Today we start a new series on NASCAR. But rather than focus on what a great sport it is, we’re going to focus on what a great business it is.

What does it take to run a NASCAR team? Who gets involved in this kind of business? How does it work?

All this week, we’ll discuss how a driver “gets a ride” and who the people are behind the scenes that makes this sport a great business.

Have you filled up your car in the last few days? If so, you know that the price of gas is going up fast.

What do rising gas prices mean for you? Our economy? Our country?

These are important questions that deserve important answers. This week on the blog, we’ll try to provide them.

Here is the real issue in the Texas governor’s election: the economy.

http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/news/2010-10-02/Front_Page/Economist_Texas_strong_in_weak_US_economy.html

As this senior official at the Federal Reserve Bank points out, Texas is in a very strong position economically. And not many states can say that:

“After a job loss of about –3.4 percent in 2009, Texas job growth was 2.8 percent through July. It will likely slow to about 2.4 percent for the remainder of 2010 and 2 percent in 2011. ‘The recession hit Texas hard in 2009, but the economy is growing moderately in 2010,’ he said. ‘Job growth is coming back to Texas. We should, over the course of the coming year, recover all the jobs lost in the recession.’”

And why is it that our state economy is so strong? In part it’s because our state leaders have created a low-tax, high-growth environment. And Rick Perry has been a big part of that.

Last week we ended by announcing that we received a U.S. patent for our Advanced Trailer. This week we’re going to explain why that’s so important and what it means.

We’ll talk about the patent process, why we received a patent and how this could potentially change the landscape of the biomass industry.

So be sure and check us out each day this week on our blog!

Last week we ended our series on the challenges facing Texas by discussing renewable energy.  This week we’ll begin a new series by focusing exclusively on this vital issue facing our state and our nation.

With America importing more and more of its oil from overseas, it’s long past time to expand our renewable energy programs here domestically.  And the good news is we are already starting to do it.  This week, I’ll be discussing renewable energy and some important new developments that my company is involved in.

So check us out this week!

This week our blog will be focusing on the unreported part of the new care law: the law of unintended consequences.

One of the major health care expenses in the federal budget is Medicaid, which is the federal assistance program from the needy. Unfortunately, while Washington was busy passing a health care law that will raise premiums for everyone else, little attention was paid to a cut in the Medicaid reiumbursement rate.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Doctors-Threaten-to-Pull-Out-of-Texas-Medicaid-98202569.html

This is the fee the government pays to doctors who treat the poor. It’s scheduled to take place in September. And doctors in my state aren’t very happy about it:

“A survey by the Texas Medical Association, the state’s largest physicians interest group, showed that 45 percent of its members who responded said they would limit how many Medicaid patients they would treat if the Medicaid fees were cut by 1 or 2 percent, while another 24 percent said they would stop accepting any Medicaid patients.”

It may well be a good idea to reduce the Medicaid fees. But this is a discussion that should have had in public, deliberative process. And that’s not what what we’ve had in Washington lately.

Former President Bill Clinton recently made news when he talked about what to do about the BP oil spill:

http://theweek.com/article/index/204558/bill-clintons-bp-bombshell

Basically, the Clinton idea is blow the site up. Literally. But before you laugh this off, listen to him explain it. It’s not as crazy as you might think:

“Bill Clinton suggested the military may have to blow up the BP oil well. Speaking at a media forum in Cape Town, South Africa this weekend, the former president called the still-leaking well a ‘geological nightmare,’ and raised the specter of sending ‘the Navy down deep to blow up the well and cover the leak with piles and piles and piles of rock and debris.’ Clinton added that we ‘don’t have to use nuclear weapons,’ as some have suggested.”

This might be a solution worth considering. If we blew up the well and then covered it up, wouldn’t that be better than what we have now?

In the past few days we’ve looked at the tragedy in the Gulf and the failed leadership that has yet to find a way to clean up the mess.

This week, we’re going to take a positive focus and look at possible solutions. Is there anything that can be done to stop the flow of oil? Is there something that can help clean up the oil that’s already in the Gulf? The answer may surprise you.

