Working with the Ambitious

Have you ever worked with a person that was nice to your face but undermined you behind your back? Of course you have. Have you ever worked with someone that absolutely insisted on doing things his/her way even if it meant extra work for everyone else? Well I have too.

At work I had the displeasure of working with a young lady like this recently. Behind my back, she would obliquely let others know that every problem was because old Alfalfa Bill just didn't quite have his wits about him. She never said anything to my face, but I overheard enough to know. She was young, ambitious, and just back from an internship back East. If she had to undermine others to rise to the top - so be it. And she was successful.

It was interesting to watch this young lady operate. One of the most interesting incidents was when she joined the project team late but insisted on redoing the databases we had started in one software program into different programs she was more familiar with. She didn't actually insist - she just did it - without asking anyone. The project never recovered because in the process of reloading the data into her favored program - much of the data was lost. She blamed it on the rest of us. And our supervisors believed her. She was attractive, articulate, very self assured, had connected parents, and determined. Our supervisors believed her.

When the project was over she was offered a better job. The rest of the team is still waiting.

Ron's Hamburgers

I've been meaning to say something about Ron's Hamburgers and Chili and their absolutely great hamburgers. There are around 10 of these hamburger stands in NE Oklahoma - mostly in and around Tulsa. I highly recommend their hamburgers and Spanish Fries (french fries + jalapenos and onions). I can't wait for them to grow into central Oklahoma.

The Tulsa Vision 2025 Projects Pass by Wide Margin

As Dustbury noted today regarding the Tulsa vote on Vision 2025 :

For years and years, Tulsa has thought of itself as Oklahoma's Dallas, and that other city down 66 was Fort Worth, nothing more. Tulsa has had better convention facilities, a spiffier downtown, more hotel rooms — and today none of it matters, as a refurbished Oklahoma City shoots for the big time and Tulsa descends into tedious Lubbockhood.

Well, within three years Tulsa will be right up there with the latest infrastructure because the county passed all four parts of the bond issues. Tulsa not only passed all four but passed them overwhelmingly - by margins of 60 - 40. The magnitude of the yes vote far surpassed the margin by which Oklahoma City passed the MAPS project a few years ago. The vote indicates that Tulsans are quite determined to compete.

Israel's Coverage of Gov. Henry's Trip

Brad Henry arrives in Israel today and Israel National News characterizes the trip as a "business delegation". The newspaper identifies the sponsor of the trip as the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC).

The Henry Administration has not released a list of mission members, with the exception of the Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture and State Senator Bruce Price, known for his deep interest in Israel. While the mission is portrayed as a "business mission" there is apparently no one from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce or State Chamber on the trip. When asked what business meetings the Oklahoma delegation has in Israel the Governor's office was unable or unwilling to name any. Other sources say that the trip is actually designed as an effort to politically please the Jewish community in Oklahoma more than it is a business mission to develop trade or investment between Oklahoma and Israel. According to Israel's office in New York, Israel is Oklahoma's 39th largest export market. Not exactly a hot market.

Hope the Governor has a nice (4th) vacation.

What to do with $80 billion?

WASHINGTON - President Bush wants billions of dollars more to pay for U.S. troops in Iraq and rebuilding the country, and congressional aides say the figure could top $80 billion in the upcoming budget year.

Just think what we could do with this $80 billion in the United States!!!

I don't mind helping people elsewhere - but many many Iraqis don't seem to want our help. They need it, but if they are so foolish and ungrateful let's hand it over to the UN and get out. Rumsfeld and Wolfiwitz failed to see the consequences of their aggressive and futile design to remake the Middle East and failed to plan for it. Nonetheless, it seems like the Iraqis want to blame everyone (mainly their liberators) but themselves for their predicament.

Campaign Fun

Driving in Tulsa today I noticed a lot of the blue and yellow "Vote Yes" signs had the word "NO" glued over them. Probably the work of a juvenile that doesn't realize tampering with the signs is a misdemeanor. Not many people realize that it is also illegal for citizens to remove signs - from public right-of-ways. It's been a couple of years though since I heard of anyone being prosecuted on this law however.

