Yearly Archives: 2010

Chair Dana Murphy sets priorities

Citing proper funding, regulatory reform and economic development among her top priorities, Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy will begin serving as chair of the Commission effective Jan. 3.  She follows Commissioner Bob Anthony as chairman.

Among the many challenges Commissioner Murphy anticipates the Commission will face in 2011 include ongoing budget shortfalls and federal environmental mandates imposed on Oklahoma dealing with regional haze, emission standards, and hydraulic fracturing,
 
"Two of my priorities will be working with the legislature, industry and my fellow Commissioners to create a plan to tackle the long-term funding shortfall of our Commission oil and gas division and to bring our state regulatory scheme into the modern technology age with electronic filing of all applications and forms by entities regulated by the Commission," Murphy said. 

"It makes no sense that the only agency charged with regulating the oil and gas industry—the industry which generates some of the most significant revenue for our state—fails to be provided with funding to hire a sufficient number of field inspectors and technical personnel to oversee regulation.  Moreover, electronic filing, which already exists in many of our surrounding states, is critical to bringing new business to the state and providing increased efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness to the public," she said.

Other challenges faced by the Corporation Commission include the EPA’s consideration of moves that would place expensive and unnecessary regulation on key sectors of Oklahoma’s economy. Murphy said the EPA is considering regional haze measures that would be devastating to Oklahoma’s utilities and their customers. Moreover, the EPA is continuing to consider whether to regulate hydraulic fracturing, a process used by the oil and gas industry, and one already closely regulated by the Commission.

Murphy said the development of Oklahoma’s wind power industry is also a key concern, particularly the expansion of transmission lines across Oklahoma as approved by the Southwest Power Pool.

Murphy began serving as a Commissioner in January 2009, following election to a two-year term, completing the unexpired term of former Commissioner Denise Bode.  On July 27, Murphy was elected to a full six-year term on the Commission in a primary election, as she faced no opponent on the general election ballot. 

Murphy will be sworn in for her full six-year term as Commissioner in a ceremony at the Jim Thorpe Office Building at 3 p.m., Jan. 10, following the gubernatorial inauguration.

Murphy is a fifth-generation Oklahoman, geologist, attorney and previously served as an administrative law judge at the Commission.  Among the areas regulated by the Commission are oil and gas drilling and development, public utility rates and services, petroleum storage tanks, motor carriers and pipeline safety.  

Mullet Over #436

Has your neighborhood seemed crowded as of late? Scientists project that there will be 7 billion people on earth in 2011. There are currently 21 cities with a population of 10,000,000 or more. These statistics seem amazing, perhaps alarming.

The wrasse is a prized fish in many of the world’s restaurants. A 20
pound wrasse may bring $1,000 or more in some regions of China.

Feral hogs have become a big problem in America and in Oklahoma, but there are some local solutions. 

Annually hogs, a porcine mammal, cause many millions of dollars in damages. They are now in 39 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces. Ranchers previously charged fees to hunt hogs on their lands, but now they often pay professional hunters and trappers to remove as many swine as possible. There are numerous reports that the pigs have invaded municipalities and suburbs.

Those first elected (1936) into Baseball’s Hall of Fame were: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. As of 2010, the institution has 292 inductees.

The oldest man to ever complete Navy Seal training was age 39. Normally, the maximum age permitted to enter is 28, but this trainee was granted a special waiver.

Gheorge Muresan (seven feet seven inches) was the tallest person to ever play in the NBA. Manute Bol was an NBA player that stood seven feet six inches, but had a measured “wingspan” of eight feet six inches.

Historical records indicate that the very first income tax was levied by Great Britain to fund battle campaigns during the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1088 Odo de Lagery was elected pontiff and chose the name Pope Urban II. In 1095 this church leader gave what has been labeled as “the most effective speech in human history.” He addressed a Church Council and declared that infidels were defiling the Holy Lands. The era of the Holy Crusades was launched and lasted almost 200 years. On July 15, 1099 the crusaders militarily occupied Jerusalem.

The earth’s mightiest river, the Amazon, is in a class all its own. The waterway is fed by more than 1100 smaller rivers, seventeen of which are longer and carry more water than the Rhine River.

In 1705 John Smith was condemned as a robber to be executed at London’s infamous Tyburn Gallows. Approximately 15 minutes after he was hanged, a courier rode up carrying a written reprieve. John was cut down and recuperated sufficiently to enjoy several years of local fame as “Half-Hanged Smith.”

Well, do not attempt to leap over the Amazon, but do have a great week. 

While you were shopping, congress attacked!

When Americans awake after the Christmas holiday and their traditional New Year celebrations, they will awake in a country very different from the one they thought they had saved in the November elections. Before their newly elected officials could take office in January, and while they were busy shopping for Christmas, congress attacked…

Americans handed Obama’s Democratic Socialists what they thought was a devastating blow in the November elections in which they stripped Nancy Pelosi of her gavel in the House and put Harry Reid on ice in the Senate. Then the people returned to their daily lives in preparation for the Holy Day celebrations and while they shopped, congress attacked!

