Saturday, March 15, 2003

LaFortune Getting a Reputation...

for allegedly breaking informal understandings and agreements. The street says he gets pulled from one side to another too easily - that he can't make up his mind. Is Tulsa's mayor a flip-flopper? A few people who worked very hard on his interminable series of "Vision Summits" were promised compensation or contracts but after they did the work, nothing was forthcoming. And the mayor didn't let them know - he just ignored them and hoped they'd go away.

The mayor will learn the hard way that treating people that way will not pay off.

Speaking of mayors, we hear complaints about Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys' speech engagements. No matter what he's asked to talk about he gives a speech about WalMart's success and adds a pitch for the Billy Graham Crusade coming to Oklahoma City. Humphreys is probably going to run against Brad Henry in 2006. He'll have to learn how to respect his audiences enough to actually talk too them - about their concerns.
Speaking of Flipping Off Citizens..

I recall a State Senator telling a group I was in about a close call he had a few years ago. Being in the oil and gas business his company was hosting a group of foreign buyers in Oklahoma. They wanted to party so he took them to a strip club in SE Oklahoma City for some fun. To his alarm his foreign guests got a bit out of control when the table dancing started. What, he thought, would he do if the police arrived? What if he was arrested? He was particularly concerned about any publicity because he was the same Senator that had recently introduced anti-strip club legislation at the request of a Baptist group. He explained that he had not expected, or wanted, the bill to pass - but it did.

That's how we get the laws we do. And that's the kind of people that write them.
Urban Senators Flip Off constituents

As the Tulsa World points out in a recent editorial, the Oklahoma Senate has "flipped off state voters" by voting 29-17 to approve Senate Bill 835 by Sen. Frank Shurden, D-Henryetta, which is "intended to neuter the cockfighting ban passed overwhelmingly by Oklahoma voters last November." Shurden, the darling of cockfighters/gamblers, argued his opposition to the new law on the fact that the November vote to ban cockfighting failed to get a majority vote in some rural counties.

As the Tulsa World points out, "of the 48 state Senate districts, the ban failed to get a majority in only 14. That means that 15 senators who voted Tuesday to gut the law represent districts where it passed and thus voted directly in opposition to their constituents."

The World goes on to finally name names by pointing out that in the Tulsa area "Democrats Stratton Taylor of Claremore, Ted Fisher of Sapulpa and Kevin Easley of Tulsa, and Republicans Charles Ford and Jerry Smith of Tulsa all voted against the wishes of their constituents. So did Senate President Pro Tempore Cal Hobson."

All of these Senators are term-limited - for good reason. Good riddance.




Thursday, March 13, 2003

Chinese Take Out

China executes more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined - even more than Texas. The Chinese are becoming increasingly customer-oriented as they adopt a market system and that includes expedited and convenient executions. This article from Australia tells how. If McAlester would adopt this innovation they could even service Texas prisons.

Sunday, March 09, 2003

Would Jesus have chewed New Testimints?

The Christian products market is, as most know, a booming business these days. In the bookstore today I noticed a book called "What Would Jesus Eat?", a takeoff on the "What Would Jesus Do?" wristbands slogan. The book was a treatment on Bible-era diets and a diet book. Lose weight the way Jesus did, in other words. Seemed a bit tacky.

In Mardels yesterday I noticed some stick mint gum at the checkout stand called Testimints. These weren't just regular Testimints, these were "New! Testimints".