Day 7

It's Day 7 of the Wimp Watch - waiting for Governor Brad Henry to come down hard on Senator Stratton Taylor for bringing unwanted national attention to Oklahoma's lack of tort reform. As discussed last week in this blog a letter from Taylor (a trial lawyer and the head of the State Senate) to lawyers across the USA to do their sueing in Oklahoma caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal. The paper blistered Oklahoma for its lack of reform and Taylor for inviting lawyers to take advantage of our no-caps-on-jury-awards system.

Governor Henry hasn't done a thing to respond to the conflict of interest or Taylor's shameful letter. We're waiting.

Brad Henry Doesn't Like to Talk Negative

A couple of days ago the Tulsa World reprinted an editorial from the Wall Street Journal that flamed Oklahoma State Senator Stratton Taylor for soliciting other trial lawyers around the US to try their cases in Oklahoma because of the no-cap on jury awards to plaintiffs in our state. Stratton Taylor happens to be the Senate Pro Tempore in the Oklahoma Legistlature - in other words, he controls the Senate agenda. He is also a trail lawyer and he grows rich suing companies. He has a vested interest in not letting the Legislature put a cap on jury awards as the Texas Legislature did last year. Now, this is quite outrageous. Our Legislators have put Senator Taylor in position to thwart tort reform knowing full well that this is a full-blown conflict of interest for him. Why would our Legislators act so outrageously? Could it be because many of them are also lawyers?

So, what is Governor Brad Henry going to do about this? Nothing. A big fat nothing. Our so-called economic development Governor cares more about not rocking the boat at the Legislature than he does about fixing one of Oklahoma's worst problems. When the Tulsa World asked the Gov what he thought about Stratton Taylor's letter and the horrible publicity it brought Oklahoma all he could say was that he didn't want to "talk negative" but wanted to talk about what is good about Oklahoma. So Governor Henry wants to bury his head in the sand and ignore serious problems such as tort reform and the fact that it drives business (except lawyers) out of the state? Could the fact that the Governor (and seemingly everyone in his cabinet) is a lawyer and a good buddy of former colleague Stratton Taylor have anything to do with the Governor's unwillingness to face the problem head-on?

The Governor and his Democratic Party need to get real on this issue. They need to repudiate Taylor and this conflict of interest and address tort reform. The Governor needs to remove his rose-colored glasses and stop paying lip service to economic development.

Mad Cows and Lobbyists

Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman assures us that the risk of mad cow disease in the US is very low. I hope she is right, but knowing that her most recent career was as a lobbyist for the cattle industry doesn't do anything to assure me.

Dick Cheney Kills 70

As reported by the HSUS:

Upon his (Cheney) arrival at the exclusive Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township, gamekeepers released 500 pen-raised pheasants from nets for the benefit of him and his party. In a blaze of gunfire, the group—which included legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), along with major fundraisers for Republican candidates—killed at least 417 of the birds. According to one gamekeeper who spoke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cheney was credited with shooting more than 70 of the pen-reared fowl.

PETA

The group called the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and OkiePundit share a general interest in humane treatment of animals but PETA's tactics are very detrimental to the humane movement. They use shocking tactics that do nothing but fuel the erroneous stereotype of the misanthrope humanitarian (talk about oxymoron). I know a lot of humanitarians, animal-rights activists, vegetarians, etc in Oklahoma and I don't know any that would fit in the universe of PETA. The ones I know care about both humans and animals (non-humans).

PETA seems to be a Hollywood-oriented group of people whose hearts are in the right place but have not a clue about persuasion or a shred of common sense. I sometimes wonder if PETA isn't secretly funded by the NRA in an effort to discredit humanitarians. For the reasonable person I would refer you to the Humane Society of the United States - a much larger, and saner organization.

Rising Tide of Vicious Blogs

Have you noticed the growing number of really vicious blogs out there? It's great to have strong opinions voiced through blogging but some bloggers don't even pretend to reason. An example of the kind of blog I'm talking about can be found at Dog Snot (aptly named). It's full of foul language (warning) and hate but it's the kind of blog we see more of these days. While political extremists on both the left and right are falling into this genre an unscientific survey indicates that bloggers on the extreme right are most numerous. There's a lot of angry people out there but the depth of the viciousness we see in these blogs is enough to be worrisome.

Tar Creek

Wow! The Tulsa World is all over US Senator Jim Inhofe on his opposition to buying out the residents of Superfund Site Tar Creek. The World has run a five-part series on the controversy and at least two editorials in recent days. According to the World Inhofe wants to spend $45 million more to try to clean up the site or sell the homes to some company that for some unexplained reason wants to buy homes in a Superfund site. Governor Henry seems to want the feds to buy out the Tar Creek residents but Inhofe says the Governor doesn't really want that. Congressman Brad Carson (who is running against Inhofe's buddy, Kirk Humphries, for US Senate) also wants a buyout for the residents.

The very suspicious part of this story is how Inhofe brought Bush's new Secretary of the EPA into the Tar Creek site the day before Thanksgiving - all in secrecy and without meeting with any of the locals - because Inhofe didn't want them embarrassing the new EPA chief. Like that's the most important thing to worry about while hundreds of families are living in a toxic waste site.

Travelling PR Man

Word on the Street is that Jim East, formerly of Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage's office, then Government PR man for the Benham Group, then PR "consultant" for the Tulsa Vision 2025 campaign has a new job - working for the husband of Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Kathy Taylor. He owns a couple of rental car companies. Word in the public sector is that they're glad East is back in the private sector.

Slate's says

OSU Faculty Unhappy with Schmidly's Strategic Plan

The Daily O'Collegian of OSU has a story in today's edition wherein several faculty members describe OSU President Schmidley's strategic plan as a disaster and his administration a "mushroom administration". Good thing those professors are tenured.

As the O'Colly points out, "The university is paying a consultant $150,000 plus expenses to help with the (strategic) planning and $20,000 plus expenses to audit the university's integrated marketing efforts. The consultant, Mary Chicoine, was Texas Tech's strategic planning adviser during Schmidly's tenure there. "

As OkiePundit has previously reported, Schmidley, who came from Texas Tech last year has surrounded himself with old friends and acquaintancesnces from his Texas days. OSU faculty and students report deep frustration over the president's apparent belief that the yokels in Oklahoma need an imported army of Texans to tell them how to run a university.

