Lottery by County Option?

As mentioned earlier, the state senator that has introduced Governor Henry's state lottery vote bill is also the senator that is trying to overturn the 2002 vote to ban cockfighting by introducing legislation to turn the vote results into a county-option. Like a spoiled brat, this senator, Frank Shurden, has tried at every turn to change the rules of the game each time he loses. Given this M.O. by Shurden, the Legislature should consider Shurden's lottery bill only as a county-option. If the lottery loses when and if it comes up for a vote of the people this year we should assume that Shurden will disregard the will of the citizens and try in 2004 to pass legislation to institute a lottery in counties that voted in favor of the lottery.

Many rural counties can be expected to vote against a lottery so if Shurden again tried to use the county-option idea and he succeeded, the urban areas would likely be the only counties with a lottery and, one would anticipate, the only counties whose schools would benefit from lottery income. It would make as much sense as Shurden's current attempt to rewrite the rules to allow cockfighting in the counties that voted against the cockfighting ban.

Ironically, many of those who oppose a lottery were either against banning cockfighting or have subsequently been silent in defending the right of the state to ban the cruel activity. These people may find themselves fighting Shurden next year when he tries to use his county-option ploy to overturn the results of an anti-lottery outcome of the special election.

Snow-Goofballs & Lotteries

Snow is falling in Oklahoma again but the weatherman says it won't accumulate much. I expect therefore, that I will not be able to find my car in the morning.

Senator Frank Goofball has filed Governor Henry's lottery bill. Goofball also filed bills to overturn the people's vote to ban cockfighting. The Baptists are rallying their forces to defeat the lottery that Henry hopes will fund the education shortfall. I can't make a call on this one yet but I think a lottery has a chance of passing. Still, Baptists outnumber teachers in Oklahoma - but neither of these groups are exactly flush with money. The lottery will not solve our problems - economic development will - but the Gov is cutting the budget for economic development. Bad move.

I've lived in states with lotteries. The worst part about a lottery is the barrage of lottery advertising citizens must suffer through day in and day out - 365 days a year. The media has got to love all the advertising money a lottery will bring them. The media will endorse a lottery therefore.

Two Thumbs Up

To be fair, after being critical of President Bush a couple of days ago, I've got to say that I was glad to see him call for the continuation of the US space program. I was also pleased to see that he wants to end that part of "affirmative action" that discriminates against majorities. Those are two things he has done lately that I applaud.

The Wuss Factor

Already, we have the media and a few others questioning whether the space program is worth the risk to human life. As an academic exercise such questions can be asked but if anyone is actually serious in questioning whether manned space exploration is worth the risks I question their vision if not their sanity. Where would we be if the early ocean explorers had whimped out the first couple of times men were lost at sea?

No one will argue against taking reasonable precautions but I wonder if we have become a nation of short-sighted first-class wusses. From our overreaction to terrorism to our hyper-sensitivity to voluntary risk taking - we have become frightened rabbits, frozen by fear, by the slightest risk. We need to shake off timidity and do the hard things that make us human, that make us Americans.

My Republican National Committee Membership Card

came in the mail this week! It was unsolicited, but Marc Racicot, Chairman of the RNC warns me in the letter that accompanied my blue and gold card that my "decision whether or not to accept your Membership Card will directly affect the future of our country." As I toss the card into my waste bin I can only hope that Mr. Racicot is correct. He went on in his letter to tell me that if I accept the card I will "be showing people in your (my) area you support President George W. Bush and his principled, positive agenda for America." Well, I sure wouldn't want anyone around here getting that idea.

I'm sure our President loves our country and means well but as the months go by I find myself disagreeing with him on more of his principles and actions. I think he has squandered the goodwill of our allies by taking the anti-terrorism war off target by trying to use it as an opportunity to wipe out Saddam, something he had decided to do long before Sept 11th. Nothing pains me more than to be in agreement with the French - but Bush has made that viscerally unpleasant position unavoidable for me. While the French are in opposition to a preemptive attack on Iraq for all the wrong reasons (mainly just to be irritating), their conclusion is correct.

While I believe that business is the second best thing (after democracy) that ever happened to America, I think his tax cuts are so obviously overloaded toward the rich its shameful. His tax cuts will put us so far in debt again that Bill Clinton will have to be brought back to clear the accounts again. Isn't it odd how Reagan and Bush II put us in debt and Clinton put us in the black? Not what you'd expect.

And his Texas-isms just make my skin crawl like a juiced-up sidewinder. His simple, bumbling, cowboy cliches are embarrassing. I long for the articulate wisdom of Kennedy, Clinton, and even Reagan and Ford. You don't have to talk like the "common man" to be plain spoken. I don't want the one extraordinary person we pick to be our President, from among our 230-million citizens, to have the mind and tongue of the common man. But that's what we did.