Pickens Plan District Group MS-01

Comment

Comment by Lee Taylor on September 15, 2009 at 6:16am

TO: John Knight, District Leader, MS-01
Thomas Collins, District Leader, MS-02
Tanya Phillips, District Leader, MS-03

From: Lee Taylor, ex-District Leader, MS-04

Hi, Folks,

Mike Pickens has made a major mistake,--- he, in his naivety, has asked me to assume the task of Mississippi State Leader. I have been serving in the capacity of District Leader, MS-04, and I guess that some of the things that I have done in that roll have taken me out of the sidelines, into the frying pan.

What happens now is rather simple, from my standpoint. I have to stay out of the fire, and I am asking your help, as the basis of this state's Pickens Plan, to assist me in doing that.
First off, I haven't the faintest idea as to what a state leader is supposed to do, so I am flying totally blindfolded. And, since I am a long-established Instrument Flight Instructor, I will have to tell you that being blindfolded, and trying to fly a 747, isn't my idea of fun!
I'm going to need a lot of help from each of you, TELLING me what do do with these controls, because you are the ones who can see, and can see what is happening. What I think I need to do is pay close attention to what you tell me, so that I can have some idea what to do with the controls. This is something totally new to me, I have done a lot of "instructing other pilots" how to fly, but it has always been a situation where both of us had some idea as to what was going on, and a lot of information, if only from our instruments, as to what to do. This flying blindfolded------------------------this is something totally new. Being in a COLD sweat in Mississippi is a new sensation, too!

Anyway, what I am going to do to start with is to try to establish some communication between us, and then sit back and listen to everyone as to where we would like to take this monster. I would like to ask each of you to write me a short synopsis as to what and where you think we should be doing/heading, and any ideas that you have as to how to get there. I will be reviewing all of your own websites on Pickens Plan, (I will have to admit that I didn't know there were other Mississippi District Leaders), so please forgive me if I appear ignorant for awhile. I hope you will help me to solve that ignorancy ASAP.

For starters, I would like to refer you to my previous PP website, Mississippi District Leader MS-04, and ask that you critique anything that you see there. And please understand one thing, I have a very strong understanding that honest criticism is the highest form of flattery. As long as you don't call me four-letter names with a frown on your face, you can't insult me by being critical. Exactly the opposite. I will much appreciate it.

Just as a little background, would you forgive me if I tell you my life's history? (See, you KNEW this was going to be a bummer! ----Sorry, too late now.)
First off, I have been an aviation nut all my life. Still am. Live in Diamondhead, Mississippi, on the airpark here, with my hangar in my back yard.
Yep, the very area that got cleaned off the face of the earth in Katrina.
However, I wasn't here at the time of the storm. My wife, Jane, and I had purchased our property here, and STARTED getting it cleared and built, but they stopped pouring the foundation concrete with one pad of my hangar apron left to go, on the Thursday before the storm. Consequently, all I had at the time was a concrete pad, and as a result, I suffered virtually no loss at all, at least directly. Won't go into what my NEIGHBORHOOD looked like afterwards, or the long road back, but----------------
Jane and I were still living in Denver, Colorado, when the storm hit, and everything we had was still there.

As I said, I am an aviation nut, went to college studying aviation, then the Air Force as a Jet Fighter Crew Chief, then Vietnam afterwards as a Tech Rep for Army helicopters. Became a flight instructor, and have done quite a bit of flying of many types, including a stint as an Air Attack Pilot for the Forestry fire bombers.
However, shortly after coming back from Vietnam, I fell into a "temporary" job with the railroad, and on August 7th, '05, retired from 30 years with them. Guess what happened on August 29th?
Jane and I finally decided that we had settled on Diamondhead before the storm, and it was still our "heaven", and therefore finally made the decision to continue our move down here. We moved into an incredible devastation zone in an older 34' motor home in early October of '05, camping out on our hangar pad. Thru an incredible stream of good luck, we had the very first new building to be erected after the storm, our hangar, and we actually moved in under roof on December 24th, at 10 PM. The first time we had been under one of our own roofs in over nine months. (Long story). We also got water and sewer service that same day, only FOUR MONTHS after the storm. We lived in that motor home, in the hangar, for two years as we personally built our new home, hands-on-hammers. A job that was just about my worst nightmare, beforehand. Rather proud of what we have accomplished, now, though. Did lose 35 lbs immediately after moving down here, tho. And it WASN'T because of DIET!