Snow

There's a soft snow in Oklahoma tonight. Even in the city it's quiet. Only a few cars are on the streets - even then, the sound of the machine is muffled by dense snow. Only the crack of wind-whipped flags can be heard.

Gore endorses Howard Dean

So what? I agree with Gore on a number of issues but not on his choice for the Democratic nominee. Howard is too angry to be Prez. He would do to the nation what Bush has done to it - polarize the people - and alienate the rest of the world. No thanks.

You Must Pay for the privilege

Sometimes it's difficult to figure out if commerce is making our lives easier or figuring new ways to rip us off. I dashed into a Taco Bell today to buy a quick dinner for the family and ran into a new twist. I didn't have enough cash with me so I was hoping they'd accept a credit card. When I asked the teenager-in-charge if his fine establishment would honor my credit card he pointed to an ATM machine near the doorway. The look on his face said he pitied my inability to just know these things.

Reading the hieroglyphics on the ATM I see that it does not dispense cash. One slides one's debit or credit card through the unit and asks for a credit at the cashier. It says you will get some change if your purchase is less than the credit you request. I was still reading all this when I noticed a small sign at the cashiers that advised that I would pay a $1.25 fee for using this "ATM". So I'm supposed to pay Taco Bell $1.25 so I can buy $8.00 of their refried beans? No thanks, I thought, and I left for the grocery next door. As I did I wondered if Taco Bell would find enough fools to make this system work. I hope not.

It was a boy!

One story all over the media yesterday was the shocking news that a 425-million-year-old fossil crustacean found in England had a penis. It's the oldest penis ever found in the fossil record. This is because the soft tissued genetalia do not usually fossilize. Of course we are speaking of pre-Viagra epochs here. The first uncomfortable thought I had when I heard this news was what if this happened to me? I just hope they don't find my remains in 400 million years.

If the Primary were Today (but it's not)

According to an e-mail from the Lieberman for President Campaign a Daily Oklahoman poll found that if the primary vote were held today, the Democrats would vote for:

The Daily Oklahoman Poll Results
Lieberman 10 %
Clark 9
Dean 9
Gephardt 8
Kerry 5
Edwards 3
Sharpton 2
Braun 2
Kucinich 1

I think this bodes well for Wes Clark who just having gotten started is neck and neck with Dean and just one percentage point behind Lieberman.

Kwikset May Leave

Black and Decker's Kwikset Lock Company in Bristow is considering moving its plant out of the US to lower costs. This would put 1,000 people out of work and endanger Bristow's survival. Black and Decker is one of the multinational corporations that has stopped manufacturing anything of its own and turned itself into a brand marketer. They do not move jobs to places like Mexico and China they get out of the jobs business altogether by contracting out all manufacturing. In China Black and Decker drives such hard bargains that even their Chinese subcontractors make virtually nothing - and pay their Chinese employees next to nothing. These multinationals are ruthless to both Americans and to Chinese and Mexicans. But whose to blame? We consumers are. It is our choice to purchase either the cheapest items at Wal-Mart or to look at the label and pay a little more for goods made in our own country.

It's up to you.

Senator Shurden does it Again

It seems that Henryetta's State Senator Frank Shurden has come down on the wrong side yet again. He was reportedly the author of a bill that makes it illegal for municipal police to confiscate illegal firearms. The bill was passed by the Oklahoma Legislature and is now the law. The Police say this Shurden Law ties their hands in their effort to crack down on gangs.

Senator Shurden has been bad news for Oklahoma since he was sent to the Legislature. As mentioned before in this blog, this goober has spent his time making a laughing stock of Oklahoma by trying to, among other things, legalize castration of some criminals, defending the loathsome cockfighters, and doing whatever the NRA wants him to do. Now he wants to protect carriers of illegal firearms? And we pay him tens of thousands of dollars for this?

I've had a number of replies regarding my posting regarding the Gospel of John movie and the book "Beyond Belief". For those of you interested in this subject you may find an upcoming webcast of interest as well:

"an upcoming live Webcast series on spirituality.com titled "America the Spiritual." This groundbreaking new series showcases some of today's leading thinkers speaking to the unique phenomenon of the nation's third great spiritual awakening. The first event in the series, "Women and Spirituality - Breaking the Code," will take place on Friday, December 5, at 6:30 pm, Eastern Time

Spirituality.com, www.spirituality.com, is an open-faith community where people from various beliefs and backgrounds share spiritual ideas, inspiration, experiences and prayers. Please consider letting your site visitors know about this exciting series and posting a link to http://www.spirituality.com/americathespiritual/ for more information.

Oklahoma Legislature Takes Away a Basic Right

Oklahoma is one of 33 states that have, at the request of the National Rifle Association, passed legislation to ban all lawsuits from being brought against gun manufacturers and distributors for damages resulting from their product. So, apparently in our state you can suffer loss of life or limb at the wrong end of a gun and you do not have the right to sue the manufacturer or distributor. Isn't that nice? Thanks again Oklahoma Legislature for watching out for us. I'm sure the NRA's generous political campaign contributions had nothing to do with your action to take away from the voters the basic right to take legal recourse.

Rubin Gant Still Boohooing over "Stadium"

I was at a neighborhood conference given by the South and East Association of Tulsa (SEAT) last week and heard former athlete Rubin Gant give the keynote speech. His talk was embarrassingly inappropriate for the occasion. He was supposed to talk about neighborhood improvement and all he could talk about was how he thought Tulsa didn't need an 18,000 seat events center in downtown Tulsa. Got news for you Rubin, the people already voted on it - it's a done deal. Get on with your life.

This guy is president of the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce. For those of you not familiar with Tulsa, Greenwood is adjacent to downtown Tulsa. You'd think this guy would have a clue about what a nearby modern events center ("stadium" to Rubin) would do to boost Greenwood's growth.

Kirk Humphreys Campaign Staff Grows

Heard today that Marion Free of Lt. Governor Mary Fallin's staff has left and joined the campaign staff of Mayor Kirk Humphreys who is running for US Senate. No confirmation on this.

Speaking of Mary Fallin - is she ready to take on Brad Henry in 2006? Or will Kirk Humphreys run for Governor if he loses the Senate election?

