Dewey Bartlett can't spell his own name right

I recieved this mailer today. On two of the pages it has Bartlett's name spelled "Bartlet".




Sometimes I misspell my last name too. Romrman, Roesmarowman, Rowmermnn....DANG IT!!!. Why cant I have a simple last name?! Dewey, I totally feel your pain.

City Campaign Contribution Reports

I went with Michael Bates of Batesline.com to the City clerk's office today to take a look at the contribution reports of local candidates.

He went through the reports, and I transcribed. Here is a down and dirty spreadsheet I made so that all the info is in one place. I'll edit this to make it look nicer, but in the mean time, feel free to take a gander at who has raised what, and how much they have spent.


Bates has a detailed analysis of this report, including who gave this money to the candidates...check it out.

It is interesting to note that the candidate who has raised and spent the most money is Taylor....who isn't even running.

Top Ten Beatles Songs

...according to me.

I've recently come in contact with the complete Beatles collection. That's a lot of songs...good grief! When I decided create a play list of songs that I liked, it occurred to me that I should try to get the list down to 10 songs.

On my first pass through the collection I came up with 20 songs, whcih I easily whittled down to 15. I then listened to each song, if I felt compelled to skip it I'd move it to the bottom of the list. I was able to get the list down to 12 and I thought about giving those last to songs honorable mention, but that seemed like a cop-out so I went through the list one more time and pared it down to these 10.

Across the Universe	Let It Be-1970
Strawberry Fields Forever	Magical Mystery Tour -1967
Come Together	Abbey Road-1969
Here Comes the Sun	Abbey Road-1969
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da	The White Album-1968
Let It Be	Let It Be-1970
And I Love Her	A Hard Day's Night-1964
Yesterday	Help!-1965
Hello, Goodbye	Magical Mystery Tour-1967
Yellow Submarine	Revolver-1966

It's interesting that the the majority of the songs I chose where from the late 60s. I don't care much for the early stuff I guess. I suspect some of you older folk who grew up in the 60s will tell me where I went wrong.

Congressman John Sullivan In Owasso

On Aug 27th Congressman John Sullivan, from Oklahoma's first district, spoke at the Owasso-Collinsville Republican Assembly meeting in the Owasso High-school auditorium.

I was there with my camera, and I took some video. I recorded his opening remarks, and some of the first questions. I didn't stay for the whole meeting, but what I captured was good stuff. I've been critical of the congressman at times, but there is little doubt that he is doing a good job representing us in Washington, and I'm glad he's back fighting for us.

Part 1 (7 min)


Part 2 (8 min)


Q&A (10 min)



[UPDATE] For the record, there was this guy there that was disrespectful, and broke the rules of the forum. People were asked not to make speeches or statements. This gentleman decided that those rules did not apply to him. I chose not to publish a video with his rants. He is now upset at me.

Your in bondage my friend.. The reason why the truth sets you free, is because the truth is YOU are free! The message will be heard...I hope your censorship of a public forum is exposed.

There you go friend, I've been exposed!

Bartlett Wants to Outsource City Workers

Check out this audio, recorded on Aug 25th, from the Pat Campbell show on 1170 KFAQ.

Dewey Bartlett Jr. expresses his desire to outsource City jobs.

If we can, uhh, focus on the other, uhh, services that we provide to our citizens, privatize em, uhh, contract them out, uh make a lot smarter use of what, uhh, of what responsibilities we do have. We should, uhh, significantly, uhh uhh, accumulate some savings...

1. Good luck trying to carry that out with the Tulsa city worker unions. Not only will they oppose that move once in office, but Bartlett Jr's position virtually guarantees a mass union mobilization for Adelson should he be successful in the primary.

2. Bartlett can't quite figure out that he is not applying for the position of CEO. He is running for Mayor of Tulsa. Tulsa is not a business. Tulsa is a city government whose soul purpose is to provide services to the citizenry which they could not otherwise provide on their own. City Services are at the very core of the Tulsa's core competencies. I'll get to this in a bit, but you generally should not outsource work that is inside your core competency.

3. Contracting out core city services can create a class of business whose soul purpose and primary source of income is to spend tax payer dollars. It ultimately politicizes city services and can create unintended consequences. A prime example of this is the fraud and abuse of at Public Works surrounding a few local contractors and Albert Martinez, who just plead guilty.