Both the NO and the YES sides of the Vision 2025 campaign accuse each other of removing the others' signs and doing other nasty things to each other. There's probably a bit of truth to it but I've worked in enough campaigns to know how impossible it is to control one's "own people". Overly exuberant partisans get carried away and start running over the opposition signs or making harassing calls to their campaign headquarters. That's life in a campaign. It's interesting but not the conspiracy some like to believe.

I did go to one of the recent TV debates on Vision 2025. It was pretty interesting. Mayor LaFortune and Michael Bates both did well in presenting their cases. The producers asked the audience not to applaud until the end of the debate but I noticed the NO supporters had a particularly hard time restraining themselves and listening to the directions. At Batesline Michael gives his take on some of these events.

At the event I went to I noticed Todd Huston, Gary Richardson and Doug Dodd sitting in the back sniggering in each others' ears throughout the debate. This was before they lost the Huston lawsuit against the vote.

Governor Henry to Israel

According to sources in the Jewish Federation of Oklahoma Governor Henry will be slipping out of the state on Sunday for an all-expenses paid (by Israel and the Federation) 8-day trip to Israel. They do this for every governor. It's a perfect opportunity for Israel to sell their story to American political leaders like Henry. You can bet Governor Henry won't be hearing the "Palestinian viewpoint" while in Israel.

As Cam Edwards points out at his interesting blog, Henry has been on three vacations in three months - far beyond what any state employee can get. What Cam forgets to mention is that Henry seems to be on vacation even when he's not. Has anyone seen him?

So How Much is Boeing Worth?

Some, such as Bitweever, have questioned whether communities should be providing incentives to giant corporations such as Boeing to set up operations in their community. It's a good question. The question comes up because Tulsa is trying to attract Boeing with a sales tax bond issue called Vision 2025. The answer is that providing such incentives is a worldwide fact of economic life and if a community or country refuses to face this fact pragmatically that community will not get that investment. To not face that fact is as futile as refusing to recognize gravity.

Should we provide incentives (tax breaks, subsidies) for every company? It depends on what they bring to the economic table. It depends on numbers and types of jobs they bring and how much ripple effect they have on the community's economic health. Yes, we must pick and choose on the basis of the benefits they bring. Boeing is a no-brainer. Here's why:

Economic clusters form around behemoths like Boeing and AA. You can't take the subsidy, divide it by how many people work at Boeing, and get anything meaningful as a result (although nay-sayers try). The spinoffs from a Boeing investment in Tulsa would ripple far beyond just the jobs at Boeing. Thousands of small businesses in Tulsa would get business from Boeing - everyone from printers to aircraft parts subcontractors. It doesn't stop there. The printers and the subcontractors spend their increased income on dining out, buying computers, etc etc. Companies like Boeing, CITGO, AA etc create a vortex of economic development that reaches deep into all of our lives. Are they worth attracting, even with calculated incentives? Yes.

That, is economic reality.

Gary Richardson and Todd Huston Lose Case to Stop Vision 2025

Judge Roy Moore, which version of the Ten Commandments?

Many of the Christians who are calling for Judge Roy Moore's monument of the Ten Commandments to be placed in our public buildings are asking our nation to annoint the great code as the basis of our judicial system. But who's version would they like for us to annoint?

Poor Man on an On-ramp


Last weekend I was getting on an onramp when my passenger asked me to pull over and pick up an elderly gentleman seated on a briefcase. He was thin, frail and dressed in a rumpled suit - in 100 degree weather. The old fellow hopped into my car with his briefcase in his lap and told us he needed to meet someone across town at a certain offramp. "A kid is supposed to meet me there and give me a ride to Illinois," he whimpered. On the ride he explained that his wife had died in Arizona and he was on his way to live with his daughter in a small town in Illinois. Having been burned so many times I was suspicious - but it seemed like this gentleman might really be in tough times. I volunteered to give him $20 to see him on his way to Illinois.

Today, I spotted the same man, at the same on-ramp, seated on the same briefcase - waiting for some chump to pick him up and take him across town.