Adventures in Canceling a Phone Service

In a week full of challenges my greatest triumph was yesterday. I succeeded in canceling most of those extra services I had foolishly signed up for with SBC (formerly Southwestern Bell). I retained my caller ID but I canceled the long list of other services such as call forwarding, call back, etc, etc. I was paying a monthly fee for a long list of extra services I never used. The last straw came when the SBC voice mail service screwed up my online computer connection. As you would have discovered if you've ever tried to cancel a service with SBC, it is not an easy task.

I called the number for SBC residence service and after a few selections on an automatic caller routing menu I found a person to talk to. I told him I wanted to cancel everything but the caller ID. He wanted to know why. I explained but he thought I should try to work out my problems with the computer. I insisted that I wanted just caller ID. He questioned my reasoning. I asked how much it would cost to drop my superduper all-services package and just pay for caller ID. He answered by asking if I had their DSL service and told me if I added it I could lower the price I was paying on the superduper package. No, I don't want that, I said. Then he gave me some other options of combining this and that and somehow paying less while paying more. This went on for several minutes. I was so confused I almost fell for it. It was like one of those cup shuffling game scams you see on the streets of New York. My head was spinning but I marshaled my synaptic resources and ultimately said no, I just want caller ID and NOTHING ELSE! How much will that cost me? Reluctantly, he gave me the cost, processed the order and I now save enough each month to buy a large pepperoni pizza to celebrate my triumph.

After I hung up however, I thought wow! How could someone with a feeble mind ever survive that? The SBC guy was a master at selling by overwhelming the customer with confusion. He wouldn't give up! While I admire his cognitive abilities I do not admire SBC for using such tactics. It may add to their bottom line this quarter but over the long term it creates deep dissatisfaction among customers and a bad reputation for the company. SBC is no longer a monopoly in local phone service - others, such as Birch, now compete with them. If SBC hopes to hang on to customers it needs to treat them as customers to be served rather than bamboozled.

The Gospel of John

I saw this movie at the big screen today. It was quite excellent because it followed the written gospel with precision and kept one's interest throughout the three-hour long movie. It's a relief to see a religious movie that wasn't "over the top" like those done in the 1930 - 1970 period. Now I'd like to see something on the Gospel of Thomas and the other gospels left out of the Bible by the early Christian church.

What I've come to appreciate in recent years is the different viewpoints the various apostles had and the role that early power brokers in the church played in manipulating the teachings by leaving out huge chunks of the early writings and gospels. 1800 years later most Christians have no idea how the early church officials filtered and limited the knowledge passed on. Some of the early writings were destroyed (by the Church) and lost forever but many were found hidden in jars in Egypt in 1945.

Today, you have access to the Gospel of Thomas, but not through your church. They don't want you to know about it. The latest book on the subject is "Beyond Belief" by Elaine Pagels. This is a readable book that will open your eyes.

Extremists of the Left and Right in Control

My take on the upcoming presidential election is that it isn't looking too good at this point. The Democrats seem intent on choosing career politicians beholden to labor and the Republicans continue their descent into a neocon hell fought over by the fundamentalist Christian right and business interests. Centrists and independents have nowhere to go.

As for OkiePundit, the only way I would vote for Bush is if Al Sharpton is the Democratic nominee. Well, to tell you the truth, if Gephardt or Lieberman are the nominee I might just set the election out. I'm not sure about Howard Dean. I'm excited about Wesley Clark - the political neophyte. I could really get excited about the election if he was the nominee. But labor and the left are too self-interested and short-sighted to back a centrist like Clark I guess. But unless something strange happens, I'll be voting for Clark - but I'll have to register as a Democrat to do that. After I vote I'll re-register as an independent unless the Democrats come to their senses by going with Clark.

What America needs is a centrist political party. Let the extremists have their Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties - give us the pragmatic golden mean. What shall we call this centrist party? Your suggestions are welcome.

Got Life?

Last week Bush signed into law a bill outlawing "partial birth abortion" and courts immediately stepped in with injunctions. This particular form of abortion I will not even describe to you as the details are quite horrid. Abortion is an issue I've changed my mind on. I used to lean towards the "pro-choice" side, partly I think, out of a desire not to be associated with religious fundamentalists and right wing extremists. I still want nothing to do with these folks but I decided some time ago that my aversion to them on most issues was not a valid reason to oppose them on all issues.

Fact is, I do believe that abortion really is murder. I think life is something special, if not sacred, and snuffing out a person, no matter their age, is not right. I find it hard to believe that people can abort a life because it is somehow inconvenient for them. A woman's right to choose is trumped by the baby's right to live.

It is a mystery to me why this would be a partisan issue or an issue owned by the extreme right. I don't understand why liberals are anti-war and pro-abortion. It's also a mystery to me why many religious fundamentalists and conservatives are so pro-life in this regard and so comfortable with war, guns, and inhumane treatment of animals. Compassion should transcend politics and even religion.

This is absolutely horrible:

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Authorities identified a 1-year-old boy Monday who died after police say his aunt tossed him in front of a passing pickup truck.
The baby's aunt, 18-year-old Tiesha Michelle Ealey, was being held in jail on a first-degree murder complaint. A witness told police he saw a woman holding a child and walking back and forth near a city street about 1 a.m. Sunday. The woman appeared to be trying to flag down a passing motorist and then tossed the toddler into the street, the witness said.

But get this; the family says that the 18-year old aunt was "just in the wrong place at the wrong time" and blamed the tragedy on the aunt falling in with a bad crowd. I feel very sorry for the family (more so for the little boy who lost his life) but come on - this penchant in our culture to refuse to put responsibility where it belongs is out of hand.

Lupica who?

Who is Lupica? I never heard of him before but I saw an anti-OU diatribe by this ESPN sports mouth on TV tonight that just made me laugh. He was complaining about OU scoring 77 points against Texas A&M this weekend - the claim being that OU was unsportsman-like because they scored so many points. I'm not a sports junkie but even I know that when you put your second and third-string players in for the entire last half of the game (like Stoops did) you are not trying to "run up the score". This ESPN goofball's line of reasoning was that because backup quarterback Thompson passed the ball and actually tried his best (and did great) that OU was guilty of trying to humiliate hapless A&M. Where does ESPN get blabbering idiots like Lupica and why do they put them on TV? There's got to be some good sportscasters needing jobs - aren't there?