In general I've come to the conclusion that outsourcing seems like a good idea on the surface, but if not implemented properly it can, over time, be fraught with unintended cost and consequence. I think Dewey Jr's idea to outsource city services to try to save money is a colossally bad idea.
______________________________________
Since we are on the topic of outsourcing; having done a lot of thinking on the issue. A few years ago I wrote this guide on how to make outsourcing successful....please to enjoy.

As we try to determine our outsourcing strategy, Total Cost of Ownership should be a primary factor in the decision making process.

Total cost of ownership (TCO) — Refers to the sum of all of the costs associated with owning an product or system; the administrative costs associated with the product or system, deployment, construction or implementation, and maintenance are all factors to consider when calculating the TCO

Looking at a simple cost-per-man-hour comparison will not be sufficient in determining the work to be outsourced. Also, before a successful outsourcing strategy can be implemented, we need to ask two questions, aimed at determining what is best handled in-house, what should be outsourced:

• Are there strategic capabilities that we must maintain internally, such that cost is a secondary consideration? (For example, some firms maintain an internal capability to manage real-time pricing applications, believing these applications are too sensitive, and too critical to the success of the corporation to outsource)
• Are there items that need to be done by suppliers, rather than internal operations for reasons that do not relate to direct application cost? (For example, some firms outsource certain transaction processing applications which might otherwise result in significant liability in jurisdictions with unique privacy laws)
  

After the first two questions, if outsourcing is still on the table,TCO should be the criteria, which can be estimated by determining the answers to the following questions:

• What are our core competencies? Will it cost us more to try to perform work that is outside that core competency?
  
• What are the competencies of the firms we are considering, and what kind of competencies, availability, proximity, and access will create the lowest administrative costs?
• For every project, what work, outside our core competency, should be outsourced (are there some areas where we can count on outsourcing as the right answer)?
• What are the reasons for outsourcing work inside our core competency?
• What will the initial administrative costs of outsourcing be (specifications, supplier management, travel…)?
• What is the direct cost of the outsourced supplier?
• What are the life cycle support costs, and to what extent can these costs be reduced or increased depending on outsourcing decisions?
• Should we choose to outsource, what is our strategy to for ensuring the highest quality of work?
  

We should strive for a best value outsourcing strategy that goes beyond simple cost-per-man-hour and consider TCO.

Chris Medlock pledges to not raises Taxes

This is from a Medlock For Mayor email I received this morning...

Tulsa Mayoral candidate Chris Medlock pledged to voters his opposition to any tax increase in the next four years by signing the Americans for Tax Reform “Taxpayer Protection Pledge”. Citing the fact that the City of Tulsa has a budget crisis and the next Mayor should control spending and not raises taxes, Medlock became the only candidate who has committed himself on behalf of every voter in Tulsa to oppose any tax increases.

I am against raising anybody’s taxes. Tulsa already has some of the highest local taxes in Oklahoma, My opponents can propose all the tax hikes they like, but I think we have to control spending and I'm committed to that with this pledge.

Candidates and elected officials began taking the pledge in 1986. The Americans for Tax Reform and a broad-based coalition of groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and hundreds of taxpayer groups throughout the nation began to ask all candidates for public office to "take the pledge."

Oregon State health plan covers assisted suicide, not Chemo

Check out this video where an Oregon woman suffering from lung cancer was notified via letter by the state-run Oregon Health Plan that while it would not cover her chemo treatment, it would pay for doctor assisted suicide.



Some good quotes from the video

"I'm not ready, I'm not ready to die. I've got things I'd still like to do."

"Who do you you guys think you are? You know to say that you'll pay for my, um, dying, but you won't pay to help me possibly live longer."

"The State has a financial intensive to offer death instead of life. Chemotherapy drugs like Tarceva cost $4000 month, drugs for assisted suicide cost less than $100"

"We're looking at today's treatment, 2008 treatment, but we're using 1993 standards. When the Oregon health plan was created it was 15 years ago and there were not all of the Chemotherapy drugs that there are today."

I can't wait for a single-payer, Government-controlled health care plan. It's going to be so awesome!

Before you argue that private insurance is no better, I've found out that FDA has approved Tarceva for patients where other chemo has failed. And that most insurance companies follow FDA protocol. Most except for government run Oregon State that is.

