Stan Geiger

Gubment Gone Mad

It gets worse every year. Every year a bunch of idiots get together and pass a bunch of new laws that intrude on people's lives. They are wiser than the ignorant masses, so they propose to tell us all how to act.

On a day last year, I don't recall which, I caught a little news blurb on TV that mentioned 200 new state laws had gone into effect. Two hundred freakin' new laws in one day.

I read somewhere, a couple of months back, that over 1,500 bills were set to be introduced in the current session of the Oklahoma Legislature.

Do we need 200 new laws a year? Do we need lawmakers coming into a session proposing 1,500 new laws?

No, we don't.

The word "gridlock" gets thrown around a lot these days. I like gridlock. We need more gridlock. Government is at its best when government is doing nothing.

Let's just take a look a few items floating around in the news right now.

It appears there is a proposed Oklahoma law that will allow cops to drive around town with some super scanner so they can decide whether or not you have insurance. If you don't, you don't get a ticket. The cops will confiscate your car and throw your family out on the street to fend for itself.

Marvelous. In a country that goes around the world preaching the value of personal choice, this is a law that gets proposed.

There is a jackass politician in Oklahoma City looking to pass a law mandating that anyone that wants to get married has to go see some "marriage expert" first. The same rules would apply to people looking to split up.

I've never been married. But if I ever decided to make that leap of faith, I don't figure I'd need some so-called "expert" getting involved with it. Nor do I figure I'd need some so-called "expert" involved if I decided I had married the wrong chick.

How about fat kids? I mean we've got government that says, on the one hand, that childhood obesity is a problem. On the other, it says public schools need to give free food to kids. The percentages of student populations getting free or reduced-priced meals is huge. And it goes beyond lunch these days. Breakfast is offered up as well.

You can't have it both ways. You can't argue we are a nation full of fat kids then argue the fat kids will starve without gubment food.

Speaking of fat, politicians are all about taxing soda pop these days. Too much sugar, they say. We need a "sugar tax."

The federal government has subsidized sugar production for decades. It continues to do so. Does it make any sense at all for the government to subsidize the production of something and then tax you for consuming it?

I'm waiting for the day when the politicians decide I need a personal keeper, I need a gubment employee to come and live with me. Said gubment employ would tell me when to eat and what to eat, tell me when to turn on the TV and what to watch, tell me when to go to bed and when to get up, tell me what clothes to wear and tell me when to go to the crapper and how much I could dump.

I've got a better idea: Maybe the pricks in politics should take a shot at doing the jobs they were hired to do (managing government) and spend less time and energy trying to manage my life. Does that work for you?

Socialism is Capitalism

The word "socialism" gets a lot of attention these days. Let's take a look at that.

I watched the morning pundit shows. All the talk was about health care. Do you really think any Washington politician, from Obama on down, gives a fat monkey's ass about poor folks that can't afford health insurance? Do you really?

Politicians are about paying debts owed to big-money types. That's what health care reform is all about. It's about money.

Is anybody deprived of health care in this country? I mean if I went down to an emergency room, would I not get care?

So far as I know, there is a state law that says I get care. I would hope it goes beyond that. I would hope a doctor, sworn to treat the ill, wouldn't toss me into the street because I couldn't pay.

Doctors want to get paid. Hospitals want to get paid. Any health-related company wants to get paid.

Health insurers want to get paid. Those companies want healthy people mandated to buy insurance. They want those thousands a year in premiums paid by people that have no problems. In effect, they want a tax on the healthy populace to pay for the unhealthy populace.

And speaking of an unhealthy populace, what about the food supply? Last I heard it reported, 31 million food cards are handed to households in this country every month. How many people are being fed in those households every month? A hundred million, maybe? A third of the population, in the most prosperous nation on the planet, is eating gubment food.

Much of that food, by the way, is poison. So we talk about health care as the gubment subsidizes the poisoning of the population. Super.

Who likes the plan? Well, I imagine the biggest grocer in the nation---Walmart---likes the plan. It gets billions a month in sales paid for by the U.S. taxpayer.

How about Mr. Ed?

Educators jack up the cost of a degree through the roof. The gubments answer? Well, we need another gubment program to "help people."

Where does the money go? It goes into colleges and universities, and, therefore, into the pockets of professors, administrators and coaches.

Follow the money, folks. Follow the money and you will find socialism is capitalism. It just boils down to where the money goes.

You Go, Lady Boomers!

