Drinking From a Fire Hose
As week two of the legislative session wound down, probably the most often heard term that really fit this session so far is “drinking from a fire hose”. That really kinda aptly describes how this session feels. It seems like once you enter that building, the flow of information is unbelievable. I have said this many times but I believe and have witnessed that each session has its own personality. It seems like we have started lots of floor debate awfully early this year. Part of that seems to stem from a few members who have a lack of trust in the budget negotiations and want to question every appropriation shell bill. I think one of the problems is that we now have cameras in the chamber and there are some people that are apparently ‘outta somethin’ to do’ so they sit at home and watch what is going on in the House chamber on the internet, which you are welcome to do. Just go to: www.okhouse.gov and click to view the current video. Maybe you will find the arguments more interesting than I do. It sure has cut down on the nose picking, but I am not sure that we gained better government. In fact, I am of the opinion that it may take us forever to move at all. It is kinda like driving on a flat tire. You will eventually get there but you sure can’t get up much speed. I contend that cameras create actors and that the bigger audiences some people have, the more they want to show off. There is a time to debate and then there are times when debate doesn’t change anything.
Appropriation shell bills are simply a vehicle for each agency which receives funding that have to be passed and put in place and prepared to be filled with money. They are the bills that direct how the money should be used. I have not heard anybody come up with a better idea for how to do that but if you do not have the vehicles parked with instructions then when you get to the budget process, you have a problem. I really do not believe that it is a clandestine plot or anything sinister but it seems like we spent an entire afternoon arguing each one. So we have two ways to divvy up money. One of those ways is each individual shell bill. Another way is what we call a “GA” bill, which means “general appropriation”. I believe it is prudent to have both methods ready to go, especially when we are faced with having to backfill the underestimated budget hole that we have found ourselves in. I believe the quicker we can get rainy day money agreed upon and sent out, the quicker schools and other agencies will know what they are dealing with. So, while I respect other legislators’ right to debate issues, it seems like we sometimes bog down in those debates. We try to “reinvent the wheel” at every turn when, in reality, we probably do not change anything but argue for the sake of argument.
Again, back to those cameras. People argue that it opens access to the public, which I have no problem with. I believe that the public’s right to know is paramount. But, with every action there is a reaction. It feels like we have created a reality television show. Maybe it is the fact that I have spent a great deal of my career in front of a camera, so it just does not seem like that big of a deal to me. I have never been one of those guys that you have to drive a post beside to see if I am moving. I try to work pretty hard for the people who elected me. I believe that most of my constituents are busy enough that they really do not have the time or the desire to sit around and watch the proceedings. So, when it is time to stand up and debate or ask questions that really matter, I will be up. But, I will not be standing up for more camera time. I am actually pretty underwhelmed with politicians in general and I think that you just need to do what needs to be done and get on with it. Maybe after a few weeks we will work through the newness of this whole deal and get on with our work. By the time you read this, we will be well into week three and hopefully closer to having the rainy day issue figured out. Maybe all the new kids, and some old kids, will have gotten over this new camera thing and realize that most people are busy working and could care less how long the debate stretches out and that they just expect us to buckle down and get ‘er done.
If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call
1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov.
And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
"In a democracy, making law is like making sausage. You may or may not love the final product, but the process for making both of them will probably make you sick."
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Week 1...What A Ride!
Week 1…What A Ride!
I do not recall ever having as rough a start as we had this year trying to get the session underway. Okay, maybe it was me. As a matter of a fact, I know it was me. I was really having a lot of heartburn leaving my family with a generator running and a low wood pile and no electricity. I left on day 5 of no juice, worried the whole time, and of course, I missed my Monday morning meetings and got there at noon just in time for the State of the State. Not knowing how long it would be before power was restored was really unnerving for me, knowing that I would be coming to Oklahoma City where the electricity flowed like water. Plenty of heat, plenty of light, hot showers and the whole works. Things rocked along pretty well on Monday, but of course it was weighing on me very heavily. As I found out Tuesday morning, the generator had quit about midnight. One thing I had learned through that ordeal was that the generator started much more easily while it was warm. While I was at home, I made sure to shut it down just long enough to check the oil and fill the gas tank because I wanted to start it warm. So, when the generator quit Monday night, it sat in the cold from about midnight to daylight and then it was almost impossible to crank Tuesday morning. Thank goodness for friends and neighbors. Dede called Tom Horschler and he came down and got the power going again because grandpa was about to collapse trying to get it started. A big thanks also goes out to my neighbor Steve Robinson who saved the day with some firewood. I had been restocking the wood pile every single day but just could not keep up. So, as it goes in the country, neighbors helped neighbors and we made it through.
