Doesn’t hurt to ask
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett says the city is in much better shape than many around the country, but that won’t stop City Hall from seeking federal stimulus money. Same goes for Tulsa. The U.S. Conference of Mayors invited municipalities to put in requests for any money Congress sees fit to send their way. Oklahoma City’s request was modest relative to Tulsa’s - $501 million vs. $944 million. That Tulsa wants nearly a $1 billion of Uncle Sam’s money strikes us as bit overreaching, but you can’t fault a city for asking. In his 2009 State of the City speech, Cornett noted that “with the rest of the world dealing with such severe economic issues, it is only fair for us to acknowledge that our envious position should be valued and protected. And at City Hall we are asking those in charge of our city government’s finances to maintain the same conservative principles that got us here.” We wish those in charge of the federal government’s finances had asked for the same thing.
Doesn’t hurt to ask
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett says the city is in much better shape than many around the country, but that won’t stop City Hall from seeking federal stimulus money. Same goes for Tulsa. The U.S. Conference of Mayors invited municipalities to put in requests for any money Congress sees fit to send their way. Oklahoma City’s request was modest relative to Tulsa’s - $501 million vs. $944 million. That Tulsa wants nearly a $1 billion of Uncle Sam’s money strikes us as bit overreaching, but you can’t fault a city for asking. In his 2009 State of the City speech, Cornett noted that “with the rest of the world dealing with such severe economic issues, it is only fair for us to acknowledge that our envious position should be valued and protected. And at City Hall we are asking those in charge of our city government’s finances to maintain the same conservative principles that got us here.” We wish those in charge of the federal government’s finances had asked for the same thing.
Mercedes loading zone
What do Steve Jobs, Julia Roberts and Paris Hilton have in common? They drive expensive cars and have been caught parking in handicap spaces without a permit. The familiar blue handicap parking designation with its symbol of a wheelchair can be seen in every public parking lot, but some celebs seem not to notice them. Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc., was caught docking his $130,000 sports car in a handicap slot so often than one wag pasted a Mercedes logo over the wheelchair picture. The Oklahoman reported this week that 12,000 citations for illegal parking in handicap slots were issued in the past two years in Oklahoma City alone. We doubt that many of them were celebrities. Or politicians. Speaking of which, Anthony Steen, a Conservative member of the British Parliament, when caught illegally parking, defended himself by saying, “I should not have parked there and I am sorry for that but there was nowhere else I could go.” This is an old dodge: Many folks believe there are too many handicap slots and most of them are empty most of the time.
Harvest moan
Citizens are reveling in the price for a commodity they can’t do without – gasoline – just as they were grumbling about a price they could do nothing about a few months ago. For farmers and ranchers, commodity prices are a matter of survival. They can do little to control commodity prices and must live with the fact that larger harvests depress prices and lower harvests raise them – just when they have less of a crop to sell. Weather is the “commodity” that no one can control. Oklahoma harvests were generally mediocre last year, the Tulsa World reports, and farmers were often unable to take advantage of higher prices for some crops because of weather. The state’s cotton, corn and hay crops were down in 2008, but wheat, soybeans and peanuts had improved harvests from 2007. Think filling your gas tank was rough last summer? Try making a living when your petroleum-based inputs such as diesel and fertilizer are sky high and the skies are lowering with storm clouds right before harvest.
Movin’ on out
People are leaving California in droves, according to Census Bureau figures, but the
Golden
State still glitters for immigrants, illegal and otherwise. The Associated Press reports that
California continues to lead the nation in the rate of departures by existing residents.
New York is second.
California continues to grow, however, because of births and immigration. Census figures aren’t the only way to track arrivals and departures. For 40 years, Allied Van Lines has recorded the number of household shipments into and out of a state using an Allied affiliate. In 2007, Texas had the highest “net relocation gain” (inbound moves minus outbound moves), followed by North Carolina and
Georgia. According to this measure,
Michigan had the highest net location loss.
California had the highest outbound traffic, but inbound movements partially offset that.
Oklahoma was somewhere in the middle of the states, posting a slight net loss. A newer survey from Atlas Van Lines, though, says
Oklahoma had a net gain in moves for the first time in 15 years.
