Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – A Little Different

Hello, I’m Sam Jones.

There are things in this world of ours that fall under the heading of different, odd, unusual,… even strange. You already know that there is a serious need for doctors in this country, especially in rural areas. Well it seems Oklahoma’s two state supported medical schools can no longer receive Medicaid funds to support physician training and may have to return $32 million from 2017. Also, school districts that won their lawsuit against the state Tax Commission over the distribution of motor vehicle tax collections for the last three years are going back to court. At issue is nearly $23 million in overpayments to 146 school districts statewide and a corresponding amount in underpayments to 271 other schools, plus a correction of the error in future payments. Right hand, meet left hand. Think this won’t cause problems?
And there’s more weirdness out there. Seems we have a man running for governor who has six children and says, not all of them have been vaccinated. Says it was a parental choice. Says he doesn’t think the government should be able to force people to have their children vaccinated. Sure would like to be a fly on the wall when that’s explained at a family gathering about 18-years from now.
One more thing. I’m sure you heard the story about the Bartlesville man who decided to burn his Nike tennis shoes as a protest over the company ad featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. According to the story, the man accidentally burned down his house.
Turns out the story was a fake. Came from the internet, Facebook and it seems the story also contained a URL address resembling USA Today. It was just a weird prank, a joke if you will, but it seems that today, more than ever, folks need a little humor so they jumped all over it.
Truth be told, there are a lot of jokes out there today especially in Washington D.C. Some were elected and some want to be. But Washington hasn’t cornered the market on jokes. They can also be found right here in Oklahoma. And just like Washington, some will be voted out and others will be voted in. It’s really getting weird out there.
I’m reminded what the late Hunter S. Thompson, the father of gonzo journalism said about weird. He took a look around back in the 70s’ and said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
Seems like right now, we have a lot of pros out there too.
That’s my perspective.