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Friday, July 29, 2005

10 ways to Make Oklahoma Better

OK – I’m “borrowing” broadly from Paul Burka’s “10 ways to fix Texas” article in the August issue of Texas Monthly http://www.texasmonthly.com But it got me to thinking – what are 10 ways to fix Oklahoma?
Here are some of my thoughts – by all means contribute. Who knows, we might get enough good ideas that we can send to Gov. Brad.

01 — RESTRUCTURE OUR TAX SYSTEM

Burka explains that tax experts say that the tax system, like a kitchen stool, requires three legs to stand without collapsing. The legs are sales taxes, property taxes, and compensation taxes. His proposal is to institute a personal income tax in Texas. In Oklahoma, several folks – i.e. Republicans – want to get rid of the state income tax.
I think the state’s whole tax system needs restructuring. We have income tax, yet the majority of large corporations in this state pay little taxes because of all the loopholes. Make the system fair to everyone. Our sales taxes are incredibly high, which defies logic since we have an income tax. Texas has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country, but we’re not far behind. Property taxes – while realistically Oklahomans fair better in this arena, it’s still a challenge. Truthfully, they can be a “deterrent to high-wage businesses that might want to move to the state or expand here” but there are several businesses in this state that owe thousands if not millions of dollars because they keep battling against paying their fair share (yes, I mean SBC).

02 — STOP THE TOLL ROAD MENACE

This is directly from Burka’s list. He states “Toll roads have their place: Oklahoma. Yuk, yuk.” Not funny Paul. Oklahoma’s roads are a shambles, and the turnpike’s are not that great. Let’s face it folks someone out there is getting rich off the toll roads in Oklahoma, but it will sure be hard to find out who that is since the Legislature covered their backsides by making this a “quasi-governmental” agency, meaning they don’t fall under any bright open records light. I have yet to figure out why Oklahomans aren’t fighting mad -- dare I say, like a chicken in a cockfight? I mean, lawmakers LIED. I’ve read what they had to say when they passed the first toll road measure. Clear as day. When the road was paid off, NO MORE TOLL. But then they amended that, and it still cost $7 to drive to Tulsa.
I might not mind that so much if the money from the toll roads was not being used to pay for cushy offices and jobs for the governor’s friends (i.e. Terry West’s daughter who is the PIO without a lick of experience) and used to fix the other roads and bridges in the state.

03 — MAKE THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER/SECRETARY OF STATE ELECTED POSITIONS

These jobs are important enough to the state that voters need a say in who fills them.

OK – I’m “borrowing” broadly from Paul Burka’s “10 ways to fix Texas” article in the August issue of Texas Monthly. But it got me to thinking – what are 10 ways to fix Oklahoma. Here are some of my thoughts – by all means contribute. Who knows, we might get enough good ideas that we can send to Gov. Brad.
01 — Restructure our tax system
Burka explains that tax experts say that the tax system, like a kitchen stool, requires three legs to stand without collapsing. The legs are sales taxes, property taxes, and compensation taxes. His proposal is to institute a personal income tax in Texas. In Oklahoma, several folks – i.e. Republicans – want to get rid of the state income tax.
I think the state’s whole tax system needs restructuring. We have income tax, yet the majority of large corporations in this state pay little taxes because of all the loopholes. Make the system fair to everyone. Our sales taxes are incredibly high, which defies logic since we have an income tax. Texas has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country, but we’re not far behind. Property taxes – while realistically Oklahomans fair better in this arena, it’s still a challenge. Truthfully, they can be a “deterrent to high-wage businesses that might want to move to the state or expand here” but there are several businesses in this state that owe thousands if not millions of dollars because they keep battling against paying their fair share (yes, I mean SBC).
02 — STOP THE TOLL ROAD MENACE
This is directly from Burka’s list. He states “Toll roads have their place: Oklahoma. Yuk, yuk.” Not funny Paul. Oklahoma’s roads are a shambles, and the turnpike’s are not that great. Let’s face it folks someone out there is getting rich off the toll roads in Oklahoma, but it will sure be hard to find out who that is since the Legislature covered their backsides by making this a “quasi-governmental” agency, meaning they don’t fall under any bright open records light. I have yet to figure out why Oklahomans aren’t fighting mad -- dare I say, like a chicken in a cockfight? I mean, lawmakers LIED. I’ve read what they had to say when they passed the first toll road measure. Clear as day. When the road was paid off, NO MORE TOLL. But then they amended that, and it still cost $7 to drive to Tulsa.
I might not mind that so much if the money from the toll roads was not being used to pay for cushy offices and jobs for the governor’s friends (i.e. Terry West’s daughter who is the PIO without a lick of experience) and used to fix the other roads and bridges in the state.
03 — MAKE THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER/SECRETARY OF STATE ELECTED POSITIONS

These jobs are important enough to the state that voters need a say in who fills them.

