ICF - THE GULF COAST SOLUTION?

Okay fellow Gulf Coastians, let's recap here ...

We just got our tails waxed by the biggest storm to ever hit the U.S. But storm trajedy is no stranger to us is it? Remember CAMILLE? FREDERICK? ANDREW? IVAN? BETSY? ...

How many storms have hit us in the last hundred years?

Now, we can be like many of our YANKEE brethren up north - and say that this area isn't worth the effort to live in and that we're idiots for living here. They say we should MOVE out of here - as long as we don't move next door to them!

Don't listen to 'em - they lost the PIONEER spirit LOOOONG AGO. Down here in the Gulf States though - that pioneer spirit is alive and well. Not only that, we have to save our Yankee brothers up north from themselves. Without us - they'd have no oil because they're all afraid of the ecological consequences of drilling and refining (little do they know that 30% of the seafood they consume is caught right alongside these offshore oil rigs down here. Shhhhh!)

So the tough amongst us will rebuild ... but ...

Why don't we do it a little smarter this time? We know another "big one" is going to come - it's just a matter of time. Why don't we take some steps now and BEAT THAT THING when it comes after us?

One thing we can do is put some SANITY into our home construction. Why do we build houses down here the same way they build 'em in California? This isn't California - our storms (and our women) down here are twice as HOT as anything in California. We need a new method of building down here that takes into account the realities of the Gulf States environment.

How about ICF? I'm talking INSULATED CONCRETE FORM houses? We can make those things asthetically pleasing these days. Check out the advantages ...

1. MUCH STRONGER than a house built out of tooth picks. In fact, up to NINE TIMES STRONGER than an ordinary "stick frame" house. These bad boys have been known to sometimes survive even a direct hit from a tornado. The walls of an ICF house can withstand 250 mph winds. I've heard old-timers tell me that Camille generated 200 mph winds where it came ashore - and I've heard many "scientists" dispute that they were even that high. Regardless, a structure that can withstand 250 mph winds would have had little to fear from Camille. And it appears now that the winds from KATRINA were actually lower than those Camille dished out. KATRINA was more deadly only because it was so horrifically large.

2. UP TO 50% MORE FUEL EFFICIENT. Let's face it - the rest of the country is going to need more and more energy, and they're going to continue to look to the Gulf States because we produce and refine it and aren't panty-wastes like the Californians are - who are scared of the ecological effects. So let's take one for the team here and reduce our energy consumption. The personal benifit here is to YOUR wallet - imagine spending 40-50% LESS for your electric / gas bill every month.

3. REDUCED INSURANCE COST. Let's face it, we NEED to put the insurance companies out of business. Those of us who paid homeowners insurance for so many years expecting them to be a "good neighbor" when the big one came - were sadly disappointed. Additionally, the insurance companies want to reduce their exposure along the Gulf Coast - so insurance is only going to go higher if we don't take hurricane mitigating steps in the building of our homes. ICF reduces insurance premiums because it's so strong. Additionally, the insurance companies have figured out that CONCRETE doesn't catch fire!

4. WHO'S AFRAID OF TERMITES? Termites are terrible down here - but when you live in an ICF home - no worries - termites don't eat concrete.

COST PROHIBITIVE? An ICF home costs on average about 4 percent more than a stick house. That 4 percent is recouped in the first few years in reduced insurance and utility costs.

There are other options also - LOG HOMES are tough too, and stand up very well to hurricanes. The bottom line here is this - rather than be "quitters" and just chuck it all for a move to North Dakota - we can use our heads and rebuild BETTER and STRONGER in the place we all love!

SO THAT'S THE WAY IT IS HUH?

New Orleans - the forgotten city.

Most Americans are tired of hearing about New Orleans. Politicians, both Republican and Democrat, either make blatant humiliating comments about the rebuilding of NOLA - or they say nothing, and refuse to give up any of their pork barrel programs to pay for rebuilding this city.

Okay America, let me tell you something. How 'bout you let US KEEP the oil revenues from the rigs right off our shoreline and let US rebuild ourselves? Right now, YOU only allow us to have 0.5 percent of the oil revenues from offshore oil. The rest - YOU take for yourselves.

Meanwhile, New Mexico and other states get 50, some even 100% of the revenues from oil and other natural resources harvested on their federal lands. And the same Senators who benefit from those revenues routinely REFUSE to support giving Louisiana it's due. Put simply, they won't allow us to have the same deal that their own state has with reference to it's natural resources. This is the height of hypocracy and it ought to disgust anyone who discovers it.

SIX BILLION in oil revenues - thats what you get on a yearly basis AMERICA -- from our oil. You give us a pittance - and you shovel the rest into pork headed for California - a state that won't even allow offshore drilling -- nosiree.

American apathy and ignorance never ceases to amaze me. We bitch about gas prices and then turn right around and bitch about paying out dollars to repair the port where 33% of our gas transits through. How dumb is this.