JenHartNSoul

Please consider adding JenHartNSoul to your list of Okie blogs that you read. Jen is a friend of mine, and I'll vouch for her as one who is worth your precious blog reading time.

Here is her description of JenHartNSoul...

A quirk-tastic view into the heart and soul of Jen Hartsell, one of our country's leading no-thorities on such issues as motherhood, faith, humor, and other randomly pertinent observations.

...and from her profile...

Hi, I'm Jen! I have a husband and kids and a really fun ministry-related job. I like writing. I was a teacher (probably evident within 30 minutes of meeting me...) but am taking some time off. There will always be schools and students but my own kids will only be little for so long. I'm really happy with what I'm doing right now and who I am becoming. Am I there yet? Not at all. But thank God I'm not where I started, either.

I'm adding it to my reader and I hope you do too.

Dewey Bartlett Jr Lied on the KFAQ Morning Show

Tulsa mayoral candidate Dewey Bartlett, Jr. appeared on KFAQ’s Pat Campbell Show on Tuesday morning to answer some tough questions. One of these questions was whether or not Bartlett supported Democratic mayor Kathy Taylor’s candidacy in both 2006 and 2009. Another question was why he endorsed her. His answers in August are inconsistent with his remarks on Campbell’s show, as well as a story in the Tulsa World last June.

The following is a chronology of the World story and transcripts from Campbell’s show. Emphasis was added for effect.

Tulsa World (June 26, 2009) Oilman, ex-councilor enters campaign for mayor

Even though Taylor — who has decided not to seek re-election — is a Democrat, Bartlett backed her 2006 mayoral campaign, and she asked him to co-lead an analysis and gather public input before last fall's Fix the Streets package was assembled. He said he would not have run if she had campaigned for a second term.

Bartlett said he will not be concerned if people consider him an extension of Taylor's leadership.

Bartlett on Pat Campbell Show (June 29, 2009)

Campbell: Now during your announcement the other day, you mentioned…and I want you to explain this too…if Kathy Taylor had not dropped out of the race you wouldn’t have thrown your hat into the ring. Now why is that? Is that because she has such deep pockets? Or is it because you were satisfied with the job she was doing?

Bartlett: Well she…I think the main reason was…is that…uh…is that she…has…a…strong…support in the community. I think her election…uh…was pretty much a done deal. I think that…uh…

Campbell: If she had run for re-election?

Bartlett: If she had run for re-election…yes. And I think it would have been very, very difficult for anyone to have a good campaign against her. Uh…she has extremely deep pockets and exhibited that the first time she ran for office. So…uh…anyway…that was the reason.


Bartlett on Pat Campbell Show (August 25, 2009)
Beginning at 1 min. 42 secs. of podcast

Campbell: I am told and I have read that you supported Kathy Taylor when she ran in ’06 and again when she initially announced that she was going to run for re-election in ’09. First of all, is that true?

Bartlett: Partially. Uhhhh….I endorsed…uh…her in her…uh…recent…uh…bid for election.

Campbell: OK.

Bartlett: Early this year. The…uhhh….

Campbell: What about ’06?

Bartlett: Not that…no. [Note Tulsa World quote from above!!!]

Campbell: You did not?

Bartlett: No.

Bartlett on Pat Campbell Show (August 25, 2009)
Beginning at 3 min. 30 secs. of podcast

Campbell: So….and just set the record straight. If she was still in this race, you would not be? Is that correct?

Bartlett: Uh…boy…I don’t know. It would be interesting to see what happens, because you know, a lot of things have happened since then. Obviously if…uh…if…uh…if I’d have known I was going to run…uh…uh…for this uh…position at this point and time I never would’ve done it. [Pause] Uh…hmm.

Bartlett is either a liar, or can't remember what happened a mere three years ago. Clearly he supported Taylor. Not only do I and many other people remember that he did, but the Tulsa World which endorsed him, remembers that he did. For him to say otherwise now is insulting.

Bartlett emphatically states that he only supported Taylor’s re-election efforts. However, the Tulsa World wrote on June 26, that Bartlett supported her in ’06. He never asked for a retraction, despite months of being pummeled for this support. On Campbell’s show, he attempted to get out of the interview with a clear misstatement of fact.