04 — BOOST TEACHERS’ SALARIES

Again, #4 on Burka’s list. And, we can’t disagree in Oklahoma. However, the state should get rid of the incompetent teachers and principals – and you know there are some. Consolidate – quit your belly aching and explain why a town the size of Shawnee needs five school districts when NYC has one. Merit – teachers want more pay, they should earn it. And directly from Burka’s list also: “The governor should direct the commissioner of education to devise a plan to reduce administrative expenses statewide by 50 percent, with the savings to be redirected to teacher pay.”
05 — FIX THE PROBATION SYSTEM (All Burka)

This ought to be a no-brainer. It costs $14,600 a year to sustain a prison inmate, compared to $730 to supervise an offender on probation. But the state’s probation system, everyone agrees, is a mess. Many probationers escape supervision altogether, because too few probation officers have to supervise too many cases for too long. Currently, the maximum probation period is ten years. That’s a long time for an offender not to make a misstep and violate the conditions of his probation. Getting in a fight, drinking booze, failing to show up at an appointment with his probation officer—any of these can cause probation to be revoked, requiring a return to prison. So frequently does this occur that the state’s prisons are almost out of bed space. In an attempt to prevent an overcrowding crisis that would require building more prisons—another expensive undertaking—the Legislature passed a probation reform bill this spring that reduced the maximum supervisory period to five years for a select group of third-degree felons and provided for the hiring of more probation officers. The idea was that more supervision would reduce crime and make prison beds available for violent criminals.
In Oklahoma, I would add get rid of mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offenses. More effort should be made for drug courts to draw first time offenders into rehab.

06 — INCREASE OUR WATER SUPPLIES

OK – that’s Burka’s item. If Oklahoman’s are smart, they’d stop sending water to Texas, or triple the charge. This is Oklahoma’s chance to get the upper hand.
In reality, I don’t know enough about Oklahoma’s water situation. Any comments.

07 — RESTORE CUTS FOR MEDICAID (all Burka – fits here)

Wielding the budget ax in 2003, the Legislature imposed a 5 percent cut on the amount it paid to doctors and hospitals who treated Medicaid patients. The amount necessary to restore the cuts was trivial by the standards of a $138.3 billion budget—a total of $67 million—and the consequence of not restoring the cuts is potentially serious, which is that the providers, as the health care jargon goes, may not accept new Medicaid patients. If that occurs, the patients will seek treatment in emergency rooms, where care is far more costly than it is in clinics. Paying the docs is the easiest thing to do on this entire list, and yet the Legislature managed not to do it.

8 —MAKE COLLEGE AFFORDABLE FOR ALL

Once we have upgraded our universities, the next issue is whether students will be able to afford them. Allowing the universities to raise tuition on their own seems to have been a mistake. Both OU and OSU have made considerable increases in the past two years. They keep saying they are making the tuition “comparable to other big XII schools.” Well, guess what? The other Big XII schools are consistently ranked as some of the best schools in the country, from engineering to journalism. Oklahoma isn’t. So if tuition is the same, why wouldn’t our students run to another state to get a better education for the same money? And, let’s not forget those “lower than the national average” salaries that the parents of most students receive in Oklahoma.

9 —PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THE LEGISLATURE IS DOING
This should be a ‘no brainer’ for voters in Oklahoma. But it’s not. At most state Capitols, the last day of the Legislature is packed with voters who want to see how their elected officials act, how they vote and who’s pocket their hand is in. Not so, in Oklahoma. Hardly a soul is in the gallery on most days.
Electing them, sending them off to the Capitol and trusting that they’ll do a good job just doesn’t cut it. Oklahoma has long been abused by incompetent lawmakers that go to the state Capitol to line their own pockets (Kevin Easley, Carroll Fisher, Frank Keating, etc. etc.)
Not only expecting them, but making sure that they do their jobs makes Oklahoma a better place all around. Legislators like to throw around the word "accountability" and voters should throw it right back at 'em.