Check out the blog this week for our series on what can be done to stop the spill and clean up the Gulf.

When you are putting out a fire, don’t you focus all your effort on ending the flames? Don’t you ask questions later about how the fire started? Unfortunately, that’s not what our government is doing:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37444105/

As the article notes:

“Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that federal authorities have opened criminal and civil investigations into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.”

Why are we launching criminal investigations when we haven’t even stopped the leak yet? Let’s get our priorities in order. Stop the leak first. Ask questions later.

Today we focus on the impact the BP oil spill is having on wildlife. In a word, the impact is huge:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-facts

Here are some shocking facts:

“400: Number of wildlife species threatened by the spill. Threatened species include sea life such as whales, tuna and shrimp; dozens of species of birds; land animals such as the gray fox and white-tailed deer; and amphibians such as the alligator and the snapping turtle. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune)

At least 30: Species of birds the Audubon Society says are potentially threatened by the oil spill. These include marsh birds, ocean-dwelling birds and migratory songbirds. All reside in “Important Bird Areas,” according to Audubon, designated because of their “essential habitat value.” Among the most vulnerable species is the brown pelican — the state bird of Louisiana — which was only recently removed from the endangered species list. The spill is especially devastating for bird populations because it coincides with the beginning of breeding season. (Source: Audubon Society)”

Sadly, I fear this is just the beginning of the damage to wildlife. With no end in sight to the oil spill, there is no end in sight to the disaster animals will experience.

Today, we continue our series on surprising facts about the BP oil spill by looking at the sheer size of the spill:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-facts

According to this article, the size of the spill is much larger than you probably realize:

“19 million to 39 million gallons: Amount of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico in the month since the Deepwater Horizon spill. (Source: Huffington Post)

11,300 miles: The distance around the world the current amount of leaked oil would stretch if it was placed in milk jugs lined up side by side. To quantify, that’s farther than New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and back. (Source: New York Times)

102: The number of school gymnasiums that could theoretically be filled floor-to-ceiling with oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (Source: New York Times)

130 miles long and 70 miles wide: Size of the oil slick as of May 17. The slick continues to grow and move.”

Before this is over, the BP spill will replace the Valdez as the worst oil spill in American history. The sad part is, we still don’t know when or how it will end.

This week we’ll continue to discuss the BP oil spill, but with a twist. We’ll be focusing on items that most people don’t know about the spill:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/gulf-oil-spill-still-no-o_n_581424.html

One of the things that most people don’t realize is that BP doesn’t really know how to fix this. In fact, BP has set up a hotline to receive tips from the public on what might be done to stop the oil flow.

One idea that BP is considering is a giant vacuum created by actor Kevin Costner. I’m not making this up:

“Costner, the ‘Waterworld’ and ‘Field of Dreams’ actor, has invested more than$24 million in developing the centrifuge invention, along with business partner John Houghtaling II of New Orleans. On Tuesday, Houghtaling said BP has agreed to test the devices, which can be dropped into the oil spill and separate water from oil, storing the petroleum in tanks. The smallest weighs 150 pounds; the largest 4,500 pounds.”

Let’s hope that Costner’s vacuum works better than his movies.

Earlier this week, we commented on this blog about Texas Tech’s new center that will research wind.  Today, we should comment on how we got to this point:

http://www.governor.state.tx.us/priorities/infrastructure/energy/expansion_of_renewable_energy/

Governor Rick Perry deserves enormous credit for laying down the foundation to make Texas the leader in renewable energy:

“Senate Bill 20, signed by Governor Perry in 2005, contained a critical commitment to expand the state’s transmission grid in order to maximize the ability to move wind power from West Texas to the rest of the state. This unique commitment has provided needed certainty to renewable energy developers and, in conjunction with Texas’ abundant wind resources, competitive marketplace for electricity, and stable regulatory structure, has made Texas the easiest state to develop renewable energy.”