Additionally, it is Bartlett’s support of Taylor for re-election that has me and other Republicans most upset. If, as he states, he wanted a solid business person, then why not support a solid business person from his own party?

He endorsed the Democrat before finding out if a solid GOP business man would be running. City Councilor Bill Christiansen wanted to run for mayor and was going to do so until Bartlett got in the race and announced he would be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. This caused Christiansen to balk. Christiansen is a very successfully businessman. Why did Bartlett have to support Taylor over Christiansen?

Are we to believe that Dewey Bartlett, Jr. endorsed Kathy Taylor for re-election because she was virtually unbeatable? Or are we to believe that he admired her administration and supported based on what he said in his featured quote on Taylor’s re-election web site, where he said the following?

“Tulsa has always had a history of great leadership from the business community. Kathy’s tireless, visionary style is yet another example of non-partisan leadership that focuses on the future of Tulsa. I am proud to support her re-election efforts.”

Was Bartlett's praise for Taylor simply because she was "unbeatable", or because he admired her ideology? Is this what we should expect expect from a Mayor Bartlett, lies when presented with uncomfortable truths?

The Most Insidious Cognitive Itch I've Experienced

I'm periodically plagued by cognitive itch, that little jingle or ryme that gets in your head and wont go away.

A few days ago AM740/FM102.3 KRMG's Joe Kelley proclaimed via twitter.

I would give MY ENTIRE FORTUNE to get this song out of my head - http://bit.ly/GmDIT It's been stuck there for more than a week!

The link takes you to a video of Astrud Gilberto singing The Girl from Ipanema.

I watched it, chuckled at Joe's misfortune, offered a few youtube videos that might dislodge the song from his brain, and moved on. On Saturday, the song popped in my brain for a few seconds, and went away. On Sunday it happened a few more times, but nothing serious. Today however, it is full on stuck in a loop. and I cant get rid of it.

At first all I could think was "Mmm hrmm mmm, hrmmm mmm mmmm, the girl from Ipanema, mmm hrmmm mmm." So I thought if I learned the lyrics it would help, but that just actually made it worse. So I made up some lyrics of my own, and that really hasn't helped either.

"Strong and fast, with skill and precession, the drill from Ipanema is cordless, for woodworking I use it all the time....all the time"

"Gross and foul, and putrid and nasty, the swill from Ipanema gets served up, and when I drink it I feel like passing out....like passing out"

"Smooth and white, and shiny and lovely, the pearls from Ipanema make jewelry, that when are worn make her a sight to see...a sight to see"

"Hot and sizzling with flame it's smoky, The grill from Ipanema is cooking, and when it sears my steak, I get hungry....I get hungry"

This song, if I may borrow a phrase from The Water Boy's Mamma, is THE DEVIL! I don't think I've ever been more fixated on a song before in my life....Thanks a lot Joe Kelley!

A Liberal Ménage à trois

The Liberal editorial board of the Tulsa World endorsed Liberal Democrat Kathy Taylor For Mayor.

Milquetoast Republican Dewey Barlett Jr endorsed Liberal Democrat Kathy Taylor

Liberal Democrat Kathy Taylor appointed Milquetoast Republican Dewey Barlett Jr to the airport board.

The Liberal editorial board of the Tulsa World endorsed Milquetoast Republican Dewey Barlett Jr for the Republican nomination for Mayor.

It's like a Liberal Ménage à trois of endorsement love...ewwe gross. Did I just go there? Good luck trying to get that out of your mind.

STOC reappointment

I was originally appointed to the Sales Tax Overview Committee as a District 6 appointee. Over a year ago I moved out of District 6 and into District 7. At that time, I offered my resignation to Councilor Troyer so that he would have the option of having a real District 6er on the STOC. He refused and I've been on the STOC since that time.

Recently there has been an opening to the STOC under a district 7 slot. Councilor Eagleton has put my name up to fill the roll as a District 7 appointee. As such I'll have to go before the council tomorrow at 8:00am, and then again next Thursday at the regular council meeting for them to vote on the appointment.

I've been rather hard on the council this year, we'll see how much they hold it against me. No hard feelings if they do...don't dish it out if you cant take it right?

[Update 8/18/09]
This morning's meeting went well. I spoke with Councilor Eagleton before the meeting, and he promised to yell at me, but he didn't follow through. I threatened to move to each council district over the course of the next several years to give them each the opportunity to appoint me to the STOC (they thought I was joking).

