At our September 8th meeting Regina Quick, our 10th District Delegate, reported that her attendance at the convention was quite an exciting and energizing experience. Regina told us that the announcement and introduction of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate solidified the Republican convention. She also reports that Sarah Palin was more charismatic in person than she appears on television! Thank you for attending, Regina.
While in Minnesota, Regina also had the opportunity to attend a presentation by T. Boone Pickens. This correspondence from Mr. Pickens below summarizes that presentation:
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you in St. Paul the morning after Governor Sarah Palin's speech at the convention. One of the points she made in her remarks was about the building of a natural gas pipeline which will allow that crucial resource to flow south to the lower 48. Using natural gas as a transportation fuel is one of the two points of the Pickens Plan - my plan to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil by 30% over the next 10 years. If you look at a map of the United States and trace a corridor from west Texas to the Canadian border, you will see a huge area which is called "the wind corridor." If we build wind farms in that corridor we can do two things: Replace a major percentage of natural gas that we now use for power generation, and we can help reinvigorate small towns and cities with jobs connected to a long-term, clean, available source of energy. That natural gas we'll conserve from power generation can be used in fleet cars, city buses and long-haul trucks. The US has about 150 years of natural gas which is now available due to new technologies to recover it. We are sending $700 billion a year overseas to feed our addition to foreign oil. That is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. We have it in our power to save nearly $200 billion a year and have it spent here in the United States rather than in foreign countries which don't have our best interests at heart. Please join me in this effort by going to the Pickens Plan website (click here) to lend your support and sign the Pickens Plan Pledge. This is a contract between you and me to get the next Administration and the new Congress to draft and pass a real Energy Plan which will increase the use of American resources and cut down on our addiction to foreign oil. Thank you, T. Boone Pickens
