The Democratic-controlled Congress is moving to restore a Bush administration policy that allowed loaded guns in national parks. The Senate voted Tuesday to allow guns in national parks and wildlife refuges, and the House could follow suit as soon as Wednesday.
Loaded guns in national parks. Democratic-controlled chambers passing such legislation gives lie to the right-wing charge of a monolithic government.
The measure is included in a popular bill imposing new restrictions on credit card companies. Democratic leaders have said they hope to send a final version to the White House for the president's signature by week's end.
Perfect example of tit-for-tat, horse trading.
The Senate vote is a stark reversal from what many gun-control advocates expected when a federal judge blocked the Bush policy in March. The decision reinstated restrictions that had been in place since the Reagan administration. The rules severely restrict guns in the national parks, generally requiring them to be locked or stored.
Another example of Bush not being a Reagan Republican.
The Obama administration accepted the March 19 ruling, saying that the Interior Department would review the policy over the next several months.
Political calculation: why take on the NRA now? It will have to wait.
Never mind that Harry Reid hides behind "second amendment rights" to cover his ass for the upcoming Senate election campaign where he will seek re-election, and is currently in a not-ver-strong position, and that the NRA dissimulates it influence. Get this next one.
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican, who inserted an amendment to the credit card bill that would allow concealed, loaded guns in parks and refuges, said the gun measure protects every American's Second Amendment rights and also protects the rights of states to pass laws that apply to their entire state, including public lands.
"Visitors to national parks should have the right to defend themselves in accordance with the laws of their states," Mr. Coburn said.
Huh? What threat is there that visitors need loaded, concealed weapons in national parks, and, if such threats exist,, isn't that a sad commentary on our parks and on the National Park Service?
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
When Life Is Just a Bowl of Freebies
No one knows who will win Thursday night's Bowl Championship Series National Championship game between Florida and Oklahoma. But one thing's for sure: Players on both teams will walk away with some pretty nice swag. That's because the bowls now give out gift bags just like the Oscars. It's one of the few times of the year when college athletes are allowed to accept gifts. And this year, Miami, host to the Orange Bowl and the BCS title game, was the place to be. Players in both bowl games were allowed to stroll through the Sony Suite, an exclusive room at their hotel stocked with Sony Electronics products. Each player had a $300 credit limit. Players picked out the items they wanted, including PlayStations and flat-screen TVs, and Sony shipped them wherever they wanted. Participating schools also typically order extra gift bags for big-donor alumni and other VIPs they bring to the games.
It is self-evident that what matters is money.
Gift bags are just one example of how these bowl games, originally designed to promote tourism, have become multimillion-dollar enterprises in their own right. Revenues for the 34 postseason bowl games range from just over $1 million for the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl to more than $30 million for each of the five BCS games. College bowl games are an estimated $400 million-a-year industry, and more than 20 of the bowl games have tax-exempt status.
According to a survey last year by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, the Chick-fil-A Bowl is the most profitable. This year marked its 12th-straight sell out, generating a roughly $2 million profit on about $12 million in revenue and $10 million in expenses. Revenue has risen more than 70% over the past decade, a marked improvement from the 1990s when the bowl actually lost money. Bowl executives don't do badly either, with most getting six-figure salaries. Based on 2006 tax returns, the Sugar Bowl's Paul Hoolahan makes more than $450,000 a year, the Outback Bowl's Jim McVay nearly $500,000, and Fiesta and Insight Bowl Director John Junker more than $400,000.
Money for everyone, schools included. But, what is the cost?
And while everyone's fretting over the bailout package for the auto industry, most taxpayers would be shocked to learn that they're also footing the bill for some of these highly profitable bowl games. From 2001 to 2005, seven tax-exempt bowls received $21.6 million in government aid. The Sugar Bowl, which in one four-year period got $4.1 million in funding from the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, pays a consultant more than $10,000 a year to "monitor legislative developments . . . related to the continued financial support of the Sugar Bowl." From 2001 to 2005, 38% of the Brut Sun Bowl's total revenue, or about $9 million, came from receipts from a Texas rental-car tax that are diverted into the bowl's bank account.