Medlock Not Robo-Polling Tulsa

The Medlock Campaign just sent out this press release regarding the recent rash of robo-calls that have been plaguing some republican voters in Tulsa.

Tulsa , OK –Former two term City Councilman and Conservative Radio Talk Show Host Chris Medlock states that neither he, his campaign, or any person or firm associated with his campaign is running the annoying computer calls to Republican voters in Tulsa . For the past three weeks voters of Tulsa have been complaining to the Medlock for Mayor campaign, as well as the Tulsa Republican Party, about receiving up to ten calls a day, every day, from a computer asking who they will be voting for in the Republican Party primary for Mayor on September 8. Voters are given four choices including Dewey Bartlett, Jr. and Chris Medlock.

Medlock stated, “ Tulsa Republican voters are justifiably angry at the annoying and repetitive use of Robo-Polling. One of my Republican opponents has spent at least $30,000 with out-of-state paid consultants which irritate voters. They should do like my campaign and rely on volunteers from right here in Tulsa County to get their message out. The harassment of Republican voters by one campaign can only hurt our party’s image, and as the unquestionable conservative Republican in this race I will defend their right to privacy.”

Medlock was a City Councilman from 2003 until 2006, as well as a Conservative Talk Show Host on KFAQ for the last 2 years. He is widely regarded as the conservative frontrunner in the Republican primary for Mayor.

The Contemplative Tulsan has some Random Thoughts

The Contemplative Tulsan is one of the blogs that I've recently starting following. Today he wanted to share some random thoughts.

Thought #2 - In the interim time between jobs, I've picked up some temporary work doing construction. I'm helping out on a remodeling project. I can tell that I've been sitting at a desk for far too long. I can feel the soreness when I get out of bed each morning. You know the great thing about doing construction? You can see what you accomplished at the end of each day. In my former job, it was pretty hard to tell in many cases whether you were making progress. It was all so ambiguous. When I leave this job, I can see that we built some shelves, we caulked x number of thresholds, we painted x number of rooms, etc. It's quite fulfilling.

Check out the entire post here.

Tulsa is not a business

I’ve heard Dewy Bartlett Jr make several different versions of the following comment with regard to the job of Tulsa's Mayor, “It's a big, big job and if you give it to a person that is expected to have on the job training, we made a huge mistake.” My first reaction is to ask, “Ohh so you’ve been mayor before? Which city was it?” Of course his obvious implication is that he has run a big business, he praises Kathy Taylor for, and endorsed her twice for Mayor, because she has business experience. He believes and wants you to believe that Tulsa should be run like a business.

If you think about it though that is really absurd. Tulsa is not a business, it is a government. Yeah, they both have employees, assets, capital expenses, operating expense, and budgets. On the surface it is tempting to think that one could run Tulsa like a business, but it just does not work that way.

Companies have CEOs and executive boards who create plans behind closed doors and carry out their will and vision without question; they take risk and reap the reward for profit. Companies can decide to incur a temporary budget deficit, and if things do not workout, they can file bankruptcy and re-structure.

Tulsa is NOT a business. Its purpose is not profit. Tulsa is a government for the people and by the people whose, sole purpose is to provide services that the people could not otherwise provide for themselves, I.E. running water, sewer, streets, police, fire…etc. Tulsa runs on the people’s tax dollars. The fiduciary duty of a government to its stake holders is the opposite of a for-profit business. Tax payers don’t want risks being taken with their money, they want the tax dollars to be spent with prudence and with care.

Tulsa is NOT a business. The Mayor’s power is balanced by the council. They are elected to their position the same as the mayor and are due respect. We have seen what happens when the Mayor pretends to be the CEO of the city. Kathy Taylor rules in a way that keeps the council in the dark; forcing their hand without adequate time to weigh an issue. We have seen this with the 7.1 million dollar pay out to BOK to settle the Great Planes Airlines issue and with the Ball Park assessment district. She expects, much the way a CEO might, that when she sets a course everyone will fall in line without question. Presumably since Bartlett seems to be in love with Kathy Taylor’s style, and thinks that the City should be run like a corporation, he will rule in much the same way.

