Mr. Sunshine!

Wow! What a winter! As I made my rounds on Friday and thought about this week’s column, I just could not get away from the fact that it was warm and that after tolerating some of the coldest weather I can remember, all of a sudden I was back in shirt sleeves or just a vest. I am in my ninth year as a legislator and I do not remember ever closing the Capitol during session for a weather event. Even on the sunny shores down here on Oklahoma’s southern coast, we had below zero temps last week and of course, when you are battling tough weather like we have had in the last month, it reminds you of all the tough winters in years past.

I am old enough to remember the blizzard of 1968. I was only seven but I remember huge amounts of snow. In those days we didn’t have Gortex but wore Wonderbread sacks over our feet before we stepped into our snow boots. I remember the winter of ’83-’84 when I was a herdsman for a purebred cattle outfit and I really remember the winter of ’87-’88 when I was losing my own money trying to carry a set of yearlings through an extremely brutal winter. This year, it did not seem to last quite as long and maybe I am older, but it did seem just as brutal. There were lots of cattle lost in these last two storms many of which were yearlings that tried to walk across frozen ponds. I have never in Oklahoma heard of temperatures as low as they had up in Nowata and in the Osage country where those folks dealt with around 30 below zero. I have not heard any horror stories but I know there will be some because a lot of those Osage ranches were already putting cattle together to stock their summer range. It is kinda bad when 25 degrees feels good. But, I think we have made it and I have never seen a more welcomed sign than Ole Mr. Sunshine, as my girls used to call it when they were little, warming up this old frozen tundra. It was almost comical as I drove to Frederick last Friday, to see cattle all over the country just laying flat on their sides stretched out and soaking up the warmth like bovine solar panels. For two or three weeks, they were humped up with snow on their backs eating everything they could just to stay warm.

Last week was the beginning of session and it seemed like we just got going before the weather shut us down. I am afraid it is going to be a little like snow days for our schools. There is going to be a squaring of the account because we had a ton of work in front of us and I just hope it did not get us too far behind. Whether or not it takes a couple of extra days to get finished or not, the sunshine makes it much more tolerable. So, get out and enjoy it! I will be enjoying it from my desk inside the mother ship but I have been here long enough to get a window so hello, Mr. Sunshine!

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:

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome”. ~Anne Bradstreet

How Big An Old Boy Are Ya?: Inhofe vs. EPA

For many years, since I have been involved in state government, I have become painfully aware of the costs associated with every new environmental regulation. Everything from unrealistic standards for rural water districts to ridiculously sulfur-free diesel that has required so many modifications to pickups and trucks, not to mention the ultra-scrubbing of the fuel to the point of not being able to burn it in a conventional engine without additives. Every time those discussions would come up, it would all point to the EPA. It seemed like a government agency with a huge amount of power totally unchecked by anyone in a federal office. It seemed nobody had enough stroke to challenge the idiots to a dual.

Enter Senator Jim Inhofe. Senator Inhofe has decided that he would seek to stop the regulation of carbon. Apparently, according to Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, this effort would hurt Americans’ health. She said the US Supreme Court gave the EPA the authority to address carbon pollution under the “Clean Air Act”. Inhofe flanked by Representative Fred Upton of Michigan and Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, unveiled draft legislation in what they said was intended to block the EPA from making climate change policy that was not approved by Congress. In a joint statement, the three lead by Inhofe who has long been a skeptic of the idea that humans are causing global warming, said that they firmly believe federal bureaucrats should not be unilaterally setting national climate change policy. Their reason: EPA’s cap and trade tax will cost jobs and undermine competitiveness. So, it is Inhofe against Boxer. It is like UFC fight night in Washington. I know who I think the toughest one in that fight is and I am glad that someone finally had the guts to just square off with the EPA and say “I am here with a 55-gallon drum of you know what, don’t make me open it.” I cannot believe that the EPA goes unchecked like they do and that nobody has gotten a belly full to go after them. Whether you love of hate Inhofe, I am proud of our Senator for saddling up and calling their bluff. It is a long way from done but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Oh by the way, did I mention that Barbara Boxer is from CALIFORNIA? Nuff said.

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:

“Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson