Bill O'Reilly, Unfair and Imbalanced

I know this is not surprising either, but if you happened to be listening to the program "Fresh Air" on NPR yesterday you heard the host, Terry Gross, interview Bill O'Reilly and you heard him cut off the interview. Seems Bill wasn't happy that Terry was not limiting 100% of her questions to the topic of his new book. He got angry and hung up on her.

I listen to Fresh Air all the time and Terry Gross is one of the best interviewers around. She asks intelligent questions in a calm and rational manner. During the interview yesterday I thought she was giving O'Reilly an opportunity to answer some of the accusations thrown at him by Al Franken and others. I thought he was doing a good job of answering those accusations and he was winning some points with me. He was typically humorless and cocksure of himself but all-in-all he was proving himself to be human. Terry was doing him a favor I thought - because she had interviewed Al Franken earlier and this was O'Reilly's chance to set the record straight. I saw nothing wrong with Gross' interview but suddenly O'Reilly became quite nasty and a little abusive and then hung up. That night he went on to further derogatory statements about Gross and NPR on his TV program.

O'Reilly has a few good ideas but I gave up listening to his program because he is so mean-spirited and abusive to his guests. I just won't support that kind of programming or behavior. To her credit, Gross ran the interview with O'Reilly even though O'Reilly said she wouldn't have the guts to do so. She did. She's a class act. He's behaves like an obnoxious bully.

Pat Robertson Says Something Stupid

I know this is not surprising, but he is entertaining. His latest foolish statement came in an interview on his 700 Club program on CBN. Robertson interviewed Joel Mowbray about Mowbray's new book, "Dangerous Diplomacy." The book concludes with the assertion that if Mowbray could just set off a nuclear device in Foggy Bottom, the world would be a better place.

Robertson, TV evangelist that he is, agrees with Mowbray. Here's the
transcript of the conversation. I'm sure Robertson doesn't really advocate blowing up the State Department but he doesn't appreciate their work. But thank goodness they are handling diplomacy and Robertson isn't.

I have some problems with the insular and elitist culture within the State Department but I believe there is increasing evidence that if the professionals at State had been listened to that we would not have half the problems we are having in Iraq now. If you watched the PBS program Frontline last night you'd know what I mean. More on that soon.

Muskogee Schools Crack Down on blatant Scarf Wearing

Unsatisfied with the national attention received when they expelled a young boy last year for pointing his finger and saying "kapow", Muskogee schools today expelled a young Muslim girl for wearing a head scarf. The parents of the girl explained that the head covering is required by their religion but school authorities rejected the claim. "Who ever heard of makin' someone wear a rag on their hay-yed fer church purposes," said Goober Monks, principal of the Muskogee school. "We aren't half as stoopid as these people think we are. The headscarf is gang in-sig-nee-uh and she's got to take it off."

So Long Don Nickles, Hello Kirk Humphries

The pragmatic Don Nickles is leaving us after many years in the US Senate. Announcing he would not run for re-election today - the Ponca City native said he wanted to return to the private sector. Although Nickles was extremely conservative he also had a pragmatic streak to him - not a complete idealogue. I'm not sure we'll end up with anyone better.

The Oklahoma Publishing Company (Daily Oklahoman) is not-so-secretly behind Oklahoma City mayor Kirk Humphries and the word is that they want Humphries in Nickles' vacated seat. More on Humphries later.

Any moderates out there wanting to run?

Tulsa Community College

The Tulsa World broke a story today about the Regents for the Tulsa Community College system quietly voting very generous "golden parachute" deals for the top four or five executives. According to the World, President Van Trese is set to carry off about $1 million when he retires in the next few years. The Regents call it a "retention package" so these valuable assets won't leave. TCC faculty and workers call it an extraordinarily selfish nest lining by the guys at the top.

The fact that the TCC leadership didn't tell anyone about their cushy deal until they found out the Tulsa World was onto the story says they thought they could get away with keeping it a secret. I don't blame them - I'd be ashamed too. Especially when faculty is paid so poorly. One adjunct professor told me he gets a whopping $1600 per semester for teaching.

Now I think public servants often get shafted and are underappreciated and should be paid better and more in line with the private sector - but copying the selfish greed of Enron-type CEOs is not what I have in mind. I'm sure Van Trese deserves a good retirement after serving the community for decades - but $1 million on top of years of a decent salary? No. Not when everyone in the middle and at the bottom of his organization get shafted.

I'm almost shocked that the Tulsa World actually did some investigative reporting. The World is a good paper but not known for good investigative reporting. It's about time.

Disfunctional Design

I've had it with the designers of televisions and VCRs. Surely, after a few decades they would figure out that placing the coaxial cable inputs and outputs within a few microns of a protruding edge makes it impossible to get your fingers positioned to screw or unscrew the cable? Have you noticed this? Why don't the manufacturers make their TVs and VCRs so you can actually get your fingers around the cable? This is a no-brainer folks.

State Fair Story #1

I saw Elvis on the trolley at the Tulsa State Fair. He was 55-ish,dressed in black leather, had the big black shades, pompadour, sideburns, rings on every finger, gold necklace, the works - and he was with his family. His wife didn't look like Priscilla Presley though - more of a Ruth Ann. His low-cut black undershirt that almost revealed his nipples was off-putting. He had a weary, "I'm so sick of being recognized" look on his face.

Elvis' wife seemed pleased to be married to Elvis - she made a point of calling after one of their offspring. "Roy Orbison!, you git yoor butt on thet be-unch!" What came to mind was the torture little Roy Orbison must go through on Parents Day at school.

California, Enough!!

I've heard about all I want to hear about California for at least a couple of years. I'm so sick of the medias frenzy over the election I could just - turn it off. Which is what I did. I'll turn it back on in a couple of days hoping that their looney election thingy is over and done with. Then maybe we can hear about some other matters - silly little things like war and peace.

I forgot what I was calling about

I heard a good radio advert tonight. It advertised pills that will immediately improve your memory, make you mentally sharper and downright smart. I am not currently taking the pills so I am only 98% sure that the product advertised was called MemoryMax. The best part is that they guarantee your money back if the pills don't sharpen your faculties. The problem I anticipate is that I'll call them and want my money back and they will refuse - because I'm obviously sharper now than I was when I ordered their pills in the first place.

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.