Tulsa is NOT a business. All citizens have an equal voice. It is not dependant on how many shares of stock they own. There are no stock holders in a republic! For far too long we have been beholden to the whims of the elite in downtown and midtown who think they know best because of their large campaign donations to politicians or because of their gifts with strings attached. We need a mayor that will represent the entire electorate equally. Someone who understands that Tulsa is 56th Street North to E 122 St South, and from 33rd West Ave to 273rd East Ave.

We need a Mayor for all of Tulsa. We don’t need another CEO, we don’t need another Kathy Taylor, and we don’t need Dewey Bartlett Jr. We need Chris Medlock. His administration will be honest, and open; based on proven conservative principles. Chris has the experience necessary for this job. As a two term city councilor, he understands the budget process; he has had to deal with the problems with a city in economic turmoil, with furloughs, and budget problems. As a talk show host on the radio, Chris’s job was to listen to, and understand our needs and feelings. The Chris Medlock show was an opportunity for us to partner with him to keep the politicians at Tulsa City Hall accountable for their actions. He gave us a voice, and he wants to do it again as Tulsa’s Mayor. That is why I’m voting for Chris Medlock.

Operation Fishmonger

By now I'm sure you have heard about the White House asking for citizens to snitch on each other when they receive information about Obama's Government controlled health care takeover that seems, "fishy".

image by Heesterbeek Ineke

If you get an email or someone tells you that the end game for Obama's Government controlled heath care is to destroy insurance and have everyone in the country on a single Government-run plan, then you should send that info to flag@whitehouse.gov. In theory, you should send this blog post to that address. Obama needs your help to keep track of this divisive, disruptive, and inconvenient speech.

Here is where my idea comes in, and I'm hoping we can really get this off the ground. It's called Operation Fishmonger. If Obama want's some fishy information, let's give it to him! Let's flood that email address with so much crap, that it becomes useless.

For example, I could send an email to that address like this,

To : flag@whitehouse.gov
Subject : Fishy information
Body : My cat's breath smells like cat food.
Regards, Steven H Roemerman

or

To : flag@whitehouse.gov
Subject : Fishy information
Body : My friend's hair dresser's cousin's father's mother's pool boy told me that the new government health care plan wont cover robot attack.
Regards, Steven H Roemerman

And so on.

I'll be trying to get this idea to take off, so be watching for more updates.

Tulsa Space Olympics 3022

All the talk about Tulsa hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, has got me thinking. Yeah, the Summer Games are great and all but I'd really rather Tulsa get some intergalactic attention.

That is why I'm forming the Tulsa 3022 Space Olympics committee. We are committed to
getting the Space Olympics hosted here in Tulsa. If we start thinking about in and planning for it now, there is no reason why we can have Tulsa ready for the Space Games in a thousand years.

Every good plan has goals, and here are ours. Firstly we will perfect the technology necessary for lifting an entire city into outer space by 2525. This will be accomplished by passing the Vision 2525 tax which will be a measly penny for the next 516 years.

We will practice on Oklahoma City to make sure we get it right. Oklahoma City's destruction will not only settle the generational rivalry between the two cities, but we will learn valuable lessons in the art of lifting cities into outer space before we try it on Tulsa.

Concurrently we plan to explore space in hopes of finding extraterrestrial life. We expect that life to be hostile, and that the first contact will spark an intergalactic war which will not be solved peacefully until the year 3005.

We project that The galactic federation of space planets will be formed 3015, culminating in the Space Olympics in 3022 which we hope to host in our fair Space City of Tulsa.

So, you see, it is all very feasible. We are currently looking for private donors to help get our committee off the ground, if you know any one with a few hundred quadrillion dollars, that would be awesome. Just leave their contact information in the comments of this post.

Tulsa 2020 Summer Olympics Bid...no Seriously

Wow, there is actually a group of people looking into having the 2020 Summer Olympics hosted here in Tulsa! They gave a presentation to the City Council this morning.

From the agenda

Discussion with the “Tulsa 2020 Committee” regarding the feasibility of Tulsa hosting the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. (Eagleton) [UED 8-4-09] 09-529-1

Neil Mavis and Michael Jones gave presentation on having Tulsa host the Olympics

The Tulsa World, quoted Michael Jones, "A lot of you are probably thinking what I thought the first time I heard this -- ‘Tulsa? Olympics? Are you out of your mind? That’s exactly what everyone said about Atlanta when they started proposing the same thing.”