There is nothing like starting the first week of session feeling like the world is not in order. But, start we did and week one is now in the rearview mirror. We ran lots of appropriation shell bills and did what we could to prepare for what I hope this week will be a supplemental appropriation so that we can at least make state agencies breathe a little easier. One big positive, as far as I am concerned, was that we did pass HB 3202 out of the House Ag Committee, which is the equine dentistry bill. And, another positive, is that most of my constituents and neighbors have their electricity back on. So, by the time you read this, week two will be winding down. Monday morning brought a blanket of snow to the Oklahoma City area. So, we are still dealing with winter weather. My prayer is that the snow will help the wheat crop, and that we will not have more ice. I spent the entire day Saturday cleaning up huge limbs. I still have a long way to go but we at least got cleaned up around my dad’s house and got the hackberry limbs cleaned up around our gate. As you might imagine, I am really angry with the groundhog. Looks like we have got more winter but I bet we will make it. We will keep ya posted as things develop here at the capitol and we will spend the rest of February getting used to mud. And, oh yeah, one more positive, we are not in a burn ban. Come on Spring!
If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call
1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov.
And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
“Every mile is two in winter.” -George Herbert
I do not recall ever having as rough a start as we had this year trying to get the session underway. Okay, maybe it was me. As a matter of a fact, I know it was me. I was really having a lot of heartburn leaving my family with a generator running and a low wood pile and no electricity. I left on day 5 of no juice, worried the whole time, and of course, I missed my Monday morning meetings and got there at noon just in time for the State of the State. Not knowing how long it would be before power was restored was really unnerving for me, knowing that I would be coming to Oklahoma City where the electricity flowed like water. Plenty of heat, plenty of light, hot showers and the whole works. Things rocked along pretty well on Monday, but of course it was weighing on me very heavily. As I found out Tuesday morning, the generator had quit about midnight. One thing I had learned through that ordeal was that the generator started much more easily while it was warm. While I was at home, I made sure to shut it down just long enough to check the oil and fill the gas tank because I wanted to start it warm. So, when the generator quit Monday night, it sat in the cold from about midnight to daylight and then it was almost impossible to crank Tuesday morning. Thank goodness for friends and neighbors. Dede called Tom Horschler and he came down and got the power going again because grandpa was about to collapse trying to get it started. A big thanks also goes out to my neighbor Steve Robinson who saved the day with some firewood. I had been restocking the wood pile every single day but just could not keep up. So, as it goes in the country, neighbors helped neighbors and we made it through.
There is nothing like starting the first week of session feeling like the world is not in order. But, start we did and week one is now in the rearview mirror. We ran lots of appropriation shell bills and did what we could to prepare for what I hope this week will be a supplemental appropriation so that we can at least make state agencies breathe a little easier. One big positive, as far as I am concerned, was that we did pass HB 3202 out of the House Ag Committee, which is the equine dentistry bill. And, another positive, is that most of my constituents and neighbors have their electricity back on. So, by the time you read this, week two will be winding down. Monday morning brought a blanket of snow to the Oklahoma City area. So, we are still dealing with winter weather. My prayer is that the snow will help the wheat crop, and that we will not have more ice. I spent the entire day Saturday cleaning up huge limbs. I still have a long way to go but we at least got cleaned up around my dad’s house and got the hackberry limbs cleaned up around our gate. As you might imagine, I am really angry with the groundhog. Looks like we have got more winter but I bet we will make it. We will keep ya posted as things develop here at the capitol and we will spend the rest of February getting used to mud. And, oh yeah, one more positive, we are not in a burn ban. Come on Spring!
