I am Thankful For A Lot of Things

It is difficult to list all that we have to be Thankful for. But I do want to point out a few of the most important to me.

Family: The Lord blessed me with a wonderful wife, Melody. Then He added to that blessing when she gave me three terrific sons. I am Thankful that our parents are still alive and close enough to enjoy time together regularly.

Service: I am Thankful that I have been given the opportunity to serve in the SC House of Representatives - it is a tremendous experience!

Things I enjoy: I am Thankful for the outdoors, the outdoor traditions of hunting and fishing and for all things wild.

Friends: I am Thankful for all of my close friends. You guys/gals are great!

Opportunities: I am Thankful for all of the opportunities that the Lord has given me: Business, travel, meeting people, challenges.

Grace: Not enough is said or Thanks given to God for His Grace. What a powerful word.

Happiness: I am Thankful for happiness and laughter. As I write this, I hear my youngest son laughing downstairs! What a great sound it is. I am happy with my life.

I am Thankful for you, the readers of this blog and your comments. It all helps me be a better father, husband, small business owner and Representative. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Georgia Governor has right idea

From AssociatedContent article:
"Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue is going to tackle North Georgia's drought problem like any intelligent, thinking politician would do.

He's going to pray for rain.

The Baptist governor, who enjoys strong support from Georgia's Christian conservatives, has sent out invitations to a prayer service for rain at the Capitol next Tuesday.

Perdue's spokeswoman Heather Teilheit said, "Georgia needs rain. The issue at the heart of our drought problems is a lack of rain. And there is nothing the government can do to make that happen."

Fair enough.

Teilheit continued, "The governor recognizes that the request has got to be made to a higher power.""

The rest of the article is found here: www.associatedcontent.com/article/444481/georgia_governor_to_tackle_drought.html by AssociatedContent writer Jack Oceano. I copied the above and want to give him his credit.

I applaud Gov. Perdue! The author of this article is more than a little whacked out, though.

Sonny Perdue is right on track. Hey, Governor Perdue: We need rain here in South Carolina, too. Can you lift us up in prayer as well?

Power & Energy 2

I have given a lot of thought to my power and energy post concerning Santee Cooper's proposed plant in the Lowcountry. First off, let me say that I do not and will not, as a Legislator, have a vote in this. The permitting process lies with DHEC/EPA and public hearings are underway. But this is not just a Lowcountry issue. It is a South Carolina issue - from an environmental angle and from a future power angle.

I have heard that some folks say that if Santee Cooper and the other power producers would just raise their rates, companies like Alcoa and Nucor would leave South Carolina, lessening the demand for power and negating the need for a new power station. I, for one, don't want to see Alcoa and Nucor, or any other business providing wages for South Carolinians for that matter, go away. In addition, meeting the power supply demands of future businesses and industries is important to job creation in South Carolina - and that is important to me.

I don't believe that wind farms and solar arrays can provide enough power to meet these demands - because if they could, you would see entrepreneurs lining up to get these things up and running. That is not to say that theses sources are irrelevant - because they are not. They are a part of the formula for lessening our dependence on foreign oil and providing clean energy, not the solution. The solution has yet to be found - it is not hydrogen, it is not ethanol, it is not biodiesel, it is not wind, it is not solar, and it is probably not LNG - yet. Right now, it is a combination of all of these things that are helping us reduce our addiction to Arab oil. By working on these things, I hope and believe that we will find a solution. And to be honest, I like having electricity at my home or office when I flip the switch.