This morning I was rolling westbound down I-44 and came upon some road construction at Peoria and Harvard. There is one small problem with this story however... not only were they doing guardrail work, they were stripping the top layer of asphault off of the bridges and laying down a fresh layer... whats the point? Arent they going to be ripping those bridges out in a short while to widen I-44?

Now while I would like to see development on the river, but not at the expense of the taxpayer, one really has to ask themselves, will it really make Tulsa that much more attractive to outsiders looking to relocate?

The river development has been compared to San Antonio and Oklahoma City, and a previous mayor wanted us to be more like Indianapolis. However, no matter where you look, Tulsa already outranks all 3 cities in all the "most livable" indexes, sometimes even showing up in the top 10, add to that we are ranked in the top 10 for jobs and for affordable housing.

So is it because of bad management, lack of focus, or being afraid of change that our city leaders and chamber of commerce dont use these stats to draw in more high paying jobs, which in turn will being in the Yuppies... errr... the young professionals that they claim they want to come.

Here's the plan: Fix our streets, and make them safe, play up and promote our strengths and our history, and the rest will take care of itself!

The US is on a crash course to destruction. Will Durrant, American historian, once wrote A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within

 Consider these facts:

Most of our goods are imported from China, a country that has stated that we are their greatest enemy, a country who is diametrically opposed to everything we stand for, a country who is able to nuke us into oblivion, and a country who undercuts us at every given opportunity, and takes the money we send them to purchase more advance weapon systems. All of this trade is done in the name of the almighty dollar, and most people dont see anything wrong with that even though their products can kill.

Most of our oil is imported from the middle east, a region who’s religion is diametrically opposed to all that American stands for. At any moment could shut down our supply. Meanwhile oil prices are riseing, allowing them to support terrorist organizations.

Despite what our president says, Russia is not our friend, Putin is setting himself up as the next ruler of the next incarnation of the USSR, threatening us with nukes and siding with our enemies, and as with China, undercutting us diplomatically at every possible opportunity.

  Our Gov’t is incompetent, its more interested in spending money on entertainment for its people than the basic governmental functions of infrastructure and protection (Bread and Circuses). And because of this spending, we are so far in dept to countries like China that we have to do what they want. Our government schools are teaching to the lowest possible denominator which leads to a dumbed-down society.

Our Gov't won't close the border and is encouraging the construction North American super corridor. The various local gov'ts are encouraging illegals to come to the US to partake in our entitlement system, further draining already overworked schools and hospitals. Because of the open borders we do not know who is coming in, some are drug runners, some are murderers, and some are terrorists from other countries. All of which endanger our very sovereignty

And to make matters worse, our religious leaders are failing the people, concentrating on their own fortunes more than on what their flocks need. They preach a health and wealth doctrine which is found nowhere in the Holy Bible. They are leading people astray, or driving people away with their hypocrisy which in turn flips our moral compass on its head.

Can we change things around? It would be possible if "We the people" would wake up and see what is going on around us, and then ACT upon it. We need to elect people who say they will do what is needed to correct the situation, and then hold them accountable. We need to turn back to God. And we need to put away our little Chinese made trinkets and focus on the big picture.
 

Obama links faith to the Environment

 The article starts off with Obama stating that God has entrusted humans with the responsibility of caring for the earth, and "we are not acting as good stewards of God's earth..."

He couldn't be more right, we are to take care of the earth, God has entrusted us to take care of it. However he goes off the deep end by saying that "in recent years, science has made it undeniably clear that our generation is not living up to this responsibility. Global warming is not a someday problem, it is now."

What are you implying Senator? That man is actually capable of destroying what God has made without him allowing it? You give mankind way to much credit and at the same time neuter the omnipotence of God!

 

Now we get to see the "enlightened" and "forward thinking" people of Tulsa blame the "no" crowd for their failure. They say the no crowd lied, exaggerated, and provided conspiracy theories. They are saying that we don’t like our city(s), are backwards, and because of us, we will not see any development on the river and Tulsa will die!

By doing this they are further dividing the city and the region, they cant see that their rushed, ill-conceived plans brought forth by untrustworthy politicians and a lack of priorities was what doomed this.

I’m hearing the questions now "where will the money come from now?" and "where will the money come from to fix the streets?" If we didn’t have the money to fix the streets, then we sure as heck didn’t need to be raising taxes for something other than streets. The money will come, as it should, from private investments. There is continued talk of the developer of Jenks RiverWalk interest in developing the west bank.

  Tulsa can and will thrive, once those in power let it happen. The Branson Landing people were going to come long before the tax was put on the table, but Randi, Kathy and her team got in the way. Bass Pro Shop was considering Tulsa, but Bill LaFortune and the Vision 2025 folks got in the way sending it to Broken Arrow. The Aquarium wanted to build in Tulsa, but Susan Savage got in the way sending it to Jenks. Bell’s wanted to expand but the county got in the way of the initial plans, and then Randi Miller shut them down for good. Four BIG opportunities driven away because of our local leadership. To be honest, I'm surprised the Tulsa Hills in West Tulsa is being built.

Lastly, I dare say that since the Kaiser group pulled the money off of the table, it appears they really werent interested in bettering Tulsa at all... if they did they wouldn't have offered it up as a bribe. Im going to guess Kaiser and company are going to argue that Tulsa doesnt care enough about the river. The irony is that if the vote had been a city tax only, it would have passed.