And guess what they got the 1996 summer games! Awesome!


Wow, As long as we are comparing Atlanta and Tulsa, I'd like to point out that Atlanta has one of the largest airports in the world. It is a REAL international airport. It is the primary hub of Delta Air Lines, AirTran Airways, and Delta Connection.

In 1980 Atlanta's airport was expanded to accommodate 55 million passengers per year. Currently, after several very expensive expansions, they can support 90 million passengers.

By comparison, in 2006 our "International" airport was reported to have had a whopping 129,014 aircraft operations. That's an average of 353 per day! NICE!

China just spent over $40-50 billion to host the 2008 games, Greece spent $12-15 billion for the 2004 games. I know we have a few billion dollars in unfunded infrastructure needs in Tulsa, but I'm sure we can overcome that by 2020 plus spend the necessary cash to host the games.

This is a really great idea, and well worth our time and effort. Hell, even if we don't get the games, just by trying to win the games will bring "New Energy" to Tulsa.

No wait, what I meant to say was that this is extremely stupid and not worth our time...I got confused for a second.

[Update]

We might be better served by bidding on to Space Olympics in 3022.

Content Filtering with OpenDNS

Since we started having children in the house, I have been on the hunt for good content filtering tools for my home internet connection. One of the tools I really like and wholeheartedly recommend is K9 Web Protection. It is a great tool, and pretty full proof too. However, the main problem with this tool is that it requires that you install it and maintain it on all your computers in the house (or at least the ones the kids will have access to).

What if your kid’s friend brings their laptop over and they hop on your wireless network? Or what if your kids have an internet device like an iPod Touch that connects to your network? What is a parent supposed to do? I think the answer is OpenDNS.

DNS stands for Domain Name System. The internet would not really work without DNS. It is what turns 74.125.45.100 into google.com (or really the other way around). When you type google.com in your browser, your DNS server translates that into 74.125.45.100. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather remember the name over the IP address.

If you have not already specified your DNS servers, then you are probably using whatever your internet service provider wants you to use. If you change your DNS server to the DNS servers of OpenDNS, then you can use them to, among other things, filter out bad content. If you set it up on your router, then your entire network is secured without having to install software on any of the computers that attach to your network.



It is slightly more complicated than K9, but there are good instructions on OpenDNS’s website. If you were smart enough to set up your router, then this should be no problem.

Once you set it up, you can filter out content on your network by category.


The only thing that kinda stinks is that sometimes you might want to block things for your kids, but not for yourself. With K9 you could temporarily unblock a site, not unlike the V-chip on your TV. With OpeenDNS it isn't really practical to login and unblock facebook for an hour so you can use it.

It might be better to use both as part of a total content filtering strategy. In addition, it might not hurt to talk to your kids about the crap that is on the internet. “You see Johnny, there is this site called roemermanonrecord.com and I want you to stay away from it…” well you know what I mean.

Medlock 4 Mayor Rap

I had an itch that just needed to be scratched, and the result was this craptacular rap I wrote for Medlock. I'm under no illusions that this is by any stretch of the imagination really good...I just felt compelled to write it...so I did.

With that disclaimer out of the way and without further ado, here is my Medlock 4 Mayor Rap, written and performed by me, a very very white, bald, fat man.

From 74101 to 94
Time to elect a new mayor, and I gotta know

Who's it gonna be? Medlock, or Adelson,
or maybe Dewey Jr, we'll wait and see.

The economy’s rough and there’s crime on the streets,
But it’s good to know downtown there’s box seats,
At the BOK or the new ball field.
For the downtown interests you’d better yield

And for midtown too, that’s the way it’s always been,
if you want to be mayor better be in the in-
-crowd of power brokers and élites,
You gotta be on the list, of pre-approved peeps

So where’s that leave the regular guy?
Who should we pick to be our ally?
I think I know the answer, it’s the obvious choice
I’m gonna vote Medlock, He’s gonna be my voice

At cityhall, he’ll be a mayor for all of Tulsa
Not just for downtown, or for midtown jokas
It’s time for new leadership, for new direction.
less you want status quo, its time to take action

If ya hear what I’m sayin, wanna know more,
I wont twist ya arm……JUST go to medlockformayor.com