning to 79 degrees. We buy green appliances. We check our tires in order to make sure we get the best gas mileage. I even conserve on water by turning off the shower when I lather up with the soap instead of letting the shower run. We also recycle. So, we are a good environmentally concerned family who does a lot to help. But, in the end, we the consumers still pay the price.

As I mentioned before, we have had to make choices between driving and buying food to eat. Luckily my employer understands this and I am allowed to telecommute from home. This saves me $10.00 to $20.00 a week in gas costs. This helps quite a lot, but is not the ultimate solution.

I have been concerned about the environment since the 1960’s when I got my degree in environment science from Drexel University. I have made changes in my life since then. I would hope that others have done and will do this, too. We need to have strong leaders not only locally but also at the federal level who can help us ensure a clean environment for future generations.

We need to conserve the precious resources that we have. If we don’t, we will pay the price, literally. I am very happy that the current administration in our state has taken measures to conserve. One example is the investment in hybrid vehicles. This cuts gas and oil consumption. It saves us taxpayers money while helping to save the environment. Our state is a great example not only for our residents but also for other states.

Our state is also implementing other smart energy solutions to cut our expenses and to provide economic incentives to attract more businesses to Pennsylvania. One example is the alternative energy portfolio that requires 8% of our electricity come from clean homegrown energy sources like wind and solar energy.

Pennsylvania’s commitment to clean energy has attracted the attention of wind energy companies. Gamesa, the second largest wind energy company in the world, has located their headquarters in Philadelphia and their manufacturing facilities in Bucks and Cambria counties. Over the next 5 years their investment will create 1,000 jobs and help increase the amount of wind energy produced in the state. Today 153 megawatts are produced and there is potential to produce 3,000 megawatts in 15 years, enough to power about 4 million homes in Pennsylvania.

I want to see this commitment continue. Make sure you understand the candidates positions on energy and the environment when it comes time to vote. I support the current administration and any of our elected officials who will help us in our quest for smart energy solutions and conservation of our environmental resources. I know who I plan on voting for. Do you?

I sent this letter to several local newspapers. It will be published in the Delaware County Daily Times in a week or so.

To whom it may concern,

We have a daughter who is mentally challenged and another daughter who is very gifted. We are continually worried about their education and how they will fit into society and be a productive member. It is very hard to look after the well-being of our entire family. And it becomes even more difficult when we spend time worrying about the direction of the country. That’s why I need to feel comfortable with the men and women who are running our nation and those who will be running it.

I recently heard that Joe Sestak and Senator Chris Dodd discussed the importance of looking after our children and helping them become functional members of society. I believe that our current representation has overlooked the importance of providing a supportive environment in which kids, all kids, can learn and grow. Curt Weldon has voted to cap the amount of spending on Head Start. Considering the effect of inflation, this means that the amount of money going to the program in real terms is actually declining. I volunteer through my employer PNC Bank for project Head Start. My employer knows that this is a worthwhile program because PNC allows each of its employees to volunteer 40 hours each year to programs like this. The business community knows it is very important and is committed to helping it grow and be successful. All parents want to look after their children, but some need help. If Mr. Weldon isn’t doing his part, then the voters have to do their part by finding someone who will stand up for our kids when it counts. That is Joe Sestak.

I sent this letter to the editor of several local newspapers. It was supposed to be published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.