This is what leadership is all about.  It’s about looking beyond today for tomorrow. It’s about turning obstacles into opportunity.  That’s what we’ve done in Texas with renewable energy; and that’s what we need to do in America.

Big news in the alternative energy world: Texas Tech is establishing a wind energy institute:

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/may/24/tech-announces-wind-energy-institute/

“Texas Tech University has announced it will become the research hub for the newly formed National Institute for Renewable Energy, a wind energy consortium started with financial help from West Texas organizations such as the Development Corporation of Abilene.”

This is a great next step in the development of alternative energy research. We also need to research renewable sources other than wind, like biomass. That’s why I’m here this week at the University of Idaho looking into the research that the university is doing with my Advanced Trailer for Biomass.

I’m excited about what biomass is and what it could mean to our future.

This week I’ll be in Moscow, Idaho checking in on the research that my company, Advanced Trailer, has been conducting with the University of Idaho.

As readers of this blog know, I believe the Advanced Trailer is perfect for biomass. The trailer can be used to transport, dry and store the wood chips that fuel biomass energy. This has long been the missing link in biomass–how to move, dry and store. But no more. The Advanced Trailer has revolutionized biomass. And biomass is about to revolutionize America.

Check in this week for more about the Biomass Revolution!

Today the Biomass Conference and Expo ends and I’m on my way back to Texas.

But the cause of biomass goes on.

It goes on because the stakes are too high not to invest in biomass. We can’t continue to fuel our economy with foreign sources of oil. It’s bad for our economy; it’s even worse for our security. We need domestic sources of energy and we need them now. That’s why I’m so excited that the US government is doing so much to promote biomass. Just this week, you might have seen this in the news:

“The US Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) jointly announced up to $33 million in funding for research and development of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products.”

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/20273

Biomass is the future. Biomass is the answer.

Every great change in history has begun with a single step.

And this has been no less true in the business world. When NASA was building spaceships to carry man to the moon, it had to invent smaller computers that would fit on board. This helped begin the computer revolution. When Ross Perot was a salesman at IBM, he noticed that companies needed service as much as equipment. He decided to launch the IT services industry. And years from now when we look back at our energy supply, we’ll see this moment in time as a step forward.

Why? Because inventors are figuring out ways to get us off of foreign oil and into renewable energy like biomass. That’s why I’m in Minnesota this week at the Biomass Expo. The meetings start tomorrow and I’ll be live blogging the rest of the week. So check it out each day. And remember: the future begins with a single step.

This week I’ll be live blogging from the 2010 Biomass Conference and Expo in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This is the annual event where all the major players in the biomass industry get together and discuss the future. Exhibits will be set up showing all kinds of new applications for biomass. And speakers will discuss the latest developments in energy policy.

Check in each day this week as I live blog from this important conference.

Several people have asked me if I think the administration is serious about reforming the financial services industry. I don’t, and here’s why:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36665

If you were serious about fixing a problem, wouldn’t you include the biggest part of the problem? Of course you would. But that’s not what the administration has done. No one did more to bring about the collapse of the financial services industry and no one is more in need of reform than Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. These are the two government agencies that provide housing loans. With a leverage ration reaching 100 to 1, these agencies are huge risk-takers. Shouldn’t they be included in financial services reform?

They should, but they are not because the Democrats defend these agencies and their mission of giving loans out to people who don’t always need them. And that’s more proof that this bill is about scoring points, not solving problems.

So let me get this straight: the Obama administration is pushing for new regulations on Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and the Securities and Exchange Commission just so happened to file a lawsuit against…Goldman Sachs!

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/obama-denies-link-to-timing-of-s-e-c-case/?hp

Of course, the president assures us there is no reason to be worried:

“The S.E.C. is an entirely independent agency that we have no day-to-day control over. And they never discussed with us anything with respect to the charge that will be brought. So this notion that somehow there would be any attempt to interfere in an independent agency is completely false.”

An entirely independent agency?  Not entirely.  The agency’s leadership is appointed by the president.

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?