Back in 1971 it was! The OU Boomers collided with the Nebraska Cornhuskers on the gridiron in what was dubbed the "game of the century."

Last night, there was another "game of the century." This time, however, the battle took place between ladies in a gym. The second-ranked Boomer gymnasts engaged the top-ranked gymnastics team from Alabama. The Boomer ladies, by the slimmest of margins, prevailed.

I love lady gymnasts. They are cute as all get out, for starters. But they also do incredible things. Assuming I could do a back flip, for example, which I can't, I would be proud of myself if I could actually land on the floor. A little cutie can do one while landing on a 4-inch piece of wood. I find that amazing.

Major kudos to the lady Boomers!

The Office of Sustainability

Republican Mayor Dewey Bartlett created a new Tulsa department. Here we elect a Republican mayor and we get a new gubment agency; we get a new place for politicians to slot cronies into gubment jobs.

That's one of the problems in this country: there is no conservative party. It doesn't matter if Republicans or Democrats are in control, government grows. The money might flow in different directions, but government grows.

The money to fund the new department is coming from Uncle Sam. Yeah, okay. So Uncle Sam pays for a job for some fat guy with a lobster and butter addiction. Great.

First, Uncle Sam's money isn't free. That's something we all need to get a hold of; Uncle Sam is borrowing that money.

Second, what happens when Uncle Sam's money runs out? Well, then we have a new agency that we have to pay for locally.

If we ever get a conservative party in this country, I might actually sign on to it. In the meantime, I'll maintain my status as a registered Independent.

I Agree with Barry

I'm sure you won't hear me say it very often, but I agree with the president: it's time for a vote on health care.

The bills in existence are unpopular with the public. In fact, the bills in existence scare the pee out of people. Word is, there aren't enough Democratic votes to pass any of them. So let's have the vote and throw them in the trash.

Our so-called "leaders" in Washington have spent a year on this issue. There are other things that need attention.

I'm for some health care reforms. But in order to get to them we have to get rid of the behemoth proposals. Let's have the vote; let's Kill Bill.

I recall a line from Glen Campbell's character in the movie True Grit. He said, "I only take one step at time. That's why God gave me two feet."

Focus on Three Things

Educators won!! Taxpayers lost!! No surprise. That's usually the way it goes with school bond issues these days. They pass with 70 percent, 80 percent or even 90 percent yes votes.

Such was the case yesterday. All four TPS measures passed, by an average yes vote of 75 percent.

There are a couple of points to make concerning the numbers.

First, there is the low turnout. Only about 25,000 people showed up to cast a vote. In a city with a population of nearly 400,000 people, most of which is covered by TPS, only 25,000 showed up to vote.

School districts rely on low turnout. That's why they set school bond votes for days when there is nothing else on the ballot. About 6,000 staunch citizens showed up to vote no. Roughly 19,000 showed up to vote yes. I suspect almost all of the roughly 19,000 yes votes came from TPS employees and their family members.

Somebody wrote, two or three hundred years ago, that democracies fail when people realize they can vote themselves money from the tax coffers.

Relative to education, I'd say we're about there.

Second, there were about a thousand votes less cast on the third and fourth propositions than there were on the first two. That tends to indicate about a thousand voters didn't have sense enough to turn the ballot over. That's a sad comment on the state of our society.

Whatever, the measures passed. TPS gets a whopping $354 million to spend. The rug-wearing dick of a superintendent is gleeful. Good for him.

I recall reading about the super of the day, back in the '90s, getting a fat bonus because of the passage of a bond issue. Do you reckon the current super is having an orgasm because he gets a bonus due to the passage of this bond issue?

Maybe somebody in the bona fide media should ask.

I request that you pay attention over the next few years. Supposedly, this bond issue, set to expire in 2016, constitutes the last leg in a 20-year plan to make TPS all shiny and new. Fine. Pay attention.

Pay attention to performance. I mean after several hundred million dollars in borrowed money has been pumped into TPS, performance should be enhanced. I'd say dropout rates would be a good thing to watch. Currently, they say a fourth to a fifth of students entering high school don't graduate. Let's see if all the "shiny and new" changes that.

Pay attention to your tax bills. The educators claimed pumping $354 million into a school district wouldn't affect your taxes. Validate that claim.

Pay attention to the end. As I said, this bond issue is supposed to be the end of a 20-year run. Let's see if that comes to pass. Let's see if the school district quits now that all its dreams have come true.