This article from the Times-Picayune says it all ...

It's time for a Nation to repay the favor ...

New York was attacked by terrorists, and the US government moved heaven and hell to fix their problems. New Orleans get whacked by a hurricane - and all anyone wants to do is laugh at us for living below sea level. Well then, maybe we should seceed from the union and allow you all to "pump" green California for it's natural resources huh?

Good Luck with that!

DEPRESSING THOUGHT OF THE DAY ...

Do Americans have the guts to WIN the Global War on Terror?

Sadly, I think the answer is no.

Right now, I'm ashamed of Americans, and embarrased to be one. We forget so easily the lessons of 9-11. Osama Bin Laden has told his followers many, many times that Americans always "cut and run". He's always told his followers that we have no stomach for even minor sacrifice and all they have to do is hold out long enough and we'll cave in. He's always told them that we would destroy ourselves with our open-society and democratic freedom of speech.

And he was right. Democrats (read: Terrorist Rights Party) hold so much hatred for President Bush - they are willing to lose the war in order to embarrass him. Americans continue to give Bush low approval ratings. We're not united, we're cutting our own selves to shreads. We don't deserve to win this war - perhaps we don't even deserve to carry the mantle of freedom our forefathers left to us. We're cowards - that is, all of us except our men and women in uniform on the front lines of this war.

"I'm no coward!!" you say?

Let me ask you something.

Have you been on the front lines of this war fighting alongside our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan?

If you answered "yes" to that question - then you're right - you're not a coward.

If you answered "no" - then I have one other question for you ...

"Have you taken to the streets yet to support the War? What have you done to SHOUT DOWN these terrorist sympathizer idiots like the Democratic caucus?

Boss - if you've been supporting the war from your living room couch - YOU are a COWARD. If you haven't taken to the streets to stand up for our fighting men and women - YOU are a COWARD. If you haven't written at least 50 letters to the Al Quaida members in the US Congress (like Kennedy, Schumer, Pelosi) - YOU are a COWARD.

And because of your inaction - your refusal to be "bothered" - WE WILL LOSE THIS WAR.

Osama predicted it - and he was right. He's dedicated to his cause - willing to die for it.

YOU aren't willing to pick up a pen and write a letter for yours though.

Who do YOU think will win?

Nuff Said.

MEGYN KENDALL - SMOKIN' HOT

Sorry about the long absence in posting to my blog but, as you know, I'm rebuilding my house after being flooded five and half feet by Hurricane Katrina. More on that in a future, probably depressing blog entry ...

For THIS entry though, I thought I would lament a little on Fox News Reporter Hottie MEGYN KENDALL.



I have a few questions here about her ...

Who is this woman and where does she come from?

Who's the loser that's married to her?

Why does FOX NEWS pigeon-hole this woman in Washington, D.C.? Who is the rocket-scientist executive that sent Megyn to Washington D.C. and Greta Van Sustren to Aruba to cover the Holloway case? That's completely backward. It's warm in Aruba - year round. Party atmosphere down there - and lots of beaches. That translates into LOTS of gratuitous "reporter-in-swimsuit" opportunities. Thank GOD Greta never took advantage of them but Megyn surely could have. Fox needs to put Megyn someplace where they can exploit her ahhhh ... assets.

Why did God make this woman half my age? Clearly, some temporal malfunction or rip in the space-time continuum fabric of the universe is responsible for this egregious error! And due to this mistake - I'm out of a shot at her!

As I get older, I'm not really attracted to younger women. Believe it or not - I tend to look at girls my own age. Don't ask me why - they aren't prettier (certainly) than younger women. But they (to me anyway) are sexier than the younger girls. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I know that women my age can actually hum an ABBA tune or two. I just don't know. But I think it's a good thing - since I find the picture of an older man with a young hottie girl to be a bit "asexual" - if you know what I mean. I think it's the natural order of things - you should pair off with someone approximately your own age - or at least within 10 or 12 years of it.

But then along comes Megyn Kendall, with her blonde hair, beautifully expressive face, red dress and tight bod and all I can say is ...

Damn!

Don't get me wrong here - Megyn isn't as hot to me as my wife is - and my wife is 3 years older than me. My wife IS smokin' hot - I'm not even going to tell you about it (or the dirty little thoughts I still have about her even after being married to her for 18 years). But - and this is where the whole male hormone / brain connection just ticks me off - Why can't I have my wife AND Megyn?

This is the curse of men. When the Lord created the human brain, he built the female one first - he meticulously designed and built it to work specifically in the female body. This was exhausting for God - so exhausting he just said "Screw It". Rather than design and build a brain specifically for us men - he just decided to use the same brain in the male body. To get it to work in us though - he had to pump it up on testosterone and that causes a few problems.

Oh well. This is life isn't it?