Movin’ on out
People are leaving California in droves, according to Census Bureau figures, but the
Golden
State still glitters for immigrants, illegal and otherwise. The Associated Press reports that
California continues to lead the nation in the rate of departures by existing residents.
New York is second.
California continues to grow, however, because of births and immigration. Census figures aren’t the only way to track arrivals and departures. For 40 years, Allied Van Lines has recorded the number of household shipments into and out of a state using an Allied affiliate. In 2007, Texas had the highest “net relocation gain” (inbound moves minus outbound moves), followed by North Carolina and
Georgia. According to this measure,
Michigan had the highest net location loss.
California had the highest outbound traffic, but inbound movements partially offset that.
Oklahoma was somewhere in the middle of the states, posting a slight net loss. A newer survey from Atlas Van Lines, though, says
Oklahoma had a net gain in moves for the first time in 15 years.
Day of conversion
By now, anyone who doesn’t know the world of TV broadcasting is supposed to change on Feb. 17 has either been in Iraq or sleeping like Rip Van Winkle. Yet it still seems to come as a surprise to some that the federal government long ago designated 02/17/09 as the day of “conversion.” That’s the date when analog TV signals are to be replaced by digital signals. Those with no satellite or cable hookup will either need a television with a digital tuner or a converter box, available at a greatly reduced price with a coupon courtesy of Uncle Sam. Ah, but those coupons are in short supply and no less a luminary than Barack Obama is worried. He wants the day of conversion postponed. If not Feb. 17, when? Other politicians are concerned that antennas will also need replacing and the government should help with that, too. Since TV viewing is being treated as a human right, why not have FCC employees go door to door like Census Bureau workers and deliver and install new digital TVs, outdoor antennas and recliners with built-in cup holders?
Now hiring
How’s this for irony: The most secure employment in Oklahoma today is helping the jobless get their benefits. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission has added employees and may have to do so again to keep up with the traffic in jobless benefits. As unemployment increases, OESC workers have their hands full handling claims for compensation. Phone lines have been so jammed that equipment upgrades were needed. Payments to jobless workers may reach record levels because the maximum benefit has been increased. The state’s unemployment rate in November rose to 4.5 percent from 4.2 percent in October. Imagine how busy the commission would be if joblessness ever hit double digits. That would force the need for more employees, thus reducing unemployment by a fraction of a percent.
No place at home…
Somewhere along the Yellow Brick Road, coal went from being the Tin Man – solid, if clunky - to the Wicked Witch. Thus an abundant source of domestic energy is being pushed to the margins. The Scarecrow in this scenario is environmentalism and the brainless idea that importing fuel from the Mideast is preferable to burning our own clean coal. Oklahoma rejected a coal-fired power plant in 2007. Seems coal isn’t wanted in Kansas anymore either. With geography that places it closer to Wyoming coal than Oklahoma, coal-fired plants perhaps make even more sense in the Sunflower State than here. But political wrangling has pushed two proposed plants to the side of the road. Lawmakers approved the plants but Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed it. Coal plants are under fire from the Flying Monkeys of the Left as well as energy producers such as Oklahoma’s natural gas mavens. Cleaner fuels certainly need to be a larger part of the power-producing mix, but must coal be trapped in Munchkinland, never to reach the Emerald City?
No place at home…
Somewhere along the Yellow Brick Road, coal went from being the Tin Man – solid, if clunky - to the Wicked Witch. Thus an abundant source of domestic energy is being pushed to the margins. The Scarecrow in this scenario is environmentalism and the brainless idea that importing fuel from the Mideast is preferable to burning our own clean coal. Oklahoma rejected a coal-fired power plant in 2007. Seems coal isn’t wanted in Kansas anymore either. With geography that places it closer to Wyoming coal than Oklahoma, coal-fired plants perhaps make even more sense in the Sunflower State than here. But political wrangling has pushed two proposed plants to the side of the road. Lawmakers approved the plants but Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed it. Coal plants are under fire from the Flying Monkeys of the Left as well as energy producers such as Oklahoma’s natural gas mavens. Cleaner fuels certainly need to be a larger part of the power-producing mix, but must coal be trapped in Munchkinland, never to reach the Emerald City?
