Saturday, October 19, 2002

David Walters for cockfighting?


An Associated Press report on Saturday claims that U.S. Senate candidate David Walters is against the ban on cockfighting that Oklahomans will vote on in November. According to the AP story Walters says he is against the ban on the blood sport because it will impact poor people. Walters apparently doesn't address the matter of the gambling that is an integral part of all cockfighting. The poor generally suffer the most in gambling situations but Walters does not apparently address the matter. Dismayed Democrats are wondering why an otherwise intelligent politician such as Walters would align himself with cockfighters. Polls in Oklahoma consistently show cockfighting going down to defeat by a wide margin in Oklahoma. It calls into question the wisdom and ethical character of a politician that would support cockfighting in any way.

Friday, October 18, 2002

Simpson of the Tulsa World

In today's Tulsa World the editorial cartoon by Simpson featured three people in silhouette. One was identified as a supporter of Steve Largent, another a Brad Henry supporter, the third as a Gary Richardson supporter. In each figure we could see the brain cavity of the person, and their brain. None of the cavities were completely full but the Largent supporter had the most grey matter. The Richardson supporter had so little it was hardly visible. Brad Henry's supporter was half-full, or was it half-empty? I cringed when I saw the cartoon. Simpson is almost always good - better than most of the nationally syndicated political cartoonists - but I thought this one might go over the line a bit. If, however, he was trying to make the point that we don't really have any one candidate that a non-partisan voter with any brains can support wholeheartedly - then he was right on target.



Who is Denise Bode?


So who is Denise Bode? She is running against incumbent Edmondson for the Attorney General of Oklahoma. Here and there I had heard a few people say she was the Christian conservatives' hope to put one of their kind in this crucial job. I've met her. She seemed like a nice person. Now I hear that the National Rifle Association has given GOP attorney general candidate Denise Bode an A rating for her conservative stance on gun issues. Well, that's nothing for Bode to brag about. I thought I better look a bit deeper into this race.

According to the Daily Oklahoman Ms. Bode has been a Democrat most of her life. She worked for David Boren when he was Governor and U.S. Senator. She received a law degree from George Mason University and a masters from Georgetown. After Clinton was elected she switched to Republican and then Governor Keating (a fellow Georgetown grad) appointed her to fill a vacant Corporation Commission seat in 1997. Bode's husband, a longtime Republican, worked for President Reagan's administration. She was elected to the position in 1998.

In reading through newspaper reports in both the Tulsa World and the Daily Oklahoman it would seem that Bode has chosen the old "God, guns and gays" strategy to unseat Drew Edmondson. She has criticized Edmondson's friend of the court brief in a case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court that pitted the Boy Scouts of America against a gay scout leader. Bode says the brief advocated big government against individual rights. Edmondson sez, and the three deans of Oklahoma's law schools agree, that the amicus brief actually defended states' rights . Bode seems to have made several accusations against Edmondson that would indicate a lack of knowledge about what the job of the attorney general is. As the Tulsa World editorialized in today's paper, Denise Bode has focused on criticizing Edmondson for not doing things that the AG's office is not supposed to do. She has criticized him for not getting into law enforcement and legislation - both areas that an AG is not supposed to get into. If she doesn't know what the job really is, do we want her in that job? I don't think so. She might be a great friend to the NRA, homophobes, and religious fundamentalists but not to Oklahoma taxpayers. Her apparent ideological agenda would make Oklahoma a laughing stock and the target of lawsuits and Supreme Court challenges.

I listened to Edmondson the other day on KRMG radio. He seemed levelheaded, reasonable, articulate. He may be a Democrat (I don't care) but he seemed grounded in law and didn't seem to care about partisan politics or ideological agendas. I like that.





Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Too busy rounding up the pigs to build the fence

During the last two weeks as the murderer/sniper that has terrorized the Washington DC area has killed one innocent person after another, no one seems to be asking why there are so many weapons floating around and why its so easy to get such guns in America. Sure, the main reason this is happening is because there is an evil person willing to do it. But it wouldn't be possible if it wasn't so easy to obtain weapons in our country. And it wouldn't be so easy for the murderer to escape capture if the police had no idea where to begin searching because we are awash in weaponry. There is no reason why we should accept this deplorable situation. Is it more important thay gun enthusiasts have their toys or is it more important that we be free of fear of being offed by irate drivers, angry spouses, or insane terrorists?

Here again, we Oklahomans and Americans are not treating the root causes. We rightfully try to catch Al Quida but we do not address the causes of the terrorist problem (blind support of all that Israel does, tyranny in Islamic countries, + misinformation about America). We try to catch murderers at home but we fail to address root causes (free-flowing guns, hate, and lots of people unable to handle anger).

Monday, October 14, 2002

Allah the taste, Allah the time

Many Muslims in the Middle East are calling for a boycott of American products and Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Nike, and Starbucks are taking the brunt of the boycott.

The Raven notes: "The big deal, naturally, is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, whereat sales of bottled water and yoghurt drinks are astronomical—and Coke and Pepsi have traditionally been big players in the market. Zam Zam has done so well, in fact, that other entrants are scrambling to get into the picture, with French Muslim entrepeneur Tawfiq Mathlouthi leading the herd with his Mecca Cola that promises to give "10 per cent of the profits" to a Palestinian children's charity. Hard to compete with that."

On BBC radio tonight Mathlouthi was interviewed spewing his anti-American advertising and calling on everyone to boycott American products - and buy his lousy immitation of the real thing. Of course, this French citizen stands to become rich taking advantage of the Arab boycott of Coke and Pepsi. He is targeting the millions travelling to Mecca for the annual Ramadam pilgrimage to the Saudi Arabian city that bars all non-Muslims. If there is a hell there must surely be a corner of it reserved for those humans, who like Mathlouthi, use religion, faith and their God to make a buck or get votes by stirring up or playing off hatred.

Sunday, October 13, 2002

Jim Inhofe Promises Christian Conservatives Rewards from the Lord

The Christian Coalition's annual Road to Victory conference in Washington DC gave both President Bush and Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe top billing. According to the Associated Press, Senator Inhofe exhorted the crowd to vote liberals out of office. "If you don't do it, it ain't gonna be done," he said. "You will be doing the Lord's work, and he will richly bless you for it." Note: This is not a parody, he really said that. That we have a US Senator that says and believes this is sad. Is the Lord taking sides? Is the Lord political? I guess our junior Senator thinks so. Or could it be that he is using the Lord as a political tool? Wouldn't the Lord be really pissed about being used to manipulate voters?

Senator Inhofe will also appear in Tulsa tomorrow at the Victory Church to lecture on the Christian marketplace. I guess David Walters, candidate for Inhofe's seat, doesn't make the grade as far as Victory Church is concerned. Sure, he's a devout Catholic but he's a moderate. To garner the Christian fundamentalist's support you can't just dedicate your life to Christ, you also have to be politically conservative.

To see how outrageous Senator Inhofe's and the Christian Coalition's position of linking faith and politics is look at the Senator's statement above and read it as if it were a Muslim cleric calling for tossing liberals (eg. infidels) out and promising them that Allah will reward them for it. Shouldn't we be disgusted? Perhaps Senator Inhofe will soon start promising conservative Christian voters 72 virgins when they get to Heaven.

Speaking of disgusting. Goobernatorial candidate Gary Richardson attended the Gamefowl Breeders Association (the cockfighters and gamblers) meeting in Oklahoma City today. As mentioned in earlier postings Richardson is opposed to banning cockfighting statewide. Wouldn't it be great to have him out there recruiting businesses to Oklahoma? Gheez.