Stillwater Awash in Texans

I continue to get rumblings from Stillwater that new OSU President David Schmidley continues to move old Texas buddies in to replace Oklahomans in his administration. The dissatisfaction has moved from the faculty into the Regents, a couple of whom plan to challenge Schmidley to explain the magnitude of the Texas influx. One regent said it was normal for a chief executive to bring one or two old colleagues in with him/her but that Schmidley has gone far beyond what is normal. Whitehurst, the OSU building where the administration is housed, has become known around campus as Texas Central.

Latest talk around campus is that Schmidley plans to bring another Texan in to run a new community outreach program or project he is putting together. It wouldn't seem to make since to start a new outreach program to communities with an out-of-stater that lacks knowledge of the state. We really do have some smart people in Oklahoma Mr. Schmidley.

Todd Huston's Game

I don't have anything against the "No" on Vision 2025 Campaign in Tulsa - they have a right to argue their case. I don't agree with them - but that's OK. But now the small group of people in Tulsa that oppose the Vision 2025 projects have tried to take the debate outside the realm of civic discussion and off to the courts. Their intent is obviously to stop the vote - and that is not OK.

The Tulsa NO campaign apparently got former Tulsa City Councilman Todd Huston to file a desperation lawsuit against the upcoming vote. The suit could prevent the people of Tulsa County from voting on the issue. The suit claims "logrolling", or putting several different issues in one vote. Todd Houston has reportedly enlisted the aid of Gary Richardson, the rich personal injury attorney that ran unsuccessfully for Governor last year, to help with the lawsuit.

I don't think this suit is about logrolling. If it was, the suit would have been filed weeks ago and not at the 11th hour - the language of the vote has been known for months. This is really an attempt to stop a vote because the opponents now believe they are going to lose the vote. This is an overused anti-democratic tactic that losers in our democratic system use to overturn a majority vote or to stop one from happening. We have seen this in the Oklahoma cockfighters attempts to reverse the peoples' vote to ban their cruel "sport" and we see it in California with a mid-term recall vote on the Governor. Now we see this sort of poor democratic sportsmanship in Tulsa by the anti-Vision group. This sort of gamesmanship is reprehensible and should not be used to stop the people from exercising their will.

This attempt to hijack the election not only endangers democracy but it has the very real potential of scaring Boeing off from investing in Tulsa. At the very least it makes recruiting Boeing that much more difficult. If , heaven forbid, this game did cost Tulsa thousands of high-paying aviation jobs I think Todd Houston and the group he fronts for should have to tell each and every person without a job just why they thought their actions were justified.

I hope the proponents of Vision 2025 will expose Huston's move for the political gamesmanship it is. The people won't like having their right to decide denied them.

Sidenote: There is nothing at all wrong with running for elected office and losing. I admire people who tilt against the wind even if it is for a seemingly hopeless cause. People who run for election and lose have more moral authority to speak out than those who don't run for elective office or don't vote. That said, I cannot help but notice that every single leader I can think of in the NO campaign in Tulsa has run for office recently and been defeated. I don't know if the issues they were defeated on relate directly to the Vision 2025 projects but they might want to reflect on that possibility.

The Tulsan Exclusive Reveals Brain-sucking Bush

As The Tulsan reports, shocking photos have surfaced showing President Bush sucking the brains out of donors.

James Madison on Freedom

Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?

Abraham Lincoln on Religious Freedom:

The United States government must not undertake to run the Churches. When an individual, in the Church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked.

I'd want to add that the churches should not attempt to run the government.

Freedom of and from Religion at Stake in Alabama

Although this isn't directly about Oklahoma it could, but for the grace of God, be happening in our state ....

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s attempt to defy the federal courts and keep a Ten Commandments display in the state Judicial Building may be nearing an end, according to Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State. This broohah has cost Alabamans a lot of money already and Judge Moore is determined to drag everyone along with him as he behaves badly by pushing conflict between Americans on religious issues.

But the money isn't the most important issue at stake. If Moore and his supporters had their way the US would edge toward becoming a Christian theocracy. They don't use those terms of course but let's not kid ourselves about their real agenda. They want to force everyone to recognize their religious beliefs as the standard - as the recognized religion in America. If we don't stop them we will all pay a price in freedom down the road.

