Obama Out of Step

President Barack Obama is seriously out of step with the will of the American citizenry in his stance on illegal immigration. According to an Associated Press/GfK poll conducted this month, 42% of the public opposes an amnesty bill, versus 24% in favor and 29% are neutral. By the way, what happened to the remaining 5%?

In arrogant fashion, dripping with hypocrisy, Mexican "President" Calderon stated for the U.S. and Mexico to work together to solve the complex, politically sensitive immigration issue. "We can do so if we create a safer border, a border that will unite us instead of dividing us, uniting our people," Calderon said. "We can do so with a community that will promote a dignified life in an orderly way for both our countries."

The Mexican-American War fought from 1846-1848 included our formal annexation of Texas, invading and conquering parts of what is now New Mexico, California and Northern Mexico. A second army invaded and conquered Mexico City. The defeated nation of Mexico agreed to sell large parcels of land to the U.S., and so we paid for them and this helped to define much of what is now the Southwestern U.S. This is virtually a forgotten war, having been overshadowed by the War Between the States and since then it has been practically omitted from our history textbooks.

Unable and unwilling to simply prove his own citizenship, President Obama seeks to cheapen my U.S. citizenship to nothing more than a prize giveaway in a box of cereal. Having either miserably failed to secure our borders, or even worse, choosing to do nothing about it, the states now are taking matters into their own hands, led by Arizona. No one I know has any problem with legal immigration, but just about everyone I know has a problem with illegal immigration. The solution is not to decriminalize the criminals.

Gwyneth Paltrow in T-Town?

Yesterday, the Tulsa Chigger spotted Gwyneth Paltrow sipping her coffee at Starbucks. I had met a friend there and we were also sipping coffee and having an extended conversation, when Gwyneth showed up. Incognito, dressed in designer jeans with high boots, very stylish but definitely not overstated. She is a beautiful woman! For over an hour she drank her coffee, ate some trail mix and surfed the web on her laptop. She seemed intent on what she was doing and most likely enjoyed being a "regular person" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, even for just awhile.

I put two and two together this morning when I heard that celebrities are in town for the extreme makeover home edition show. You never know who you will see in Tulsa!

State's Revenue Woes

Later today the revenue report for October's results for Oklahoma should be made public. In September, general revenues fell about 30% from the same time last year. Experts are blaming low oil and gas prices and a depressed economy.

I really question the judgment of our legislators who apparently expected the blowout oil and gas prices from the first half of 2008 to be the norm for 2009. And by the way, oil and gas prices plummeted in the fall of 2008. By September 2008 everyone knew that our economy was in for a rough ride.

I think that the legislature lacked the discipline to plan for these corrections and are now governing us using fear tactics as they have to slash services in the face of declining revenues.

The use of a 3 or 5 year average of revenues would go a long way to smooth out the bumps we inevitably see in our economy.