Laura Ingram Delivers Sought-after Consumers

I spent a few minutes tonight listening to the commercials run during the Laura Ingram radio talk show. I was curious what type of companies would sponsor or be associated with her extreme right talk show. Turns out the advertisers willing to associate with Laura Ingram are marketers of "miracle" herb elixers and law firms seeking "victims" wanting to sue stock brokers, etc. These types of advertisers are looking for uneducated people that believe "miracle" pills will solve their problems and naive enough to think lawyers will actually let them keep more than a token amount of the money they squeeze out of businesses. These types of slimy advertisers are finding their target audience through the Ingram show.

John Sullivan Fears Dangerous Canadian Drugs


So US Rep. John Sullivan of Tulsa believes Canadian drugs can be dangerous and Americans should be denied the opportunity to buy them and save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year? Yea, sure. Canadian drugs are no more dangerous than "American" drugs. Canadians are not stupid people. Why are we so stupid that we put up with hypocritical Congressmen and a pharmaceutical industry willing and able to buy them?

Millions of Americans are tired of paying the highest prices in the world for drugs. But does Congressman Sullivan care? Apparently not enough. I wonder how much money his campaign gets from pharmaceutical interests?

Cockfighters Caught Breaking the Law - Again.

This week the cockfighters, er..."gamefowl breeders" of Oklahoma were caught red-handed using illegal traps to kill protected hawks and owls. The US Fish and Wildlife Service issued citations to 31 of these characters for putting steel-jaw traps on top of poles to catch hawks and owls - something that they all knew was illegal. These, as you may remember, are the folk that told us they were law-abiding, upstanding patriotic Americans that just want to be left alone to care for their chickens - you know, the ones that they don't fight.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service explained that the hawks and owls are trapped by their talons and hang upside down until they die or are killed.

According to the Associated Press, the investigation, which included about a dozen agents who set up surveillance in rural Oklahoma, netted more violators of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act than any other in recent years. Richard McDonald, who oversees Wildlife Service law enforcement in the Southwest, said the investigation revealed "a callous disregard of the law and the birds
it protects."

The really "funny" part is that James Tally, president of the Oklahoma Game Fowl Breeders Association (cockfighters) was quoted as saying "It is a little unfair that you cannot protect your own property," he said. "Some of these roosters are worth as much as calves." Umh... I thought the cockfighters raised their birds just because they loved them. How could a gamecock be worth as much as a calf? Unless of course they fight them for illegal gambling purposes. But surely these nice people wouldn't break the law AND lie to us, would they?

Kudos to the federal agents and the USFWS! Now, judiciary, do your duty and give the offenders jail time and the maximum fine of $15,000. If these destructive meanass lawbreakers can afford dozens or hundreds of chickens that are worth as much as cows then they can afford the penalty.

A Perfectly Good Night


It's a beautiful midnight in Oklahoma. Sunday night in the city and its so quiet I can hear the crickets, tree frogs or whatever creature is making the soothing white noise outside. No traffic, no sirens, just natural background sound. The temperature is a comfortable 68 degrees. The TV is off - no Bill O'Rielly or Hannady and Combs (sp?) to interfere with a perfectly good midnight in Oklahoma.

Pres. Bush Skips Soldiers Funerals

Veterans are beginning to take notice that President Bush has not attended a single one of the funerals being held for the deceased soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

As AlterNet notes:

Increasingly, this proclivity on the part of President Bush to avoid the normal duty of a commander-in-chief to honor dead soldiers is causing rising irritation among some veterans and their families who have noticed what appears to be a historically anomalous slight.

The President certainly can't attend all or most of the funerals simply because there are too darn many of them. He has honored soldiers in his remarks but it bothers me that the commander-in-chief is spending so much time raising millions for his campaign while families bury their dead in silence.

What Happened to Halloween?

I grew up in a small Oklahoma town where Halloween was serious business. Kids trick-or-treated all over the town and came home loaded with great candy and the occasional unwanted apple. There was no hesitence to go to strangers' houses. There was talk, always unfounded, of razorblades or pins hidden in the goodies in some far away place like Ohio or Texas but that was not something we worried about in the safety of Our Town. Every house (except the "holy roller" homes) was open to the children of the town and every porch had a light burning. This was a night that the adults worked to make good for the kids and we kids loved it!

Now I live in a city and a time where children must go to shopping malls to queue for tiny bits of candy handed out by the mall stores. We are relegated to malls because parents don't trust strangers to give their children unadulterated candy and most homeowners either don't want to be bothered or are afraid to open the door to masked strangers. My doorbell rang a few times tonight because I live in a friendly neighborhood with lots of children.

I know a lot of neighborhoods in my city that are not welcoming. The porchlights are turned off and children are unwelcome. What's wrong with these people? Last year I took my daughter out to trick-or-treat and we had a hard time finding anyplace to go. We ultimately ended up at the mall with thousands of children in one long mall-length line that shuffled from store to store. The children, not knowing what they were missing, enjoyed it nonetheless. The kids didn't even notice the jerk parents that shoved their kids into the middle of the lines so they wouldn't have to wait. This year my daughter said she didn't want to go trick-or-treating. "It's too much of a hassle," she said. I didn't let on how sad this makes me.

K Street

US Senator Don Nickles had a role on the new HBO series "K Street" tonight. While I havn't figured out this series yet it seems to be about the "exciting" world of Capitol Hill lobbyists. Senator Don did well in his scene - a long one-on-one discussion with a lobbyist. Could this be his next career?

Mayor Upset Over Jerk Site

As Flyover Country tells us Mayor Kirk Humphries of OKC is upset about a website called Kirk is a Jerk.com A peek at the site would suggest that it is the work of a long-time Democratic Party "operative" that has done similar hatchet job e-mails and websites about other Republican candidates in the past. The best you can say about this work is that it doesn't exactly raise the level of political discussion. It is quite tasteless and if the Democratic Party has any connection with it at all they should repudiate its content. Lampooning politicians is a great tradition but to be funny it can't be mean-spirited. But as Flyover Country noted the mayor has overreacted.

Last night there was, as usual, nothing at all on radio except bad music, Dr Laura Schlesinger (sp?) and "the Savage Nation". So I tuned in to Savage to see if he was still as looney as usual and sure enough, he was already worked up into a vein-popping frenzy over criticism of General Boykin's religious statements. I don't listen to Savage enough to know whether he is a religious fanatic or not - the way he talks I would have guessed him to be on the heathen / fascist end of the spectrum - but last night he sounded like an extremist far right Christian fundamentalist. His "point" seemed to be that the General loves America and therefore criticizing him for talking religious intolerance while in uniform was great. Savage aimed his comments at "liberal Jews" - appealing to them to support Boykin because the General had pointed out that this "Christian nation" was founded on "Judeo-Christian principles".

