A State Senate committee has just passed on a bill that would give minimum wage workers a $2.50 an hour raise over 5 years. while this may help some minimum wage workers in the very short term, the long term effects would be devastating.

Companies have to maintain the bottom line, so they will either reduce their workforce, or they will raise prices, thus killing any benefit those on minimum wage receive. At the same time, people making over $7.65 an hour will not see a pay raise, especially hard hit in this scenario is the middle class wage slaves, prices go up, wages do not.

As someone who lived through the last series of minimum wage increases, the most glaring thing that happened is those working in the industries is the loss of any benefits they may receive, my wife worked for a local restaurant, she worked hard, yet every time she managed to get above minimum wage, the minimum would rise, leaving her at the bottom rung of the ladder.

Some people do rely on jobs in the minimum wage sector, my wife was one of those people, but increasing the minimum wage it does not help them, it hurts them, as any money that they could have earned (or did earn) by working hard is distributed to those who are looking for a little extra cash or beer money, and any extras the company could have afforded to give to employees will soon be taken away.

A snippet from the Tulsa Whirled:

"Tulsa 'brand' being developed
 A major branding effort is under way to find out what makes Tulsa unique from other communities in the country."

I could have swore someone wrote about this earlier

Tulsa homicide rate continues to soar
   
While Bill is playing games with the police department, to get himself re-elected, Tulsa is on pace to reach 100 killings by the end of the year.

Bill lied about the reason Been was put on leave and he lies about how we have enough officers. He knows because of his spinelessness that Tulsa is not safe anymore, so he had to do something! and that something was to punish someone who has been telling the public what is needed instead of heeding his warnings. The truth is we need more cops and we need higher paid cops (our boys-in-blue require a college degree, in the 43 largest city while being ranked 143rd in pay... no wonder they are fleeing to the suburbs! to be honest Im suprised we have any cops left!)

Thursday February 23, 2006 5:35pm   Reporter: Teri Bowers   Posted By: Kevin King

Tulsa - A former OSBI director will head up the investigation into the actions of former Tulsa Police Chief Dave Been, who was suspended with pay earlier this week for allegedly failing to tell the mayor of a report critical of the department's SWAT team. NewsChannel 8's Teri Bowers sat down with Been Thursday to find out what the controversy means for keeping Tulsans safe.

the link until 8 kills the story...

from this article concerning the bombing of the Al-Askariya shrine

and from this article concerning the ambitions of the new Iranian President

"The ultimate promise of all Divine religions," says Ahmadinejad, "will be fulfilled with the emergence of a perfect human being [the 12th Imam], who is heir to all prophets. He will lead the world to justice and absolute peace."

People better wake up, Iraq will go into civil war, the "12th Imam/Anti-Christ" will arise and offer the world peace.

I mentioned in previous posts that the world needs a hero, and this is what they will get.

God save us.

We WON!!!! I thank you and Stoney thanks you!

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

No, this doesn't belong under funny stuff.

and just a reminder...

Study Says Increase In Speed Limit Also Raised Traffic Deaths In The State

"657 traffic fatalities were reported in Oklahoma between 1986 and 1995 when the speed limit was 55. That jumped to 744 when the speed limit went up to 65 and 70 miles an hour. That's a 13 percent increase."

Seriously, wouldnt this and this be the real reason?

NEW REPORT GIVES TULSA AREA A GRADE OF ‘F’ FOR BRIDGE CONDITIONS, ‘D-’
FOR ROAD CONDITIONS, ‘C-’ FOR SAFETY AND ‘C+’ FOR CONGESTION ;
DETERIORATED ROADS AND BRIDGES AND RISING CONGESTION MAY HAMPER
MOBILITY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TULSA REGION

NEW REPORT GIVES OKLAHOMA CITY AREA A GRADE OF ‘F’ FOR ROAD AND
BRIDGE CONDITIONS, ‘C’ FOR CONGESTION AND SAFETY; DETERIORATED
ROADS AND BRIDGES AND RISING CONGESTION MAY HAMPER MOBILITY,
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN REGION

from the Tulsa World Candidates page...

David Patrick (District 3):

Priorities

2. Continued deterioration of residential and arterial streets throughout the district.

David, we don't need your help for continued deterioration, we need you  to stop it...

Im not sure if I should post this under Politics or Funny stuff!

There is this house I drive by on a daily basis. Before Jennie Cue filed, there was a Cue sign in their front yard, after she decided not to run, a Rick Westcott sign went up (which made sense, thanks to the endorsement by Cue)

here's where it gets weird...

First there were Randi Miller signs in the yard (again, makes sense because Miller is Cue's sister) then the Miller signs came down and a Medlock sign went up, then the Miller signs came back out in conjunction with the Medlock signs, then they all came down and LaFortune signs went up, now they are back to just Miller signs. this has all happened in the last month or so...

I cant wait to see who they will endorse next week!

All you have to do is work and a minimum wage job... However those who make over that are not guaranteed any sort of raise even though the cost of living will jump. Luckily our reps in OKC saw fit not to allow the minimum wage increase through... this time...

 St Louis found out the hard way that it isnt true...

Convention center expansion has perils
'Arms race' of bigger centers to lure top events creates winners – and losers

"cities must offer a total package that goes beyond adequate meeting space. Large blocks of available hotel rooms along with readily accessible local attractions all play into the site selection equation."