It wasn't too long after the house-building workload kinda tapered off a little that Pickens Plan started, and it was an idea that jelled, in my mind. I have been active ever since, and that has let me to this predicament. Didn't someone WAY BACK IN BOOT CAMP tell me something, ---rather fuzzy in my mind, which is fuzzy anyway---about volunteering? Something about "No one in his right mind would work this hard if they were being paid for it, and someone who VOLUNTEERS to do this kind of stuff is ----------"

Anyway, I guess you have someone certifiable occupying this seat, so all I can ask is that you keep the snickers a little quiet, and help the idiot to avoid making the rest of the world know that he is. Certifiable, that is.
I need your help, if you are charitable people.

My email is: tdpilot@gmail.com
My cellphone, which is primary and always with me, is: 228-224-1567
And if you ever take so much sympathy on me that you want to visit,
Address is: 2344 Airport Drive
Diamondhead, MS 39525


All help/ criticism/honest sympathy deeply appreciated,

Lee Taylor

Comment by Renee Klink on April 3, 2009 at 11:24am

District members, we’re at the third and final day of the Virtual March, and today we are focusing on getting action on a bill to establish a 21st century transmission system and a National Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). As Boone points out, twenty-eight states now have an RES – which directs electric utilities to produce a set percentage of their power using alternative sources by a date certain.

Let’s make a great final push. Please use this link to contact Congress and the President again today and send a message to them about renewable energy! Thanks to all who have participated in the Virtual March this week!

Comment by David R Staten on April 2, 2009 at 10:25am

I think this virtual march is a great idea, I'm sending my e-mails and enjoying every minute of it !

Comment by Renee Klink on April 2, 2009 at 8:58am

Thanks to all of you who have taken action in the Virtual March so far! It’s Day Two, and the focus today is on oil imports -- the March 2009 numbers show we imported 65 percent of the oil we used -- so let’s contact our Members of Congress again today about reducing America’s dependency on foreign oil. You can do this by phone, of course, and we have also set up links to e-mail Congress or contact your members via Facebook and Twitter about today's issue.

When you’ve done this, please leave a note here on our group page to let other members know you’ve taken action, and tell us if you received any information or feedback from the members’ offices.

Also, if you are a business owner or part of an organization that would like to take part in the Virtual March, please let me know and we’ll recognize you as a partner on the Pickens Plan Virtual March page!

Comment by Renee Klink on April 1, 2009 at 1:11pm

The first day of the three-day Pickens Plan Virtual March on Washington is here!

Among other actions, I’m encouraging everyone to send a single e-mail today, tomorrow, and Friday. It’s a simple thing to do, but it has tremendous impact.

Click here to ask Congress and President Obama to support the NAT GAS Act of 2009.

Thank you for your support.

Comment by Renee Klink on March 4, 2009 at 10:25am

Hi district members, have you signed up for the Virtual March on Washington yet? It's April 1-3. We want to continue to have an impact on how the Administration formulates American energy policy, and the Army will focus its energy during those three days on e-mails, calls and faxes to every Member of Congress.

Click here for more information about the Virtual March! And let's all make the commitment to recruit 10 other people to take part, too.

Comment by Kendall Brown on February 8, 2009 at 12:48pm

You are entitled to your opinion but I respectfully disagree.

Comment by Bob Durdin on February 8, 2009 at 11:25am

You still don't understand where I've been coming. You need to find you a website for political junkies that are looking for a fight. As I've tried to nicely point out to you, THIS SITE IS NOT THE PLACE FOR POLITICAL BANTERING. Read the reminder at the top of these comments! I suggest you get on the National site for the Pickens Plan, or better yet, send a message with your thoughts direct to T. Boone himself. As you should have learned in the military - there is a time and a place for everything, and this website is neither as far as your comments, commentary and desires to posture are concerned.

Comment by Kendall Brown on February 8, 2009 at 9:47am

Why wouldn't you want people to know what's in the bill that you're so ardently pushing for OUR support? You don't agree that the buyer deserves to be made fully aware of all the problems a vehicle has before buying a lemon? Everyone on this site has a duty to dig into this bill and see what your politicians are trying to sell us. Now please understand that I agree with all of you on the unilateral idea of being energy independent and we should pressure our Representatives to introduce a bill that addresses that but we should not be tolerant of anyone who would use this noble cause to attach unrelated projects with it. We don't need more of the same old politics. We need "REAL CHANGE!"

Comment by Kendall Brown on February 8, 2009 at 9:39am

So let me get this straight. It's only okay for me to speak here as long as I agree with you? Since when has common sense been out of fashion? I appreciate your civil tone with me so far and I'm not looking to make any new enemies here but I have as much right to post on here as you do. And since we all agree that our dependency on foreign oil is killing this country and that this same dependency is being debated in Congress and the Senate it would also be considered a political issue but you don't see me trying to run someone off because there opinion may be different than my own.

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