Many Christians realize that gaining government sponsorship can be the kiss of death for their church. These Christians look at what has happened to the official churches in Europe and realize that when the government gets involved in religion - both suffer. In fact, in Western Europe, membership in the "official" churches has dropped dramatically in the last century.

It is a relief that Moore seems to be out in right field on this and has no support in judicial circles. Nonetheless, Moore's supporters pose a threat to our freedoms and we need to take that threat seriously.

Oklahoma Blogger Alert

I found a new Oklahoma blogger with some interesting observations on life. Check out The Soundtrack to My Life.

Clifton Taulbert's Surprising Climax

I went to a two-hour long talk by author Clifton Taulbert tonight. It was very unusual. Taulbert, the author of several great books like "Once Upon a Time When We were Colored" and "The Eight Habits of the Heart" lives in Tulsa but gives lectures all over the world - as he will often remind you.

tonight's lecture was at a church and thus the theme was to tie his Eight Habits of the Heart book to a Christian message. You have to respect Taulbert's apparently sincere religious feelings and his success story. He's a very good speaker - a quiet voice that reasons with the audience. But after almost two hours I was ready to go when it seemed that he was bringing the lecture to an end. I was standing up ready to go when he launched into "singing in tongues".

Some of you will be familiar with Pentecostal "speaking in tongues" and some of you won't. It's when God gives you a joyful language with which to talk to him. To others it sounds like gibberish. Well, Taulbert went on singing and talking in "gibberish" for a good ten minutes while the audience stood. Some joined in and others stood politely waiting, and waiting, and waiting for it to end. Can you see that picture? A crowd of several thousand standing and watching/listening to Taulbert walk around in front of them for ten minutes singing unaccompanied, "in tongues". If this had been in New York he'd have been arrested.

I remember the first time I went to a church that practiced speaking in tongues. I was a teenager. I had never heard of speaking in tongues. Suddenly, halfway through the hour, at an unseen signal, everyone (except me) started babbling incoherently and gesticulating wildly. I was scared $%#@less!! What the hell was going on? Had everyone on earth suddenly been zapped with an alien signal that caused them to go berzerk? How had I been spared?

After living in Oklahoma for many more years I'm used to this now. I respect the practicioners for their sincere beliefs but it still seems - well, really hard to believe. But it's harmless isn't it?

Word on the Street on Vision 2025

The pro-Vision 2025 campaign in Tulsa seems to be gaining steam as more and more Tulsa County voters realize what is at stake for the county. Just judging by what I overhear in the city my perception is that people that don't normally get politically active are finally determined to put a stop to the decline of Tulsa and the surrounding cities. One elderly lady I overheard today said that she had voted against the previous two efforts but was going to vote "yes" this time because her children asked her to "for my grandchildren's sake."

Some of the reasons I've heard for voting "no" on Vision 2025 leave me cold. My neighbor said she was going to vote "no" because her children have already grown up and moved away. "Why should I pay for other people's kids?" she said. When I asked her why her kids moved away from Tulsa she said it was because they couldn't find the jobs they wanted in Tulsa. She doesn't see the connection between quality of life and jobs - or between infrastructure and quality of life. I think her attitude displays an all-too-common selfishness among us. If it doesn't directly benefit ME then I'm against it. Where is the sense of community with these people?

Another blogger expresses sympathy with the "no" folks because he thinks Tulsa should be unique and not seek to duplicate what Oklahoma City has done. What is left unsaid is that Oklahoma City, by investing in its infrastructure over the past decade, has succeeded at improving its quality of life and spurring economic development. Just take a look at the number of quality companies that have opened new operations in OKC this last year - and compare it with Tulsa. Tulsa should not be too proud to want to duplicate that kind of success. To be uniquely underdeveloped is no vision for a great metro area like Tulsa.

There are two kinds of businesspeople, those who invest in their business and grow it and those who don't - and slowly kill it. A city or county is no different. You've got to invest in it if you plan on maintaining it or handing it off to your children someday.