I have no doubt the General is a good and loyal American. I don't want him fired. I think he should be taken off the terrorist-hunting job and all Generals ought to maintain a degree of professionalism in uniform. In other words, keep their public mouths shut on politics and religion WHILE IN UNIFORM - REPRESENTING US ALL.

Racists with outstretched hands

I was walking out of an Arby's restaurant today when I was accosted by a panhandler that started off with one of those "hey, can I talk to you a minute?" sales pitches that lets you know you look like an easy mark. This strategy never works with me. I resent being taken for a fool. Nevertheless, I dismissed him with a "no thanks". That's when I heard the muttered racial slur aimed at my little daughter and I. I wheeled around and grabbed the guy by his collar and demanded that he clarify what he had said. Unfortunately, he obliged. In white-hot anger I knocked the cigarette out of his mouth and whispered some unkind things in his ear. Then I remembered my daughter was with me and I backed off - not wanting to set a bad example for her and not wanting to be arrested. The guy was yelling for his buddies to help out. It was time to get in the car and go.

This is not the first time this scenario has happened in the last year. Panhandlers seem to be shooting off their mouths a lot lately - even when you politely brush them off. This really pisses me off, especially when my daughter is there to hear it - and I react badly. I'm glad I don't carry lethal weapons.

On top of all this the panhandler didn't even get our race right.

Goofballs in High Places

This was the week that Malaysia's soon-to-retire Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad declared that "The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They got others to fight and die for them." This was also the week that the the Bush Administration denounced Mahathir's statements while simultaneously defending Army Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin's statements about a war between Christiandom and the Muslims.

When criticised for his anti-Jewish statements Mahathir complained that everyone attacks Islam with impunity but when someone says something against the Jews they are accused of anti-Semitism. Mahathir, whose son attended the University of Tulsa, frequently says outrageous things. There's a kernal of truth in what he says but not much more than that. To his credit Mahathir took on Muslims for turning their backs on science and modernity.

For the story on what our General Boykin said about the terrorists hating us because we are a "Christian nation" and the Muslim God being a false God look at NBC. Too many Americans think this way but to have one of our Generals saying these things in public while IN UNIFORM is unacceptable. Especially because Boykin is in the lead on the anti-terrorism effort. Not only is he just plain wrong, but his statements play right into the hands of the terrorists who are trying to convince Muslims that the US war is on Islam, not on terrorism. The General might as well be arming the terrorists with WMD.

Mahathir and Boykin both suffer from what seems like deep-seated religious intolerance. Fortunately Mahathir is retiring. President Bush should have denounced Boykin for his "intolerance while in uniform" and put him at a desk job in a remote area.

Inhofe Endorses Humphries

US Senator Jim Inhofe wasted no time in holding a press conference to endorse OKC mayor Kirk Humphries to fill the US Senate seat being vacated by Don Nickles. Inhofe will apparently play a very major role in Humphries campaign. I have no doubt that Inhofe and the Daily Oklahoman have been working on the Humphries deal for a long time.

Congressman Istook anounced a couple of days ago that he had decided not to run for Nickles' seat afterall. Word in Republican circles is that after Inhofe told Istook he would be supporting Humphries, Istook bowed out. Istook is reportedly very peeved at the heavyhanded and early endorsement by Inhofe. In his un-announcement speech Istook repeatedly stated that the Republican Party should not be deciding "for the people" who the Republican nominee will be. He made it quite clear he was upset with the old boy network in the Republican Party (Jim Inhofe et al) that has apparently annointed Kirk Humphries and is dead set against having a contest in the Republican primary.

I was sitting with a group of Republicans watching the news coverage of the Inhofe press conference today and was interested to hear them all say that an endorsement by Inhofe was, to them, the kiss-o-death for whatever or whomever Inhofe was endorsing. "If Inhofe is for him I'm against him," said one. There's a surprising number of Republicans that are uncomfortable with Jim Inhofe representing them - but so far, not enough to defeat the man.

I'll look forward to learning more about Humphries stands on issues. All I know so far is that he is ultra-conservative and controversial (according to Cam Edwards). I have some personal experiences with Humphries that I'll go into later.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side we wait to find out if Drew Edmondson or Brad Carson will throw their hats in.

Bill O'Reilly, Unfair and Imbalanced

I know this is not surprising either, but if you happened to be listening to the program "Fresh Air" on NPR yesterday you heard the host, Terry Gross, interview Bill O'Reilly and you heard him cut off the interview. Seems Bill wasn't happy that Terry was not limiting 100% of her questions to the topic of his new book. He got angry and hung up on her.

I listen to Fresh Air all the time and Terry Gross is one of the best interviewers around. She asks intelligent questions in a calm and rational manner. During the interview yesterday I thought she was giving O'Reilly an opportunity to answer some of the accusations thrown at him by Al Franken and others. I thought he was doing a good job of answering those accusations and he was winning some points with me. He was typically humorless and cocksure of himself but all-in-all he was proving himself to be human. Terry was doing him a favor I thought - because she had interviewed Al Franken earlier and this was O'Reilly's chance to set the record straight. I saw nothing wrong with Gross' interview but suddenly O'Reilly became quite nasty and a little abusive and then hung up. That night he went on to further derogatory statements about Gross and NPR on his TV program.

O'Reilly has a few good ideas but I gave up listening to his program because he is so mean-spirited and abusive to his guests. I just won't support that kind of programming or behavior. To her credit, Gross ran the interview with O'Reilly even though O'Reilly said she wouldn't have the guts to do so. She did. She's a class act. He's behaves like an obnoxious bully.

Pat Robertson Says Something Stupid

I know this is not surprising, but he is entertaining. His latest foolish statement came in an interview on his 700 Club program on CBN. Robertson interviewed Joel Mowbray about Mowbray's new book, "Dangerous Diplomacy." The book concludes with the assertion that if Mowbray could just set off a nuclear device in Foggy Bottom, the world would be a better place.