Pay attention.

School Bond Money and Salaries

I've heard it issued almost like a disclaimer in news reports about TPS' enormous proposed bond issue: Bond money can't be used for salaries. Well, that's not quite true.

In my previous piece, I wrote of the big lie about how people can vote $354 million to a school district without incurring a tax increase. Your property tax goes up every year. The more junk you have loaded on that bill the more the annual increases will be. Of course this bond issue will cost you money if it passes.

But even accepting the claim as true, there is still no good reason to vote yes. I mean I can come up with a plan. I can argue the government should borrow $5 million and give it to me. It would be good for the economy because I would get rich, and could go out on a spending spree. And my plan could certainly be implemented without raising your taxes.

Would you vote for that?

If not, you shouldn't vote $354 million in bond money for TPS just because the educators claim it can be done without raising your taxes. That's not a good enough justification.

On the matter of bond money not paying salaries, it can be done and is being done---indirectly.

Reports say $260 million is to go to capital projects, renovations, classroom construction and, of course, athletic facilities. I think this part of the bond proposal definitely overreaches. That point aside, it is at least valid to pay for capital projects with borrowed money.

The rest of the money, some $90 million, goes to other stuff. The other stuff, like computers and software, buses, technological gadgets for teachers, television sets and textbooks, come under the heading of supplies and equipment. They should be purchased using annual operating money.

If tens of millions of dollar's worth of expenditures can be moved out of operational spending and financed with debt instead, tens of millions of dollars in operational funds are freed up for salaries.

It's a shell game, folks. The educators are just moving the pea.

Vote No

Tomorrow, a vote will be held. Tulsa Public Schools is going for a state record $354 million in borrowed money. Vote no across-the-board.

I cannot imagine, in my wildest dreams, that TPS has 354 million dollar’s worth of dire needs. I guess that’s as good a spot as any to start. The world is falling apart around us. We should not borrow money for schools just because. And it seems that is what is being marketed here. The district is going for the money just because it thinks it can get it.

I’ve been amazed at the TV ads. They promote no specific needs. They show people shooting lip, they might show video of cute little kids, but they cite no specific needs. The biggest selling point seems to be that of a yes vote not raising your taxes. Well, hell, that’s a good reason to hand a school district $354 million.

The ads fail to mention a no vote will reduce your property tax burden. The ads fail to mention a redirection of this public money might lengthen your lifespan, not to mention the lifespan of your child. I mean what’s more important, a renovated library at your child’s school or a bridge your child can pass over or under without dying?

Putting that stuff aside, the argument that a yes vote won’t raise your taxes is a lie. Maintaining the status quo relative to tax rates, do you expect your property tax liability to be the same in five years that it is today? If so, you haven’t been paying attention.

I recall a TPS bond issue from, oh, fifteen years ago, give or take. It was a big deal. I guess it was a big deal because it was the first time a TPS bond issue moved into the 9-figure range. The district was asking for $100 million. The superintendent humped it; Mayor Susan Savage humped it; various civic leaders humped it; the Tulsa World, of course, humped it. The measure passed, and there was a great celebration.

The measure on the ballot tomorrow is 3.5 times---or 250 percent---larger than the one passed some 15 years ago. School bond issues get bigger all the time. If approving them doesn’t raise your taxes, from where does the money come?

If you need more, I’ll give you more. Let’s look at some recent local reports that have come out of public education.

Oklahoma City Public Schools hired a new super not too long ago. He lasted, maybe, a year. He was using the district like it was his own personal piggy bank. He was putting in reimbursement requisitions for every dollar he spent---up to and including his booze purchases. It’s pretty easy to get rich when you’re getting overpaid for your job and then you don’t have to pay for anything.

Sequoyah Public Schools had a superintendent that was convicted for embezzling a million bucks over a 10-year span of time.

The big story now is Skiatook Public Schools. Current reports say that district squandered half a million bucks on janitorial supplies.

The official word from the district is standard. “Mistakes were made,” they say. Nobody noticed. That’s a lame excuse. But it’s good enough to roll some heads. I mean if Skiatook schools employs people that are too stupid to notice $529 is too much to pay for 3 mop heads, then the district employs people that are too stupid to hold jobs.

What any person with any sense knows is there were no “mistakes.” It was a deal-deal. The people in charge of the money were getting kicks.