Using the same logic that the county and city did concerning the River Vote, that is, the people showed a willingness to increase their taxes another 4/10th of a cent because of the Boeing part of the 2025 vote. Well Im going to apply the same logic to George Kaiser and crew. By offering up 117 million dollars, they showed a willingness to spend that money, so here's their chance!

Take the money from the 177 million dollar "gift" and use it on these two parts of the project, allowing the Branson Landing people to come in and develop the west bank.

52.4 million - west bank land acquisition
15.45 million -zink damn modifications (or repairs)

After that he can take part of the remainder and give North Tulsa the 5 million bribe that they offered up.

Com'on George, think of all the jobs your "gift" would bring in... after all it's for the Children!
 

I would like to thank all those that tirelessly fought off the Tax Dragons. You have kept our city safe for the time being.

Specifically I would like to thanks Michael Bates for his in-depth, thoughtful, and fact filled commentary that made the Tax Dragons squirm. I also want to thank councilors Jack Henderson, Roscoe Turner & John Eagleton, State Senator Randy Brogdon, Tulsa County Assessor Ken Yazel, and Broken Arrow Mayor Wade McCaleb for not bowing to the county and standing up and speaking up FOR their constituents.

The Tax Dragons didn’t like the light of truth shown on them so they tried to deflect it with cries of "It's for the children". Tulsans saw through the deception and did the right thing.

A word of advice, if the river tax fails, hold onto your signs because they WILL come back and try again, and again, and again... and the next opportunity wont be a "long long time" away either, as they want you to believe.

 

So now it comes down to the wire, and I am giving my top 10 reasons for voting NO tomorrow.

1) Its about priorities, fix the roads, keep us safe and educate our kids. Thats what you are being paid to do!

2) Whats the rush? we wont even get an approval to do the project for another couple of years. all the impact studies are not even complete.

3) Deliberately vague ballot. according to the wording, they can use the money on the river and/or something else.

4) Mismanagement at the county level. getting rid of Bell's who contributed real income to the county, and replacing it with a parking lot (and they said attendance/revenue was down, but not because of Bells being absent... yeah... right)

5) On an equally poorly worded ballot we already voted to have the river done in vision 2025.

6) the same person responsible for the design of "the Channels" is in charge of this design.

7) The Branson Landing people were going to come before any mention of this tax

8) I dont like conditional gifts...

9) County gov't has no business collecting sales tax. As the cities grow, they have less to take care of, they shouldnt be growing!

10) false advertising, if its such a great deal you dont have to lie about it... 10,000 jobs my a.... nose

See you at the polls!

One evening last week I caught part of a special on the History Channel, it was titled UFO Files: UFOs in the Bible.


One of those being interviewed, was a (so called) Presbyterian minister explaining his beliefs as to why this is a possibility. Just like Hitlers propoganda officer Goebbels said, If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

The coming rapture will have to be blamed on something, and unless someone develops a weapon to randomly make people disappear, UFOs are the best explanation. All you have to do is notice all the talk of life on Mars or other planets..

 

A slut, and right now that description fits, because she is behaving like a crack whore, she is promising whatever she can to get her fix. She promises jobs, safety, more revenue, and a better life if all you do is approve (another) little tax.

Then she’ll take that money and blow it.

Are we going to be dumb enough to give this irresponsible trollop another dime until she gets her life straightened out?

Im not going to get into the lawsuit aspect against ORU concerning the three former professors and their allegations concerning the failed Randi Miller Mayoral run.

What did shock me was, while reading over the complaint to the courts, the excesses that the Robert's family indulged in, allegedly on the university's dime. One example is their home being remodeled 11 times in the last 14 years, all of these allegations start on page 7.

Men of God, and their families, are not supposed to live high-on-the-hawg, Im not saying that they shouldnt be taken care of or even live comfortably, but God gave them that money, and in return there should be more works glorifying God... a $39,000 clothing bill at Chicos is not being a good steward of God's money!

1 Timothy 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

It was reported that Tulsa has the 8th cheapest housing in the nation! That is fantastic, you really get a lot of bang for your buck... however... when we have the 9th worst roads, the polish really seems to fade quickly. Our leadership keeps touting that we need to get "young professionals" to come to town, and apparently the only way to do so is to entertain them  (parks, arenas, river development, etc). If that is the kind of people we have coming in, what happens when they get bored? Im quite sure they will move on to the next "hot spot".

What Tulsa needs is for families to move to here, people who want to be in a nice mid-sized city where they can raise their children, but those people wont show up until we get our priorities straightened out and fix our roads, fix our education system and get more police on the streets.

According to this KJRH article, QuikTrip and other gas stations are selling gasoline that is diluted with 10% ethanol. That means if you own a car older than 8 years old, your engine will get dirtier faster and will drink more gas as your MPG goes down.

If you have been to Kansas in the last few years you will notice that their pumps are clearly marked and the higher octane gas, which is a blend, is cheaper than the low end octane grade. Its not an Oklahoma state law that they advertise this scam, so I will encourage you to contact your state rep to fix this very serious problem, especially since they are not passing the savings on to their customers.

Now I wonder if all the fuel trouble I have had with my 99 truck is related.