Robertson, TV evangelist that he is, agrees with Mowbray. Here's the
transcript of the conversation. I'm sure Robertson doesn't really advocate blowing up the State Department but he doesn't appreciate their work. But thank goodness they are handling diplomacy and Robertson isn't.

I have some problems with the insular and elitist culture within the State Department but I believe there is increasing evidence that if the professionals at State had been listened to that we would not have half the problems we are having in Iraq now. If you watched the PBS program Frontline last night you'd know what I mean. More on that soon.

Muskogee Schools Crack Down on blatant Scarf Wearing

Unsatisfied with the national attention received when they expelled a young boy last year for pointing his finger and saying "kapow", Muskogee schools today expelled a young Muslim girl for wearing a head scarf. The parents of the girl explained that the head covering is required by their religion but school authorities rejected the claim. "Who ever heard of makin' someone wear a rag on their hay-yed fer church purposes," said Goober Monks, principal of the Muskogee school. "We aren't half as stoopid as these people think we are. The headscarf is gang in-sig-nee-uh and she's got to take it off."

So Long Don Nickles, Hello Kirk Humphries

The pragmatic Don Nickles is leaving us after many years in the US Senate. Announcing he would not run for re-election today - the Ponca City native said he wanted to return to the private sector. Although Nickles was extremely conservative he also had a pragmatic streak to him - not a complete idealogue. I'm not sure we'll end up with anyone better.

The Oklahoma Publishing Company (Daily Oklahoman) is not-so-secretly behind Oklahoma City mayor Kirk Humphries and the word is that they want Humphries in Nickles' vacated seat. More on Humphries later.

Any moderates out there wanting to run?

Tulsa Community College

The Tulsa World broke a story today about the Regents for the Tulsa Community College system quietly voting very generous "golden parachute" deals for the top four or five executives. According to the World, President Van Trese is set to carry off about $1 million when he retires in the next few years. The Regents call it a "retention package" so these valuable assets won't leave. TCC faculty and workers call it an extraordinarily selfish nest lining by the guys at the top.

The fact that the TCC leadership didn't tell anyone about their cushy deal until they found out the Tulsa World was onto the story says they thought they could get away with keeping it a secret. I don't blame them - I'd be ashamed too. Especially when faculty is paid so poorly. One adjunct professor told me he gets a whopping $1600 per semester for teaching.

Now I think public servants often get shafted and are underappreciated and should be paid better and more in line with the private sector - but copying the selfish greed of Enron-type CEOs is not what I have in mind. I'm sure Van Trese deserves a good retirement after serving the community for decades - but $1 million on top of years of a decent salary? No. Not when everyone in the middle and at the bottom of his organization get shafted.

I'm almost shocked that the Tulsa World actually did some investigative reporting. The World is a good paper but not known for good investigative reporting. It's about time.

Disfunctional Design

I've had it with the designers of televisions and VCRs. Surely, after a few decades they would figure out that placing the coaxial cable inputs and outputs within a few microns of a protruding edge makes it impossible to get your fingers positioned to screw or unscrew the cable? Have you noticed this? Why don't the manufacturers make their TVs and VCRs so you can actually get your fingers around the cable? This is a no-brainer folks.

State Fair Story #1

I saw Elvis on the trolley at the Tulsa State Fair. He was 55-ish,dressed in black leather, had the big black shades, pompadour, sideburns, rings on every finger, gold necklace, the works - and he was with his family. His wife didn't look like Priscilla Presley though - more of a Ruth Ann. His low-cut black undershirt that almost revealed his nipples was off-putting. He had a weary, "I'm so sick of being recognized" look on his face.

Elvis' wife seemed pleased to be married to Elvis - she made a point of calling after one of their offspring. "Roy Orbison!, you git yoor butt on thet be-unch!" What came to mind was the torture little Roy Orbison must go through on Parents Day at school.

California, Enough!!

I've heard about all I want to hear about California for at least a couple of years. I'm so sick of the medias frenzy over the election I could just - turn it off. Which is what I did. I'll turn it back on in a couple of days hoping that their looney election thingy is over and done with. Then maybe we can hear about some other matters - silly little things like war and peace.

I forgot what I was calling about

I heard a good radio advert tonight. It advertised pills that will immediately improve your memory, make you mentally sharper and downright smart. I am not currently taking the pills so I am only 98% sure that the product advertised was called MemoryMax. The best part is that they guarantee your money back if the pills don't sharpen your faculties. The problem I anticipate is that I'll call them and want my money back and they will refuse - because I'm obviously sharper now than I was when I ordered their pills in the first place.

Working with the Ambitious

Have you ever worked with a person that was nice to your face but undermined you behind your back? Of course you have. Have you ever worked with someone that absolutely insisted on doing things his/her way even if it meant extra work for everyone else? Well I have too.

At work I had the displeasure of working with a young lady like this recently. Behind my back, she would obliquely let others know that every problem was because old Alfalfa Bill just didn't quite have his wits about him. She never said anything to my face, but I overheard enough to know. She was young, ambitious, and just back from an internship back East. If she had to undermine others to rise to the top - so be it. And she was successful.

It was interesting to watch this young lady operate. One of the most interesting incidents was when she joined the project team late but insisted on redoing the databases we had started in one software program into different programs she was more familiar with. She didn't actually insist - she just did it - without asking anyone. The project never recovered because in the process of reloading the data into her favored program - much of the data was lost. She blamed it on the rest of us. And our supervisors believed her. She was attractive, articulate, very self assured, had connected parents, and determined. Our supervisors believed her.

When the project was over she was offered a better job. The rest of the team is still waiting.

Ron's Hamburgers

I've been meaning to say something about Ron's Hamburgers and Chili and their absolutely great hamburgers. There are around 10 of these hamburger stands in NE Oklahoma - mostly in and around Tulsa. I highly recommend their hamburgers and Spanish Fries (french fries + jalapenos and onions). I can't wait for them to grow into central Oklahoma.

The Tulsa Vision 2025 Projects Pass by Wide Margin

As Dustbury noted today regarding the Tulsa vote on Vision 2025 :

For years and years, Tulsa has thought of itself as Oklahoma's Dallas, and that other city down 66 was Fort Worth, nothing more. Tulsa has had better convention facilities, a spiffier downtown, more hotel rooms — and today none of it matters, as a refurbished Oklahoma City shoots for the big time and Tulsa descends into tedious Lubbockhood.

