Here's to the Hero - Bull Feathers

Jet Blue is not known as a top tier airline. Neither is Steven Slater a top tier employee with a service attitude..

Slater is the flight attendant who went off on a truculent passenger a few days ago. After a profantiy laced tirade inside the Jet Blue airliner, he went for a beer in the planes refreshment center, then engaged the escape slide and went down to temporary freedom. Slater was eventually caught and charged with multiple crimes. His bail was set at a whopping $2,500.

Slater's trigger point was a passenger who got up before the plane had "docked" at the departure ramp and come to a complete halt. The passenger accessed the overhead luggage bin and Slater tried to stop her until the plane had come to a stop. Such is the regulation set by government aviation authorites. Slater, a service employee as are all flight attendants, tried to stop the activity and get the passenger seated. She refused and the argument ensued.

Slater has received adulation on facebook, had a defense fund offered to defray the huge $2,500 bail. What else would you expect for the crime of grand theft beer can and creating America's first dry water slide. The slide likely will cost ten's of thousand of dollers to replace and re-install, which elevates the dollar amount of the crime.

Why the adulation for Slater? He is a service employee who lost his cool during working hours. What happens to cops that do this? Fired. What happens to office workers who berate or assault their peers? Bounced out the top window of the executive suite. Slater is the same.

To say he is a hero is to demean and diminish the designation "hero". Go to you tube and search on the song "Hears to the Heros", the military tribute. Can you listen to that song, see the video and look at Slater the same way? We tend elevate the common, everyday man or woman when he or she struggles against the daily challenges of life and emerge victorious. Does Slater fit any of the above? Not really.

Does he deserve the notoriety he is receiving? That is more a function of society's fascination with the reach of the internet, rather than the substance of what that reach can provide. The great inconsistecy in this is the wide publication of the event compared to the punishment the law requires. Why is a guy who blows up at a passenger he could have handled less angrily, then helps himself to a cold alchoholic beverage on the way out a door intended to be an enerfency exit, so widely known?

We have met the enemy and he is us (Pogo comic strip). We crave information no matter how insignificant, just so we know it. It's a human circus.

Is a "boo" bushleague?

President O'bama sent a video instead of himself to the Boy Scout Jamboree last week. What the !@#$%#@!#$%%^. Why?

It has been a tradition for sitting Presidents to attend this national event for one of the finest organizations in the country, nay the world. Baden Powell, the Boy Scouts founder, was a native of Great Britain. This is one of the few organizations that champions family values FOR KIDS. The designation "Eagle Scout" a journey that takes dedication over an child's adolsecent years. Exactly the time of life when trouble usually starts for some kids.

They always recognize Watch any City Council meeting on T-Gov. They always recognize Boy Scouts in attendance that are working on the citizenship in the community merit badge. Gee, wonder what that requires. The kids working on this badge may be the next waivew of Mayors, City Councilors, or higher.

The trip for the President would have taken less than a day. But Barak the buddy of the under utilized chose to attend "the view". That tiltle is in lower case on purpose. Instead, the president sent a video. He apparently is not afraid to speak and bask in the blather of four entertainers(?) sans teleprompter.

Baden Powell lived in 19th century England. Way back then, he saw a need for an orgainzation that promoted virtues that would strengthen families. That goal survives to this day. All the President (resident with an extra letter) was delay the appearance on the view for a couple of days or at best a week. Give the Boy Scouts a life long memory instead of a something fit for a DVD.

Booing a video when they should have had a human being isn't all that bad.

Mia trashie

In my last installment, I referred to La'affaire de garbage as having been started purposely by city employees. Therefore (either expressed or implied) giving the impression that the raging smell was generated by the city.

That turned out to be wrong. Further litening revealed that it was a lightning strike.

Therefore, the fire/odor was caused by an act of God. Thus, the trash was not covered by caualty insurance. The pile may have totalled. At the very least, the city will have to rebuild it at its own expense.

General thoughts (not random because my mind is so organized)

Tulsa's air quality took a monumental dive this morning. The city of Tulsa decided to burn the recycling we have all (about 50? of us) worked hard to put out on two Wednesday's a month. That's plastic folks. Plastic, isn't that one of the things environmentalists said was dangerous? That's why we recycle, to save the environment. Setting it on fire just puts the offending material in a different part of the environment.

The smell is extremely noticeable. I awoke this morning and had a frightening thought. Sometime in the night, someone (Mayor Bartlett's press secretary?), packed up the entire city and moved it to Cleveland, Ohio. That region was an industrial leader years ago (the 70's and before). Unfortunately, it also had the Cuyahoga River. That's the river that caught on fire. The floating chemical slick he had enter lighter than water. Rumor has it a passing fisherman created a spark when he tried to restart his outboard. The fire burned out eventually for lack of fuel. Anyone know a guy would be fishing in spot that smelled of industrial waste?

