Barack Obama

Forty-eight years after meeting presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, I met another presidential candidate Barack Obama!

With a bit of luck and my adopted Mother Mary Gaines, I was in the fourth row with a wonderful view of Obama. In this day and age of high definition television where every blemish and wrinkle is exaggerated, Barack Obama is much nicer looking in person. When he smiles, Obama lights up a room.

The message of the day was about the energy crisis. Barack Obama gave a list of problems and then a list of solutions. He spoke mainly about oil, cars and efficiency. His solutions are a start.

I was trying to get him to ask me a question. I feel that we need to think out of the "box" about the energy issue. I have a plan. OK, my husband says that I need more information to make a plan. I am not a talented engineer, designer or artist. So my plan needs help. I do not mind sharing my plan so here goes.

We have personal phones, personal computers, home satellite receivers and such. I want a personal home energy power plant. Lets talk. There are two types of free energy-solar and wind. Some times there is no wind. Some times there is no sun. Those are the drawbacks.

Here are the positives. For the sun, the new mirror technology allows the sun rays to be enhanced. So take a satellite dish, fill it with mirrors and collect sun rays. As for wind, take the design of a local tree, add small turbines like pinwheels and collect even the slightest breeze.

Now this could be ugly or it could be cool. Make a power plant garden in every yard. The tree is wind collector and the bushes are the solar collectors.

I looked up windmill trees and the Dutch have one ugly tree. It looks like the tall metal ones we know with branches of about 6 more ugly windmills.

The complete look would be a metal fence around the personal power garden for safety, three mirror solar collectors looking like bushes one facing east, south and west, and one tree in the style of a native tree- south a palm, east a oak, west a pine etc. The coconuts, the flowers, pine cones and leaves could catch the air and spin for the power.

In each of the 50 states, we train workers to assemble, install and repair the personal power garden plants. In mothballed factories, we manufacture the personal power plants. We use foreclosed homes for the new workers. Best of all we give a tax credit for home owners using the personal garden power plant.

I get the first one! You all can have the rest!