Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – The Laughs Keep Coming

Hello, I’m Sam Jones.

Ordinarily I come out here to rant and rave about some lawmaker, but not this time. No, this time around I bring you laughter. For example, I just read the other day that Oklahoma just got another extension or grace period for compliance for the Real ID law, which was designed to create minimum standards for identification so we could enter federal buildings or board an airplane. We could have been in compliance years ago but some folks in the legislature wore their aluminum hats when they voted and every six months the state has been forced to ask for another time extension. We finally got around to approving it but now the state needs more time to get it underway. So come January, they’ll be asking for another extension. Funny stuff.

Then there is Second District Congressman Markwayne Mullin, who made a couple of comments at a recent, tightly controlled town hall meeting in Tahlequah. He said a couple of things that caused me to laugh out loud. The first laugh came after he opened the meeting by telling his audience how good things have been going in Washington. He said the media is not reporting the facts and that Republicans and Democrats are getting long better now than they ever did during the Obama administration. That brought a giggle. Then a woman asked why he is running for another term when he said he wouldn’t. His response was,… he couldn’t answer a “political question at a meeting he attends as a member of Congress and suggested she check his website. That one had me on the floor,… truly funny stuff. But then he reportedly said, “I know I’m not perfect. I say stupid stuff all the time.” Sounds like another reality show coming together, but you can’t write stuff this funny.

But that’s not all. High flying EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, former Oklahoma Attorney General who once enjoyed suing the agency he now heads and is currently under investigation for flying high so many times, says the war on coal is over. Says he’s going to override the Clean Power Plan, centerpiece of President’s Obama’s drive to curb climate change. More funny stuff. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe’s former aide, Andrew Wheeler is the choice for the number 2 position at the EPA. Wheeler has recently been a lobbyist for the coal industry. And chances are if Pruitt leaves the EPA to run for Governor of Oklahoma, Wheeler will be appointed to take over EPA. Lots of opposition here, but it won’t do any good. Yes sir, the laughs just keep coming.

You say that’s not funny? Remember the popular television series MASH? Lots of laughter in that series except in the operating room, but the real Doctors who served in the real MASH outfits in the Korean Conflict said there was a lot of laughter. They said the laughter was necessary because, without the laughter, you’d fall down crying every day. Sound familiar?

And that’s my Perspective.