Rantin’ and ravin’ on a winter mornin’ …

Snow jobbed: Oklahoma, you really let me down on this one. Ever since relocating here from the Great White North I have been expounding upon the rugged individualism of the Sooner State. This is the home of the pioneer, where cowboys still roam the plains, where much of the nation’s finest beef is raised. It’s easy to spot an Oklahoman, just look for the cowboy hat and the 4x4 pickup. A manly state if there ever was one. Just don’t let it snow.

Frankly, I had to hang my head in shame from my Michigan friends and colleagues following that dusting of snow we received. Yes, a dusting of snow. Why, oh why do a few inches of snow nearly shutdown an entire state? Worse, we run to Washington, D.C., to get a state of emergency declared. A state of emergency! But the run-up to the snow was just as appalling as the actual “storm” itself.

For days beforehand we had to hear from TV weathercasters about what was surely amounting to a calamitous white death about to fall from the skies. It prompted schools to close before a single flake of snow had made its doomsday descent upon the plains. Several schools even remained closed through this week. Hey, put some boots on those kids, bundle them up and get them out the door. When I lived in Michigan we used to walk three miles in the snow, uphill, in both directions … wait, that’s my dad’s line.

But to put it into perspective, the total reported snowfall so far this winter season in Marquette, Mich., stands at 83.2 inches with nary an emergency declared. Meanwhile, the total snowfall reported this season to date in emergency-declared Oklahoma City is 14 inches.

I understand Oklahoma is not used to dealing with snow in the same manner as Michigan, but it’s not like we are living in a tropical paradise here. Snow does happen and by now I would think our municipal, county and state government officials would have figured out how to deal with the powdery precipitation, so let me offer one word of advice: salt.

Sand is good for the beach; salt is the salve that heals the winter road woes. Want to power through that ice build-up? Pour salt on it. Let me offer this in terms Oklaho-mans can relate to: Pretend the road is a giant side of beef that needs tenderizing.

C’mon Oklahoma, toughen up a bit. The land of rattlesnake roundups, cattle drives and tough-as-rawhide cowboys surely can handle a bit of snow.

Take heart, head south:  During the mad rush that nearly passed health care reform legislation we constantly were told a nationalized health system was the way to go. Proponents regaled us with tales of the wondrous ways of the more-enlightened European nations and Canada, where care was free and ample. But if you want to know the truth, pay close attention to where Canadians go when they are in need of serious, specialized medical treatment.

Just this past week, it was revealed Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams would be traveling to an undisclosed location in the United States to undergo a heart procedure. According to Newfoundland Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale, the premier is going to “a renowned expert in the procedure that needs to be done … it was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province.”  It was not an irony lost on Canadian pundits.

“Think about the absurdity about Canadians spending their income on medical treatment outside their country because it’s not provided here at home,” Brett Skinner, president of the Frasier Institute think-tank told the Vancouver Sun.

Better yet, think about the absurdity of how close we came to embracing such a system.

The I’s have it: Nobody will ever accuse President Obama of being afraid to shine the spotlight on himself.

Just take his recent State of the Union address wherein he used the word “I” 101 times. That’s 101 references to himself in a 71-minute speech, or an average of 1.4 self-references per minute. This came on the heels of an Ohio appearance on jobs where he used the word I an incredible 132 times

But remember America, as Obama tell us, “It’s not about me.” Uh-huh. Wonder how many times he uses the word I when discussing the deficit. Then, of course it never is about him.



Ruthenberg is copy editor at the News & Eagle. He can be reached at daver@enidnews.com.