If you would like to contact me while I am at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call
1-800-522-8502 or send an e-mail to donarmes@okhouse.gov.
And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
“Every mile is two in winter.” -George Herbert
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
"Ice Ice Baby!"
Ice Ice Baby!
If you text message or use Facebook, you are familiar with the terms “OMG!” or “LOL!”. I have seen a lot of those over the last four or five days as people have described the damage and hardship that this most recent winter storm has caused. The damage to trees has been the most noticeable thing as you drove around the frozen country side. The broken limbs just could not bear the weight of ice that coated them. And, of course, when you have ice and wind in rural Oklahoma, or rural anywhere for that matter, you have power outages and this one may have been as widespread as I have ever seen. We bought our place almost 10 years ago and aside from the occasional windstorm and short-term disruption in electric service, we have not been out like we have this time. In fact, at the time you read this, there may still be folks, and even entire communities, without power.
We were some of the lucky ones because we did have a generator and we do have a fireplace. Sometimes we burn our fireplace for ambiance or just simply to have something to back up to on a cold night but rarely do we burn it out of necessity. In fact, I am amazed at how much wood you can go through when you have that dude going 24/7. Between a couple of chuck wagon cookouts and the last two winter storms, we have learned a great lesson in preparation. I bet I have been through three ricks of wood in the last three months. I am afraid that my knee jerk reaction to that will be what the people up north call a “rick yard”. I bet that I wear out a chainsaw in the next few months because I do not like cutting wood coated with ice. You would be surprised what you can do when it is below freezing and your wood pile is dwindling fast. I am glad that I knew where most of the dead mesquite trees were on my place. Ironically, there will be plenty of deadfalls from the hackberries that fell at my front gate to the broken mesquite trees that will provide several weeks of chainsaw fun on the Armes’ farm. It has been a little like deer camp at our house and we have had hot biscuits almost every morning, as well as sausage and eggs. You just never know when your Dutch oven skills will come into play just to feed your family.
They say the good ole’ days were like that and I am sure that they were but I do not want to go back and try it. Five days so far without electricity has been enough to really try my patience. It is really hard to stay up and positive when every move you make requires extra work. Here’s a quick little “for instance” for ya. I headed over to one of my leases the other day to get a couple of round bales and lo and behold a huge tree limb had fallen right in front off the hay. So, therefore, I was thinking to myself, I will drag it out of the way with a chain. Normally, I would just reach in the back of the pickup, grab the chain and do the job. But when the chain is frozen, even that little chore requires breaking it loose with the back of an ax. Of course I got the job done but as we say in the great Southwest I was “give out before I even I even stabbed the bale”. What should have been five minutes turned into 20. It seems like in an ice storm like this, everything is like that, extra effort at every turn. The heaviest weight on me as I prepared to head to Oklahoma City to dock with the mother ship, which is what I jokingly call re-entering the capitol, was “here I go to the big City with all the electricity I want, hot showers, plenty of hot coffee and all things warm while my family is back at home in the dark with no real way to know when the power will come back on, whether it will be hours or days”. It has been a little tough but I do have a job to do, so off I go!
As bad as it sounds and as much whining as I am doing about this current situation, I have friends over in Jackson county in the Altus and Navajo area that may be looking at weeks. Francie Tolle, who is the head of the state FSA told me that they were without power for 21 days one time. So, it can last that long. My prayer is that it doesn’t for us or any of our neighbors. I guess the saying is true, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. One thing I feel compelled to say is once again my hat is off to all those guys, and even some girls, who work outside for the electric companies, whether it is municipal or a rural co-ops, that brave all these conditions to try their best to restore power. My wife’s dad was a lineman for Cotton Electric for about 30 years and I know how tough that job is. But, they do it without a peep or complaint and we need to thank them. In a time like this, they are the heroes. So, if you are one of the lucky ones with the simple luxury we call electricity, do not take it for granted and enjoy it. If you are one of the unlucky ones that are still out, hunker down and hang on and know that the Calvary is coming. It just may take them a little time to get there. But, they are whippin’ and spurrin’ as hard as they can.