Yes, the bowls are tax-exempt. Why? Back scratching; also called corruption. But that is not the only cost.
In short, the college bowl games generate some pretty impressive numbers. But Derrick Jackson, a columnist for the Boston Globe, comes up with his own numbers each year: The bowl teams' graduation rates.
"Florida has a 68 percent graduation rate but a 25-percentage-point racial disparity," he wrote in his Dec. 13, 2008, column. "Oklahoma should flat-out be disqualified with a 46 percent graduation rate."
Less than half graduate.
Mr. Jackson also found that four other schools that played in BCS bowl games – Ohio State, Texas, Alabama and Utah – all have black graduation rates under 50% and an average racial gap of 30 percentage points.
Watching the Oklahoma-Florida, game, I saw that Florida's top receiver is majoring in Sports recreational management. O, yes, indeed.
DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, RECREATION AND SPORT MANAGEMENT
COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
That is from a course syllabus: LEI 4501: Legal Aspects of Recreation, Parks and Tourism (3 Credits)
The University indeed has a department of Recreational Sports.
It is self-evident that what matters is money.
Gift bags are just one example of how these bowl games, originally designed to promote tourism, have become multimillion-dollar enterprises in their own right. Revenues for the 34 postseason bowl games range from just over $1 million for the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl to more than $30 million for each of the five BCS games. College bowl games are an estimated $400 million-a-year industry, and more than 20 of the bowl games have tax-exempt status.
According to a survey last year by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, the Chick-fil-A Bowl is the most profitable. This year marked its 12th-straight sell out, generating a roughly $2 million profit on about $12 million in revenue and $10 million in expenses. Revenue has risen more than 70% over the past decade, a marked improvement from the 1990s when the bowl actually lost money. Bowl executives don't do badly either, with most getting six-figure salaries. Based on 2006 tax returns, the Sugar Bowl's Paul Hoolahan makes more than $450,000 a year, the Outback Bowl's Jim McVay nearly $500,000, and Fiesta and Insight Bowl Director John Junker more than $400,000.
Money for everyone, schools included. But, what is the cost?
And while everyone's fretting over the bailout package for the auto industry, most taxpayers would be shocked to learn that they're also footing the bill for some of these highly profitable bowl games. From 2001 to 2005, seven tax-exempt bowls received $21.6 million in government aid. The Sugar Bowl, which in one four-year period got $4.1 million in funding from the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, pays a consultant more than $10,000 a year to "monitor legislative developments . . . related to the continued financial support of the Sugar Bowl." From 2001 to 2005, 38% of the Brut Sun Bowl's total revenue, or about $9 million, came from receipts from a Texas rental-car tax that are diverted into the bowl's bank account.
Yes, the bowls are tax-exempt. Why? Back scratching; also called corruption. But that is not the only cost.
In short, the college bowl games generate some pretty impressive numbers. But Derrick Jackson, a columnist for the Boston Globe, comes up with his own numbers each year: The bowl teams' graduation rates.
"Florida has a 68 percent graduation rate but a 25-percentage-point racial disparity," he wrote in his Dec. 13, 2008, column. "Oklahoma should flat-out be disqualified with a 46 percent graduation rate."
Less than half graduate.
Mr. Jackson also found that four other schools that played in BCS bowl games – Ohio State, Texas, Alabama and Utah – all have black graduation rates under 50% and an average racial gap of 30 percentage points.
Watching the Oklahoma-Florida, game, I saw that Florida's top receiver is majoring in Sports recreational management. O, yes, indeed.
DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, RECREATION AND SPORT MANAGEMENT
COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
That is from a course syllabus: LEI 4501: Legal Aspects of Recreation, Parks and Tourism (3 Credits)
The University indeed has a department of Recreational Sports.
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