The following statistics were collected by the Joint Information Center in regards to Hurricane Ike operations:
As of 9/21, 2400 special needs residents were moved by Metro to HUBS.
As of 9/21, 44 POD sites were opened and operated by Harris County and its volunteers over 8 days.
As of 9/22, 1,125,750 gallons of water were distributed at the PODs.
As of 9/22, 10,490,000 pounds of ice were distributed at the PODs.
As of 9/22, 2,810,412 MREs were distributed at the PODs.
As of 9/21, hundreds of CERT Team members helepd their neighbors with debris removal and recovery operations. CERT Teams involved included: Tomball, Denver Harbor, Spring Creek Forest, Houston, Jersey Village, Cy Fair, Ponderosa/
As of 9/21, 220 rescues were made by the Coast Guard. Pre-storm: 103 Humans; 6 Dogs. Post-Storm: 107 Humans; 4 Dogs.
As of 9/21, over 12 agencies were represented in the JIC.
As of 9/21, 6,195 Meals on Wheels clients were served by Harris County Citizen Corps volunteers.
5800 calls came into the phone bank from 9/8/08 to 9/21/08.
As of 9/23 at 5:00 AM, power was restored to 1.53 million CenterPoint customers.

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Today, July 16, marks the 2008 Cost of Government Day, the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government on the federal, state and local levels. For the past seven years, Americans for Tax Reform has been sounding the alarm about the increased burden on taxpayers by calculating the Cost of Government Day. This year, hard working Americans must labor on average 197 days just to meet all costs imposed by government, meaning the cost of government consumes 53.9 percent of national income.

Congressman Culberson has been working to make sure every Member of Congress is aware of our nation's impending financial crisis, as outlined by Former Comptroller General of the United States David Walker. America's real financial challenge is not only the current deficit and debt levels, but also where we are headed without meaningful reform to entitlement spending. Given the impending retirement of the baby boomers and soaring health care costs, the former comptroller states that the federal government's liabilities - the current financial obligations that all of us must pay – amount to $53 trillion. In order to pay off this liability, every living American would have to write a check for $175,000 to the U.S. Treasury.

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Congressman Culberson will be hosting a live town hall meeting tonight at 7 p.m. CDT. He is quickly becoming a "real time representative" by using new media sites such as Ustream.tv and Twitter.com to communicate directly with his constituents. To watch his last live town hall meeting, where he simultaneously held a telephone conference, an online chat session on Ustream.tv, and took questions from Twitter.com, please click here. To join his town hall meeting tonight, visit his website at www.culberson.house.gov, where you can watch and communicate directly with the Congressman.

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The Port of Houston Authority recently received the 2007 President’s “E Star” Award for export service, in recognition of its continuing support of export growth in the U.S. business community for at least five years. PHA was among only four U.S. organizations to receive the prestigious award this year.

The E award dates back to World War II, when more than 4,000 "E Pennants" were presented to war plants in recognition of production excellence. The famous flag with the big "E" emblazoned on it became a badge of patriotism in action.

Created by Executive Order of the President on December 5, 1961, the E Award revived the World War II "E" symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America's exporters. The award affords suitable recognition to persons, firms or organizations which contribute significantly in the effort to increase United States exports. The President's "E Star" Award, which was authorized by the Secretary of Commerce on August 4, 1969, affords continuing recognition of noteworthy export promotion efforts.

“The Port of Houston Authority has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez wrote in a congratulatory letter. “The port’s trade with major export partners reflects a year-over-year increase in terms of both tonnage and dollar value. The PHA’s active engagement in trade missions, briefings to foreign delegations and market research and forecasting to develop new strategies to increase growth are particularly impressive. The PHA’s achievements have contributed to national expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs.”

“The President’s E Star Award is a significant honor and we are proud to receive it,” said PHA Chairman James T. Edmonds. “The port has experienced sustained growth since 2002, fueled by a strategically beneficial central location, a robust regional economy producing vital raw materials and the expansion of major trading partners’ need for U.S. goods.”

The Port of Houston experienced an overall year-over-year export trade growth between 4 percent and 9 percent from 2002 to 2006. Brazil was among the leading export trading partners, with 2.024 million short tons in 2006. In terms of U.S. dollars, exports to Belgium totaled $2.36 billion. Among leading Houston exports, mineral fuel oil in 2006 was 21.7 million short tons. In terms of U.S. dollars, exports of machinery totaled $9.45 billion. Most impressive is the growth of export containerized cargoes, with 734,799 TEUs in 2006.

The E Star Award marks the second time the PHA has been recognized for its export trade programs. The first, in 1981, was the "E Award.” A company receives the E Star after it has previously received the E Award, and no recipient can be recognized more than twice.

Winners of the "E" and "E Star" Award are authorized to fly the blue and white banner and to display the accompanying certificate of commendation, which is signed by the Secretary of Commerce in the name and by the authority of the President.

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Today House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement indicating that Democrats are seeking to quash the right of Members of Congress to have free speech. According to the statement, the Democrats are looking at restricting Member content on websites outside the house.gov domain. Congressman Culberson is quickly becoming a "real time representative" by posting on Twitter.com, where he sends regular updates from the House floor and the halls of Congress, and on Qik.com, where he films and posts video updates on the Internet. This new technology allows him to bypass the mainstream media and shine sunlight into the darkest corners of Congress. If the Democrats strong-arm this rule, he would no longer be able to use these websites and our fundamental right to free speech will be taken away.

From: House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

TO: Online Community & Activists

RE: An Attack on Internet Free Speech

DATE: July 8, 2008

I’m writing to alert you to an attack on free speech that is making its way through Congress. This attack, which should concern activists of all political affiliations across the ideological spectrum, comes in the form of a new congressional rule that would prohibit Americans from viewing content published by Members of Congress on websites that are not "approved" by the Committee on House Administration, the panel that creates rules governing the internal operations of the U.S. House.

Millions of Americans today utilize free, unregulated and uncensored websites like YouTube on a daily basis to not only obtain information from their elected leaders about what’s going on in their government, but to also give feedback and easily share that information with others. The advent of new media technology has empowered American citizens with real-time information about the policy debates and actions being undertaken by Congress. This has increasingly forced Congress to become more transparent and made it easier for American citizens to hold their elected leaders accountable.

The Committee on House Administration is considering a new rule that could bring this trend to a screeching halt. The Committee is considering the adoption of new rules that would require outside websites such as YouTube to comply with House regulations before Members of Congress could post videos on them. Under the proposal, the House Administration Committee would develop a list of "approved" websites, and Members of Congress could post content only such websites. The rule has been proposed by the Democratic chairman of the Commission on Mailing Standards, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), and is being considered for adoption by the Committee on House Administration, chaired by Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA). A copy of Rep. Capuano's letter is available at http://gopleader.gov/UploadedFiles/Capuano_letter.PDF.

If the proposed rule is adopted, the free flow of information over the Internet between Americans and their representatives will be significantly curtailed. Americans who currently use free websites like YouTube to obtain uncensored daily information about congressional policy debates will instead be forced to go to websites "approved" by the House Administration Committee in order to continue getting such information. This would amount to new government censorship of the Internet, by a panel of federal officials that is neither neutral nor independent.

House Republicans, led by Reps. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Tom Price (R-GA), have expressed their opposition to this attack on Internet freedom and proposed an alternative solution that would allow Members of Congress to continue posting content at sites of their choosing. I will continue to keep you updated as this situation unfolds. For further information, please visit the House Republican Leader website or contact Nick Schaper, my Director of New Media Operations, at nick.schaper@mail.house.gov.

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