Well, within three years Tulsa will be right up there with the latest infrastructure because the county passed all four parts of the bond issues. Tulsa not only passed all four but passed them overwhelmingly - by margins of 60 - 40. The magnitude of the yes vote far surpassed the margin by which Oklahoma City passed the MAPS project a few years ago. The vote indicates that Tulsans are quite determined to compete.

Israel's Coverage of Gov. Henry's Trip

Brad Henry arrives in Israel today and Israel National News characterizes the trip as a "business delegation". The newspaper identifies the sponsor of the trip as the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC).

The Henry Administration has not released a list of mission members, with the exception of the Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture and State Senator Bruce Price, known for his deep interest in Israel. While the mission is portrayed as a "business mission" there is apparently no one from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce or State Chamber on the trip. When asked what business meetings the Oklahoma delegation has in Israel the Governor's office was unable or unwilling to name any. Other sources say that the trip is actually designed as an effort to politically please the Jewish community in Oklahoma more than it is a business mission to develop trade or investment between Oklahoma and Israel. According to Israel's office in New York, Israel is Oklahoma's 39th largest export market. Not exactly a hot market.

Hope the Governor has a nice (4th) vacation.

What to do with $80 billion?

WASHINGTON - President Bush wants billions of dollars more to pay for U.S. troops in Iraq and rebuilding the country, and congressional aides say the figure could top $80 billion in the upcoming budget year.

Just think what we could do with this $80 billion in the United States!!!

I don't mind helping people elsewhere - but many many Iraqis don't seem to want our help. They need it, but if they are so foolish and ungrateful let's hand it over to the UN and get out. Rumsfeld and Wolfiwitz failed to see the consequences of their aggressive and futile design to remake the Middle East and failed to plan for it. Nonetheless, it seems like the Iraqis want to blame everyone (mainly their liberators) but themselves for their predicament.

Campaign Fun

Driving in Tulsa today I noticed a lot of the blue and yellow "Vote Yes" signs had the word "NO" glued over them. Probably the work of a juvenile that doesn't realize tampering with the signs is a misdemeanor. Not many people realize that it is also illegal for citizens to remove signs - from public right-of-ways. It's been a couple of years though since I heard of anyone being prosecuted on this law however.

Both the NO and the YES sides of the Vision 2025 campaign accuse each other of removing the others' signs and doing other nasty things to each other. There's probably a bit of truth to it but I've worked in enough campaigns to know how impossible it is to control one's "own people". Overly exuberant partisans get carried away and start running over the opposition signs or making harassing calls to their campaign headquarters. That's life in a campaign. It's interesting but not the conspiracy some like to believe.

I did go to one of the recent TV debates on Vision 2025. It was pretty interesting. Mayor LaFortune and Michael Bates both did well in presenting their cases. The producers asked the audience not to applaud until the end of the debate but I noticed the NO supporters had a particularly hard time restraining themselves and listening to the directions. At Batesline Michael gives his take on some of these events.

At the event I went to I noticed Todd Huston, Gary Richardson and Doug Dodd sitting in the back sniggering in each others' ears throughout the debate. This was before they lost the Huston lawsuit against the vote.

Governor Henry to Israel

According to sources in the Jewish Federation of Oklahoma Governor Henry will be slipping out of the state on Sunday for an all-expenses paid (by Israel and the Federation) 8-day trip to Israel. They do this for every governor. It's a perfect opportunity for Israel to sell their story to American political leaders like Henry. You can bet Governor Henry won't be hearing the "Palestinian viewpoint" while in Israel.

As Cam Edwards points out at his interesting blog, Henry has been on three vacations in three months - far beyond what any state employee can get. What Cam forgets to mention is that Henry seems to be on vacation even when he's not. Has anyone seen him?

So How Much is Boeing Worth?

Some, such as Bitweever, have questioned whether communities should be providing incentives to giant corporations such as Boeing to set up operations in their community. It's a good question. The question comes up because Tulsa is trying to attract Boeing with a sales tax bond issue called Vision 2025. The answer is that providing such incentives is a worldwide fact of economic life and if a community or country refuses to face this fact pragmatically that community will not get that investment. To not face that fact is as futile as refusing to recognize gravity.

Should we provide incentives (tax breaks, subsidies) for every company? It depends on what they bring to the economic table. It depends on numbers and types of jobs they bring and how much ripple effect they have on the community's economic health. Yes, we must pick and choose on the basis of the benefits they bring. Boeing is a no-brainer. Here's why:

Economic clusters form around behemoths like Boeing and AA. You can't take the subsidy, divide it by how many people work at Boeing, and get anything meaningful as a result (although nay-sayers try). The spinoffs from a Boeing investment in Tulsa would ripple far beyond just the jobs at Boeing. Thousands of small businesses in Tulsa would get business from Boeing - everyone from printers to aircraft parts subcontractors. It doesn't stop there. The printers and the subcontractors spend their increased income on dining out, buying computers, etc etc. Companies like Boeing, CITGO, AA etc create a vortex of economic development that reaches deep into all of our lives. Are they worth attracting, even with calculated incentives? Yes.

That, is economic reality.

Gary Richardson and Todd Huston Lose Case to Stop Vision 2025

Judge Roy Moore, which version of the Ten Commandments?

Many of the Christians who are calling for Judge Roy Moore's monument of the Ten Commandments to be placed in our public buildings are asking our nation to annoint the great code as the basis of our judicial system. But who's version would they like for us to annoint?

Poor Man on an On-ramp


Last weekend I was getting on an onramp when my passenger asked me to pull over and pick up an elderly gentleman seated on a briefcase. He was thin, frail and dressed in a rumpled suit - in 100 degree weather. The old fellow hopped into my car with his briefcase in his lap and told us he needed to meet someone across town at a certain offramp. "A kid is supposed to meet me there and give me a ride to Illinois," he whimpered. On the ride he explained that his wife had died in Arizona and he was on his way to live with his daughter in a small town in Illinois. Having been burned so many times I was suspicious - but it seemed like this gentleman might really be in tough times. I volunteered to give him $20 to see him on his way to Illinois.

Today, I spotted the same man, at the same on-ramp, seated on the same briefcase - waiting for some chump to pick him up and take him across town.