10 — BRING BACK THE POLITICAL CENTER

Burka’s list item, but I concur on: Fair redistricting: These are not words that one normally sees paired, but together they envision a reform that would go a long way toward making Texas (Oklahoma) politicians more accountable. Regardless of which party has been in power in Texas(Oklahoma), the trend in redistricting has been to draw safe seats for incumbents.
In the Legislature, going back to the political center, would mean a stop to the political posturing and chest beating. Expecting lawmakers to do the job they were elected to do, and quit acting like they represent only the Democratic voters or Republican voters who elected them would go a long way to actually improving the state.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

And I thought 75 was fast...

Maybe it's my years of living on a tropical island where the top speed limit was 80 kilometers (just under 55 mph) or maybe it's my natural state of Texas-ness slow. I just don't like driving that fast. I love flying on airplanes because it beats driving cross-country for days on end, but on a regular basis I would prefer the speed limit be 55 mph -- 60 tops. So these Oklahoma turnpikes with their higher speed limits are just way too fast for me.

But heck, that's barely moving. I watched the shuttle http: //www.nasa.gov head toward space. One minute after launch 970 miles per hour, within just a few minutes as it was nothing more than a dot in the sky the shuttle reached 8,000 miles per hour. The announcer (a former astronaut) said the shuttle needed to reach a speed of more than 17,000 miles per hour in order to orbit the earth.

That must be some jet lag. I'll quit griping about 75 mph. Well...for a little while anyway.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Holy Cow - The Mooove

We are now officially moved. That's been my whole world -- that and aforementioned four-year-old who's now gone home. Yes, I miss him.

A list of gripes:

Utility companies: When I say I'm moving on a certain date, that means I need service that whole day. No, don't cut my water off in the morning in the middle of my shower. Nothing like rinsing soap out with expensive bottled water...

Phone company: Did you hear the static when I called you? No, I wasn't on my cell phone that was on my phone line. I don't want to hear the tech you sent out tell me that there's no static. I hear it, so do the people who call me. And, I want my DSL the day you tell me it's going to be on, not a week later, thank you.

Bugs: All must die. Don't give me this crap about what they do for the environment. All must die.

List of raves:

Friends: Great friends -- really great friends -- are those who lend their time, their truck, their energy to helping move the tons of useless crap that we insist we need though we probably could get rid of at least 70 percent of.

Four-year-olds: Keep us young, on our toes and help us remember the "cool things" we forgot were fun like running through the sprinkler.

Take out: What did people do when they had to cook all the time?

My car: A thousand trips and bumps and bruises later, and it's wonderful ac still works.

Did I mention friends. Thanks all who helped with the move. Wanna help unpack?

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Happy Birthday America

What a great holiday weekend. There were a few people near and dear to my heart that I would have liked to have seen to make this a perfect weekend, but it definitely rates high as far as holiday weekends go.

On Saturday, we headed over to Tinker Air Force Base for their Salute to America. It was great to watch the Air Force's Thunderbirds. I'm still amazed every time.

But I got a little chocked up on the way out of the base. It was still a little before the show ended, and there were more to come but we had to leave. As we drove out, "America" was playing on 930 AM as part of the overall program. To have that play as we drove by families who were congregated at various locations sitting in lawn chairs, pick up beds, or on blankets on the grass all looking skyward -- that just seemed so American.

It was a simple thing, yet so definitive of being American.

I've been fortunate in my lifetime to experience some memorable Independence Days. Some that stand out culminate with fireworks at an air force base in Japan where the Americans stopped, stood still, hands over heart or at full salute when the anthem was played; Busch Gardens - Williamsburg where the fireworks seemed to explode around us in an all-ecompassing display; and my favorite -- sitting on the lawn of the Joint Chief of Staff's home in Virginia atop the national Capitol where we could see the fireworks burst over so many of the symbols of freedom that we know.

To me, it's always a time to celebrate and reflect on the freedoms that we take for granted like sitting in the bed of a pick up and watching jets zooming across the sky or voting on election day.

Our country is not perfect, we have poverty, hatred and sorrow. But we have so much to be proud of.

God Bless you America, and God Bless our troops around the world.