"Whether there is actually any new convention center business to be had these days is a question that has bedeviled the meetings industry since at least 2001. The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington coupled with an economic recession, dealt a crippling blow to the convention and meeting industry from which it hasn't yet fully recovered.

Cities that took a "build-it-and-they-will-come" approach to convention centers throughout the 1990s, when the industry was thriving, are now facing a harsh reality. In many cases, rosy predictions of growth have failed to materialize, leaving cities in fierce competition for convention business that often forces them to slash rental rates or even give space away."

Harper - One city, one mind, one goal.
Lafortune - A trusted mayor leading Tulsans into the future.
McCorkell - Bringing back the spirit that made Tulsa great.
Medlock - A mayor for all of Tulsa.
Miller - Building a better Tulsa.
Taylor - Make life better.

Regionalism is going to cost us a LaFortune!

The technology is here now, could this be the forerunner to the number of the beast?

"These days people are more concerned about dollars than history," Bill Maxwell said concerning an attempt to change the name of the Maxwell convention center.

As mentioned in my Bullseye post, the city is looking north to the beautiful Osage Hills, and all the old houses that arent bringing in much in the way of tax $$$. KTUL posted a story last night that there is Neighborhood Development Coming To North Tulsa.
"I believe that this project is just the beginning"... oh it is, it may be vacant lots being built on now, but just wait for the "substandard" housing to be removed to make room for the $140,000 and up houses... Meanwhile we still cant get water and sewer out to the people in East Tulsa that were annexed 30+ years ago

(...How bad are they?)

One of the major arguments against the "No Child Left Behind" Legislation was that in order to stay off the list all a teacher/school would have to do is "teach the test". Our schools are so bad, they cant even do that right!

Here are some clips of the 2 hour meeting that Chris Medlock and Roscoe Turner attended with the residents of Layman Van Acres. If I had the room I would put the entire audio up, but those included below give a good sampling of the things that were touched upon

Imagine downtown Tulsa, imagine the Mayo Hotel turned into a world renowned House of Blues, imagine if you will big name acts visiting this new landmark (just look at their schedule at their other venues for a taste).

Wouldn't that be the neatest thing? A nationally know tourist attraction, located in Tulsa's own historic Mayo Hotel? Wouldn’t that be a big draw for downtown?

Well it was a done deal, until the good ol' boy network caught wind of it. Seems they didn't want someone else taking a piece of their pie, sounds familiar doesn't it?

Remember that we were supposed to be getting a new amphitheater? Same thing, the Mid-Town fat cats don't want any (real) private money poured into their sandbox, it has to be their ideas paid for by our tax dollars so they can make a few more bucks. So things were said, rumors were spread, and they were discouraged from making their investment saying it would be a losing proposition (not too far from the truth).  Remember Gary Sparks? He was going to do the architectural design work  for the thing, he's also the one who was screwed out of doing the Arena construction by a phony vote by LaFortune, re-voting until Cesar Pelli's team won  even though he had more experience in this for of venue (though as Michael Bates points out above, he was one of the bigger contributors so it would have been perceived as a lose-lose situation).

From this KTUL article:

"The competition for police officers is on the fast track. And, Tulsa may be losing. Two of Tulsa's suburbs will soon outbid Tulsa for police officers. As NewsChannel 8's Bill Mitchell reports, that could mean fewer police officers patrolling Tulsa's streets."

That means our crime rate should be going down (according to Bill LaFortune).

...and unknown

from: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/noise/tulsa.html

Noise Budget Restrictions - NONE (we keep hearing from our so-called leaders in Washington they are doing all they can... nope, doesnt look like it to me)
Noise Surcharge - NONE
Noise Monitoring System - NONE (Dont want the public to know how bad it really is up there)
Noise Level Limits - NONE
Sound Insulation (Residences and Public Buildings)  - unknown (formerly run by Cinnebar, now stalled)
Purchase Assurance for Homeowners Located Within the Airport Noise Contours - unknown (they've been saying they are going to take care of Layman Van Acres for over 20 years, but no assurances)
Airport Noise Contour Overlay Maps - unknown (its amazing how the noise stops at 87th E Ave...)

Between this...

... and this?

well the most blatantly obvious is Christians are not calling for the literal head of the person responsible...

Gaza militants threaten to kidnap foreigners after Prophet Muhammad drawings published in Europe... "Any citizens of these countries, who are present in Gaza, will put themselves in danger," a Fatah-affiliated gunman said outside the EU Commission's office in Gaza, flanked by two masked men holding rifles.

After seeing the back and forth antics from Michael Covey concerning his endorsement of Bill Christiansen, one has to ask what’s in it for him?

Sure Bill might “fix” the problem of the bridge, but he has proven time and time again that actions (or inactions) by the group of councilors that he sides with is  destroying Tulsa. So while Mr. Covey can sit back in south Tulsa with the bridge where he wants it, the rest of Tulsa is crumbling, thanks in part to the Good ol’ boy network which Mr. Christiansen is a part of.

If he’s concerned about property values now, just wait ‘til Tulsa implodes, he wont be able to give his property away!

By the way, The enemy of my enemy is my friend has produced such great allies for us as the USSR vs Germany(WWII)  and Iraq vs Iran (before we blew it to kingdom come)...