It's been a hectic week and I've missed a few opportunities to write some commentary - I would start, then get distracted. Adult onset attention deficit disorder, I suppose. Since we're iced in today I have the chance to cover some material. Here goes...
Mike McCarville Prayers: Mike is reporting on his
blog that he currently is suffering from double pneumonia. Pray for him and his family because there is absolutely nothing fun about double pneumonia and frankly, we need Mike around for a while.
GOP State Senate Agenda: This is one of the biggest non-stories of the year. The Senate GOP announced their legislative agenda and for a minute, I thought I was again listening to former Speaker of the House, Todd Hiett, telling me on WKY that the reason we didn't have more jobs in Oklahoma was because of tort reform. When asked which businesses refused to come to Oklahoma because of our tort laws, well, he didn't have much of a response. Fast forward to this week and we get more of the same. Tort reform, "balancing the budget" (when we already have a balanced budget amendment), parental choice in education (a hat-tip to Brandon Dutcher at OCPA) and Gary Ridley's favorite - increasing funding for transportation (note the lack of fiscal accountability for ODOT). Nothing spectacular, really, but there is some interesting talk about tax reform.
Stupidity in Tucson: While much of the insane rhetoric about the shootings in Tucson has calmed down, there are still extremists who continue to blame Sarah Palin or at least try to make a connection to her targeted House Districts. As Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does."
Tucson Inspires Gun Control: It didn't take long after the shooting in Tucson for a few legislators across this great nation to determine that the way to fix the problem is to restore the failed so-called "assault weapons ban" and to restrict high capacity magazines. Some talk about psychological testing should be done before an individual is allowed to enjoy their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. How this would be accomplished is anyone's guess but you can well imagine that other individual rights to privacy would be compromised to accomplish this task. The Left will not rest until firearms are completely restricted or banned. We need to learn that fact and respond accordingly.
Crude Oil Creep: While no one was watching, the NYMEX crude prices creeped up and continue to creep. Analysts have projected that soon it will top the $100/bbl mark and that gasoline will hit $4/gallon this summer. With the Obama ban on offshore drilling, our OPEC enemies are raking in the dough and this administration plans to do nothing about it.
More to follow, I'm sure.