If you would like to contact me while I am at the capitol, please do not hesitate to send an email to donarmes@house.gov or call me at 1-800-522-8502.
And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”-G.K. Chesterton
If you text message or use Facebook, you are familiar with the terms “OMG!” or “LOL!”. I have seen a lot of those over the last four or five days as people have described the damage and hardship that this most recent winter storm has caused. The damage to trees has been the most noticeable thing as you drove around the frozen country side. The broken limbs just could not bear the weight of ice that coated them. And, of course, when you have ice and wind in rural Oklahoma, or rural anywhere for that matter, you have power outages and this one may have been as widespread as I have ever seen. We bought our place almost 10 years ago and aside from the occasional windstorm and short-term disruption in electric service, we have not been out like we have this time. In fact, at the time you read this, there may still be folks, and even entire communities, without power.
We were some of the lucky ones because we did have a generator and we do have a fireplace. Sometimes we burn our fireplace for ambiance or just simply to have something to back up to on a cold night but rarely do we burn it out of necessity. In fact, I am amazed at how much wood you can go through when you have that dude going 24/7. Between a couple of chuck wagon cookouts and the last two winter storms, we have learned a great lesson in preparation. I bet I have been through three ricks of wood in the last three months. I am afraid that my knee jerk reaction to that will be what the people up north call a “rick yard”. I bet that I wear out a chainsaw in the next few months because I do not like cutting wood coated with ice. You would be surprised what you can do when it is below freezing and your wood pile is dwindling fast. I am glad that I knew where most of the dead mesquite trees were on my place. Ironically, there will be plenty of deadfalls from the hackberries that fell at my front gate to the broken mesquite trees that will provide several weeks of chainsaw fun on the Armes’ farm. It has been a little like deer camp at our house and we have had hot biscuits almost every morning, as well as sausage and eggs. You just never know when your Dutch oven skills will come into play just to feed your family.
They say the good ole’ days were like that and I am sure that they were but I do not want to go back and try it. Five days so far without electricity has been enough to really try my patience. It is really hard to stay up and positive when every move you make requires extra work. Here’s a quick little “for instance” for ya. I headed over to one of my leases the other day to get a couple of round bales and lo and behold a huge tree limb had fallen right in front off the hay. So, therefore, I was thinking to myself, I will drag it out of the way with a chain. Normally, I would just reach in the back of the pickup, grab the chain and do the job. But when the chain is frozen, even that little chore requires breaking it loose with the back of an ax. Of course I got the job done but as we say in the great Southwest I was “give out before I even I even stabbed the bale”. What should have been five minutes turned into 20. It seems like in an ice storm like this, everything is like that, extra effort at every turn. The heaviest weight on me as I prepared to head to Oklahoma City to dock with the mother ship, which is what I jokingly call re-entering the capitol, was “here I go to the big City with all the electricity I want, hot showers, plenty of hot coffee and all things warm while my family is back at home in the dark with no real way to know when the power will come back on, whether it will be hours or days”. It has been a little tough but I do have a job to do, so off I go!
As bad as it sounds and as much whining as I am doing about this current situation, I have friends over in Jackson county in the Altus and Navajo area that may be looking at weeks. Francie Tolle, who is the head of the state FSA told me that they were without power for 21 days one time. So, it can last that long. My prayer is that it doesn’t for us or any of our neighbors. I guess the saying is true, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. One thing I feel compelled to say is once again my hat is off to all those guys, and even some girls, who work outside for the electric companies, whether it is municipal or a rural co-ops, that brave all these conditions to try their best to restore power. My wife’s dad was a lineman for Cotton Electric for about 30 years and I know how tough that job is. But, they do it without a peep or complaint and we need to thank them. In a time like this, they are the heroes. So, if you are one of the lucky ones with the simple luxury we call electricity, do not take it for granted and enjoy it. If you are one of the unlucky ones that are still out, hunker down and hang on and know that the Calvary is coming. It just may take them a little time to get there. But, they are whippin’ and spurrin’ as hard as they can.
If you would like to contact me while I am at the capitol, please do not hesitate to send an email to donarmes@house.gov or call me at 1-800-522-8502.
And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”-G.K. Chesterton
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