In the closing week of the lame duck session, the duck didn’t look lame at all. In fact, it was in rare form. Before losing power for the foreseeable future, Democratic Socialists passed the following as a Christmas present to all Americans:

•   They grabbed full control of your food supply via their so-called food safety act
•   They forced our US Military to focus on Gay Rights instead of training soldiers and winning wars
•   They spent a trillion more in money we don’t have, all on their leftist agenda
•   They seized control of the Internet
•   They passed Russia’s START treaty making certain that America is no longer the superpower
•   They expanded labor union powers to prop up corrupt unions in every state at every level
•   They warned all Americans to “expect bad news” in the coming days, as they have allowed our enemies to live among us and cannot prevent coming terror strikes on US soil, in the war on terror they say doesn’t actually exist
•   They made sure that taxpayers were going to pay people not to work for up to 36 months
•   And they only extended tax breaks for employers and investors for another year, making sure that private sector job creation remains stagnate
•   They put a career military officer in Leavenworth for asking who his Commander-in-Chief really is
•   In short, they have done more to destroy this country in the last week than Bin Laden has in his entire miserable life – That’s one hell of a week! They could not have done it without the consent of Republicans and that’s the real story here…

Merry Christmas! Obama is following Hugo Chavez in seizing control of this nation.

It’s a good thing people were too busy shopping to notice, otherwise, people would be storming Washington DC with pitchforks and torches instead of caroling this December… or would they?

Republicans could have stopped all of it, if they had wanted to. Instead, they chose to let Obama, Pelosi and Reid ram all of it through in the so-called lame-duck session so that they could blame Democrats for passage of this anti-American onslaught.

People who think the Republicans they elected in November will shift the direction of this train wreck in 2011 are in for even more surprises. Everything they were elected to stop just passed congress with one exception, amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.

Since Democratic Socialists couldn’t quite get that one passed, they are taking a new tact. They plan on erasing US borders altogether.

Had Republicans wanted to stop any of it, they could have. They didn’t!

Meanwhile, White House resident Barack Obama is so proud of his lame-duck accomplishments that he has headed off for holiday vacation in sunny Hawaii, where those anticipated Christmas terror strikes are a little less likely.

Our nation’s founders are rolling over in their graves. Today’s American’s are ill-suited for freedom and liberty. They are just too busy to even notice, much less react to the hourly anti-American assault on everything the founding fathers handed us only a couple hundred years ago.

Maybe Americans will fight for freedom when they have nothing else left to lose. I have been expecting a huge public revolt for years now and so far, the people don’t seem too concerned with the loss of every freedom they have taken for granted all of their self-centered lives.

I’m writing this column two days before Christmas, but I won’t release it until after Christmas, when hopefully, some will take a few minutes to read between the holidays and notice that their nation was stolen while they were busy shopping.

Here’s hoping for a new year when Americans might wake up and engage in taking their nation back from the political ruling class, all of whom mean us harm! 

 


About the author:  J.B. Williams is  a featured writer with www.PatriotsUnion.org.

OFRG to cease operations

The Board of Directors of Oklahomans for Responsible Government has voted unanimously to close down the non-profit group, they announced in a press release provided to Tulsa Today. Effective December 31st, the transparency group is history, but they leave the field with a significant legacy.
 
“The combination of a tough economy and an election cycle that collected millions in donations has created a climate where a non-profit organization finds it hard to raise funds,” said OFRG Communications Director and Projects Manager Peter J. Rudy.  “While I believe that the cause of transparency and fiscal responsibility is important, contributions are needed to continue these causes and the support is not available for 2011.” 

OFRG was created in January of 2008.  Since then, it has helped bring the issue of open government to the forefront of discussions at the State Capitol.  It was OFRG that first advocated for an upgrade of the state’s spending website to Open Books 2.0.  Through projects like the Blueprint for Transparency series that looked at school district and municipal websites, taxpayers have benefited because more information is now available online.
 
In addition to improving transparency in state government, OFRG also helped defeat State Question 744 by creating the first website devoted to presenting the facts about the ballot measure and making presentations around the state.  Two ballot measures approved by voters were part of OFRG’s policy agenda: State Question 747 that imposes term limits on all statewide elected officials and State Question 750 which makes Oklahoma’s ballot access law less stringent.  We believe this shows that Oklahomans want a more transparent and responsible government.
 
“I am very proud of the work OFRG has done in such a short time,” said Rudy.  “It shows what can happen when dedicated people work together to make a difference.”

"Reporters and editors statewide will miss this conservative group," said David Arnett, Publisher of Tulsa Today and host of The David Arnett Show on AM 740 and FM 102.3 news, talk, KRMG.  "Transparency in government activity is increasingly important and significantly complicated.  While media filled the transparency gap between government and the public in the early days of the Republic, the ideology of newsrooms is increasingly shown to be left leaning if not Marxist and, therefore, selective in coverage.  Organizations like OFRG are necessary to fund investigations of issues media would prefer not to question and to take the public stands on controversial topics of public concern."

“It is not easy to stand tall in the storm of public debate and OFRG did so with honor,” Arnett added.

Starting January 3rd, Rudy will be the new editor of Oklahoma Watchdog, a non-profit investigative reporting and analysis website which will be the new home of the Blueprint for Transparency series.  Former Executive Director Brian Downs left OFRG last month to become Policy Director for the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

U.K. Forecaster proven correct

In addition to U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, others worldwide have been standing strong in rebuke of environmental zealots claiming man causes global warming.  U.K. forecaster Piers Corbyn is an astrophysicist and meteorologist that was first mocked. 

When Corbyn proclaimed early this year that Europe would see the greatest
snow accumulation in 100 years and that America’s Eastern Seaboard would
endure a blizzard of extreme proportions, critics laughed. 

They are not laughing now. 

In a follow-up story, FOX News did an interview with Corbyn where he says, “The science of these so-called scientists (global warming advocates) that you refer to is failed science based on fraudulent data.

“We understand that the sun, solar particles and magnetic effects, control earth’s weather and climate which allow us to predict weather a long time ahead,” Corbyn added.

Click on the link to view the video interview posted on www.TheBlaze.com