I just shook my head when I saw a Texas official on TV saying he can't make people leave cities in Rita's pathway. Of course they can. They can go door to door and take people out.

In every hurricane I studied, some portion of the population refused to evacuate. People, for whatever reason, often stay and ride it out.

We find the best kind of evacuations are the ones where officials go door to door, give residents the information face to face and get it to really hit home.

What people in Washington are saying is that Fitzpatrick simply could not stand up to the pressure of the Republican leadership when they demanded that he vote with them, meaning that on such a vital vote for his district, he prioritized the Republican Party marching orders over the interests of his own constituents and his own principles. People in Pennsylvania's 8th district have to worry that if Fitzpatrick caved in to GOP leadership pressure on CAFTA, what might he do on a whole host of other issues on which he has committed to his voters but which are not in line with the Republican leaders' positions.

What the market is saying is these are companies that are in a distressed state and ... may end up in Chapter 11. The market may or may not prove to be right.

So many times we get an e-mail back, saying, 'We're praying for you,' or 'We love you' ... You have no idea what it's like to come home from a bad day to hear that. I don't think my friends know how much it means to get their words.