The state auditor says there are currently half a dozen school districts under the microscope for various reasons. Oklahoma has over 500 public school districts. If the auditor’s office had greater resources, I figure they would all be under investigation.

If there is money to steal, schools are overfunded. Don’t give TPS $354 million just because.

Health Care Summit Irony

I didn't watch the big health care show on TV. I did, however, see some clips on the evening news. I was impressed with the irony.

I guess the first comment I saw that caught my attention came from the president, when he said to John McCain, "We aren't campaigning anymore."

Dude, Obama has done nothing but campaign since he took office. I reckon that's because he knows a lot about campaigning but little about governing. The Air Force will likely have to replace a couple of 747s when Obama gets voted out of office. The president will have worn them out with his travel habit.

But Senator Jay Rockefeller really got my attention. He was shown scolding the Republicans for being too cozy with the health insurers. He referred to health insurance companies as sharks in the water that you don't notice until they sink their teeth into you.

Yes, Jay Rockefeller is a member of that Rockefeller family. He is the nephew of David Rockefeller; he is the great grandson of J.D. Rockefeller.

First, I couldn't believe a Democrat was scolding Republicans about coddling health insurance companies. The federal mandate for health insurance isn't coming from Republicans; it's coming from Democrats. And that's the big plum for health insurers. Health insurers want healthy people forced into paying thousands a year in premiums. Whether the money comes from individuals or the government matters none to them; they just want the money. Democrats are playing that game, not Republicans.

Second, I don't know, I didn't bother to check, but I imagine David is dead these days. But in his time, David was a bankster of note. These days, I think everybody is aware of what banksters are about.

J.D. I know is dead. In his time, he was one of the biggest robber barons in American history. J.D., more than anybody else, gave birth to antitrust laws in this country. Using every dirty trick in the book, he drove out competition and took over the oil industry. He owned virtually all of it at one point.

For a guy from that family to accuse health insurance companies of being sharks in the water looking to exploit people is, well, disingenuous at best.

The Rockefellers are much like the Kennedys. They exploited the masses to acquire huge family fortunes, then they went into politics claiming the very people they exploited to get filthy stinking rich need government help.

I don't need to hear anything from anybody with the Rockefeller name.

Three Counselors Refused

KOTV reported last night that certain Tulsa city councilors have volunteered to take minimal pay cuts this year. Three councilors---Henderson, Turner and Eagleton---refused to take part, arguing they only make $18,000 a year.

I can understand the 18k posture. And I will concur with what Emory Bryan of KOTV noted: the amount of money involved relative to the city's budget is "chump change."

On the other hand, the city is shutting down rec centers. The city has grounded the police helicopters and done away with the mounted patrol. I hear some 4,000 street lights have gone dark. Cops have been laid off; firefighters have taken pay cuts. Yet we have three councilors that won't take a pay cut of the slightest magnitude---even if the move would amount to nothing more than symbolism.

The word is "leadership."

Councilor Jack Henderson's rejection of any notion that he should get less doesn't surprise me at all. It wasn't long ago that he was bitching about being underpaid, and calling for a tripling of his pay with the stroke of a pen.

I disagree with Jack's view that he is so greatly undervalued. I figure you could go into just about any household in town and find his replacement.

But the one that really pisses me off is Eagleton. If I have the wrong guy, set me right. But I'm pretty sure Eagleton has been shooting lip about cops not writing enough traffic tickets for some time now. He wants the money to feed the city's coffers.

Eagleton---though I'm sure he has other sources of income---complains of only getting paid $18,000 on his city job. Well, there are a lot people in Tulsa that only make $18,000 a year. There are a lot of people in this city that make less than that. Still, Eagleton advocates having cops forget about real crime and go looking for someone doing 45 mph in a 40 mph zone or making a lane change without a turn signal and writing them up.

Politicians recently set the minimum moving violation fine in Tulsa at $150. I've written that when I first got my driver's license, in 1974, the minimum moving violation fine was $15---and it stayed there for a number of years after. Today, the typical traffic fine in Tulsa is 10 times what it was when I first started driving---way exceeding an inflation adjustment.

Cops have seemed reluctant to issue the fines. I applaud the cops for that. The fines constitute usury; they are excessive. Eagleton, however, could care less. He wants the money.

But when Eagleton had the opportunity to offer up even a mere $150 annual cut in his pay for the good of the city, he declined.

Given that, Councilor Eagleton, as far as I'm concerned, may now shut his fat pie hole when it to comes to traffic fine revenue.