Mayor Bartlett has hired a press secretary. Lets see, we have already laid off police and are arguing about how they are going to come back. The firemen took a pay cut that needs to be restored. Seems a little suspicious. Is the Mayor hiring someone to go to the council meetings he(can't?/does not want to) attend, so that hear what the council is saying? That's what we have TGOV for. Is he clearing the board so he can paricipate more in the city's economic development effort? That would be appreciated by all of us that are out of work. Seems the Mayor might be trying to get the conflict with city council resolved. That's was what the mediators (two former judges) were supposed handle? Right?

City officials sell "quality of life" constantly. What do you say about a city who burns plastic overnight while they are supposed to be recycling it, creating a bigger stink than the elected officials. And a mayor who slashes the budget, including some from his own staff, then hires another body to speak for him. Surely not a Cleveland Ohio wannabe. Remeber. that city once called the "Mistake on the Lake" and was led by the ever (fill in you own blank) Dennis Kucinich (sp).

This will give you a bigger headache than Lebron James and Brett Favre.

Shocking the Shock Back to Life

The Tulsa Shock has moved here from Detroit. The forerunner of Tulsa's franchise won three WNBA titles. Tulsa got the Detroit team name, a lease at the BOK Center, no players, and Nolan Richardson for its coach. The team is suffering through a rough first season, which is natural for a first year team.

Richardson is a huge asset. The players are in the process of learning a system foreign to most women's teams, and making progress. The BOK Center is at least as good as any in the league. The team in process is being built one player at a time starting with the league draft March.

The current record (5-22) is expected of an expansion franchise. Heck, the Cleveland Cavaliers were not so affectionately named the the Cadavers by local media in its infant days. One Cadaver game had to be canceled because the first home arena had a leak in the roof that dropped water on the court (first rainout in NBA history?). The BOK Center is a quantom improvement over Cleveland's ancient woodframed Public Hall.

The Shock had an opening game attendance of 7,806. Subsequent games have been between 3,300 and 5,000, meaning blue seats showing in the lower level of the BOK.

The success if this infant franchise should be judged on the level of improvement in the first year, not the record. The placement of the BOK center brings with it parking issues (especially at night), driving distance for fans, and maybe the burden of relatively high rent. The team might be better placed at TU's Reynolds Center or the UMAC in south Tulsa. Both relatively new facilities and presumably lower rent.

The Shock has attracted one huge asset in Nolan Richardson. Name recognition and reputation. The coaches brand of basketball is exciting and he will get his cuurent players acclimated to it, and he will bring new players that will also succeed in his system.

To prosper the Shock has to move its home floor. Even if the rent at BOK is lower than other residents, they still need to have a cheaper arena so they can pay whatever salaries are required to attract top players and other operating costs.

In the end, as always, its the botton line, spelled money. Nolan Richarson should get what he has earned and deserves. Another run to achampionship and national recognition. And the publicity for Tulsa wouldn't hurt either.

The Least Among Us

Mt 25:42-45
for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me.

Lk 9:48
Whosoever shall receive this little child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same is great.
From the American Standard Version

Those words were spoken thousands of years ago by Jesus Christ. Believe what you will, but they have a special meaning today, in this economy, at this point in history.

The the word "least" in the original Greek means "small in size, quantity, number, or dignity." Websters Student Dictionary defines dignity as follows - "the quality of being worthy, noble or stately appearance or manner, high rank or position."

The word "among" is defined as - in the company of, together with.

Two words, least and among, should be the watch words of every man, woman , and child in the current and future economy. We are among the least everywhere we go, all day long, all night long. They are not limited to family, friends, neighbors, etc. Every minute you move, you encounter new or different members of the least among us. What Jesus told his followers above and those through out history and beyond, is not to look through a narrow tunnel. The people we help are those closest to us at anytime.

The above two verses are a challenge as much advice. Throughout history, there have been fewer believers than than non believers. We aren't called to help only those we like or who like us. Those two verses did not say to be selective. They include those with whom we are angry or are angry with us, who have wronged in the past, as well as those we don't know but have encountered.

Is This Really Progress?

Mayor Dewey Bartlett offered a two ton olive branch the other day. He magnanimously offered not to file a defamation law suit if the city council would agree to arbitration under the guidance of two former judges.

This all started with a budget battle gone sour. Bartlett layed off 123 police officers in a budget cutting measure required by law. Oklahoma statutes require municipalities of over 2,000 population to have a balanced budget. The police force as well as all other city departments had to make expense reductions. The debate with the police was over how to fund the department without laying off cops. The mayor preferred the layoff as a form of re-organization. The police preferred to use federal grant money, potentially from multiple sources.

The mayor won, temporarily. Since that time, there has been grandstanding, threats, an investigation, and the hiring of lawyers. Both sides have dug in for the long haul like military officers in a bunker. On Tuesday, Councilor Christianson called out the mayor for low attendance at authority-board-commission meetings. Common sense tells you he has to ration his time among many responsiblities.

City government has not ground to a halt. But you do have to wonder what opportunities have been missed due to the council and mayor at odds with each other and spending time on political food fight that has no benefit to the citizens of Tulsa. The emporer Nero allowed Rome to burn for some reason. His name may have been history's first four letter word. Is the city leadership going to let Tulsa burn and put us all in a huge pile of another four letter word.