MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

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August 4, 2007

Spend Senate time judiciously

Sen. Jim Inhofe should spend his time more constructively, as he’s doing trying to get more federal funding for Tar Creek and Arkansas River projects.

Inhofe wasted the Senate’s time last week in sponsoring a measure regarding recognition of the flag by military personnel and veterans out of uniform.

A federal law states that out-of-uniform veterans should place their hand over their hearts. Inhofe and others took that to mean that veterans could not salute the flag. So the Senate voted to changed the language to state a salute was not against the law.

As a veteran in an Associated Press story said, “It’s military jargon. It doesn’t mean a damn.”

No one was going to arrest or rebuke an out-of-uniform veteran, much less anyone, for saluting the flag if he or she wants. It was a non-issue.

There are real issues, however, with getting Oklahomans out of the polluted Tar Creek area and developing the Arkansas River economically and recreationally. Whatever influence Inhofe has in the Senate, he should use it for matters of consequence.

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