Sam’s Perspective

Members of the Oklahoma Legislature are hard at it,… drafting what they think represents leadership on their part.  Seeing what they consider to be important, reminds me of an old, Yiddish proverb,… “Man plans and God Laughs.”  With a nod to my friend Arnold Hamilton, with the Oklahoma Observer, here’s what we have so far:

Representative Sally Kern proposed no less that three anti gay bills which she said was an effort to protect marriage in Oklahoma.  Senator Nathan Dahm wants to revoke the watermelon’s designation as the official state vegetable.  Senator Ralph Shortey wants to give Oklahomans the right to shoot down drones that invade their air space.  Senator Roger Thompson wants to fight crime by outlawing hoodies.  More than a dozen gun bills are pending in the Legislature this session, including proposals that deal with guns on college and K – 12 campuses.  What could possibly go wrong there.  Oh,… and there are three proposals, one in the House and two in the Senate to eliminate the ban on carrying switch blade or automatic knives.  Rep. Casey Murdock wants to increase the penalty for stealing a horse, mule, cow, hog or implement of husbandry from three to 10 years in prison, to five to 15 years behind bars.  Sen. Nathan Dahm wants to repeal sections of law defining two words,… “paper” and “several”.  And finally, the move continues, this time by Senator Ralph Shortey, to make English the official language of Oklahoma.  Also, I should point out that there hasn’t been a word from the Governor on the issue of vaccination against childhood communicable diseases such as measles.  Yessir,…sounds like the folks in Oklahoma City are really taking a serious look at the issues at the issues we are facing.  As Mr. Hamilton reminds me, it was Will Rogers who said, “There are adults running governments who shouldn’t be allowed to play with matches.”  Now I just know cooler heads will prevail and lawmakers are all set to deal with such issues as financial shortages facing education at all levels,… common, higher education and Career Tech.  State prisons are calling for millions to build new facilities and add staff as well as to provide food.  For years those who understand the problems have been asking for a ban on texting while driving and the House just recently got around to passing it.  No one seems to be at all worried about our water supply and while I’m at it, I believe water may soon become the new oil.  And did ya know,… 61% of our public school students are in poverty?  That’s the fourth highest in the nation and its also criminal.  And now it seems the budget hole we’re facing is over $600 million dollars. That’s about twice what was initially projected.

I know and so do you that playing three card monte won’t fix anything.  Robbing Peter to pay Paul or taking money from other agencies to take care of these issues won’t solve the problems.

Nor will more tax cuts.

The late night comics are having a field day at our expense.

They are not alone.

As I said earlier,… “Man plans, God laughs.”

Written by Sam Jones

 

Perspectives Season 9, Episode 11

Rec. 2-19-15. Aired 2-26-15