Stillwater Awash in Texans

I continue to get rumblings from Stillwater that new OSU President David Schmidley continues to move old Texas buddies in to replace Oklahomans in his administration. The dissatisfaction has moved from the faculty into the Regents, a couple of whom plan to challenge Schmidley to explain the magnitude of the Texas influx. One regent said it was normal for a chief executive to bring one or two old colleagues in with him/her but that Schmidley has gone far beyond what is normal. Whitehurst, the OSU building where the administration is housed, has become known around campus as Texas Central.

Latest talk around campus is that Schmidley plans to bring another Texan in to run a new community outreach program or project he is putting together. It wouldn't seem to make since to start a new outreach program to communities with an out-of-stater that lacks knowledge of the state. We really do have some smart people in Oklahoma Mr. Schmidley.

Todd Huston's Game

I don't have anything against the "No" on Vision 2025 Campaign in Tulsa - they have a right to argue their case. I don't agree with them - but that's OK. But now the small group of people in Tulsa that oppose the Vision 2025 projects have tried to take the debate outside the realm of civic discussion and off to the courts. Their intent is obviously to stop the vote - and that is not OK.

The Tulsa NO campaign apparently got former Tulsa City Councilman Todd Huston to file a desperation lawsuit against the upcoming vote. The suit could prevent the people of Tulsa County from voting on the issue. The suit claims "logrolling", or putting several different issues in one vote. Todd Houston has reportedly enlisted the aid of Gary Richardson, the rich personal injury attorney that ran unsuccessfully for Governor last year, to help with the lawsuit.

I don't think this suit is about logrolling. If it was, the suit would have been filed weeks ago and not at the 11th hour - the language of the vote has been known for months. This is really an attempt to stop a vote because the opponents now believe they are going to lose the vote. This is an overused anti-democratic tactic that losers in our democratic system use to overturn a majority vote or to stop one from happening. We have seen this in the Oklahoma cockfighters attempts to reverse the peoples' vote to ban their cruel "sport" and we see it in California with a mid-term recall vote on the Governor. Now we see this sort of poor democratic sportsmanship in Tulsa by the anti-Vision group. This sort of gamesmanship is reprehensible and should not be used to stop the people from exercising their will.

This attempt to hijack the election not only endangers democracy but it has the very real potential of scaring Boeing off from investing in Tulsa. At the very least it makes recruiting Boeing that much more difficult. If , heaven forbid, this game did cost Tulsa thousands of high-paying aviation jobs I think Todd Houston and the group he fronts for should have to tell each and every person without a job just why they thought their actions were justified.

I hope the proponents of Vision 2025 will expose Huston's move for the political gamesmanship it is. The people won't like having their right to decide denied them.

Sidenote: There is nothing at all wrong with running for elected office and losing. I admire people who tilt against the wind even if it is for a seemingly hopeless cause. People who run for election and lose have more moral authority to speak out than those who don't run for elective office or don't vote. That said, I cannot help but notice that every single leader I can think of in the NO campaign in Tulsa has run for office recently and been defeated. I don't know if the issues they were defeated on relate directly to the Vision 2025 projects but they might want to reflect on that possibility.

The Tulsan Exclusive Reveals Brain-sucking Bush

As The Tulsan reports, shocking photos have surfaced showing President Bush sucking the brains out of donors.

James Madison on Freedom

Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?

Abraham Lincoln on Religious Freedom:

The United States government must not undertake to run the Churches. When an individual, in the Church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked.

I'd want to add that the churches should not attempt to run the government.

Freedom of and from Religion at Stake in Alabama

Although this isn't directly about Oklahoma it could, but for the grace of God, be happening in our state ....

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s attempt to defy the federal courts and keep a Ten Commandments display in the state Judicial Building may be nearing an end, according to Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State. This broohah has cost Alabamans a lot of money already and Judge Moore is determined to drag everyone along with him as he behaves badly by pushing conflict between Americans on religious issues.

But the money isn't the most important issue at stake. If Moore and his supporters had their way the US would edge toward becoming a Christian theocracy. They don't use those terms of course but let's not kid ourselves about their real agenda. They want to force everyone to recognize their religious beliefs as the standard - as the recognized religion in America. If we don't stop them we will all pay a price in freedom down the road.

Many Christians realize that gaining government sponsorship can be the kiss of death for their church. These Christians look at what has happened to the official churches in Europe and realize that when the government gets involved in religion - both suffer. In fact, in Western Europe, membership in the "official" churches has dropped dramatically in the last century.

It is a relief that Moore seems to be out in right field on this and has no support in judicial circles. Nonetheless, Moore's supporters pose a threat to our freedoms and we need to take that threat seriously.

Oklahoma Blogger Alert

I found a new Oklahoma blogger with some interesting observations on life. Check out The Soundtrack to My Life.

Clifton Taulbert's Surprising Climax

I went to a two-hour long talk by author Clifton Taulbert tonight. It was very unusual. Taulbert, the author of several great books like "Once Upon a Time When We were Colored" and "The Eight Habits of the Heart" lives in Tulsa but gives lectures all over the world - as he will often remind you.

tonight's lecture was at a church and thus the theme was to tie his Eight Habits of the Heart book to a Christian message. You have to respect Taulbert's apparently sincere religious feelings and his success story. He's a very good speaker - a quiet voice that reasons with the audience. But after almost two hours I was ready to go when it seemed that he was bringing the lecture to an end. I was standing up ready to go when he launched into "singing in tongues".

Some of you will be familiar with Pentecostal "speaking in tongues" and some of you won't. It's when God gives you a joyful language with which to talk to him. To others it sounds like gibberish. Well, Taulbert went on singing and talking in "gibberish" for a good ten minutes while the audience stood. Some joined in and others stood politely waiting, and waiting, and waiting for it to end. Can you see that picture? A crowd of several thousand standing and watching/listening to Taulbert walk around in front of them for ten minutes singing unaccompanied, "in tongues". If this had been in New York he'd have been arrested.

I remember the first time I went to a church that practiced speaking in tongues. I was a teenager. I had never heard of speaking in tongues. Suddenly, halfway through the hour, at an unseen signal, everyone (except me) started babbling incoherently and gesticulating wildly. I was scared $%#@less!! What the hell was going on? Had everyone on earth suddenly been zapped with an alien signal that caused them to go berzerk? How had I been spared?

After living in Oklahoma for many more years I'm used to this now. I respect the practicioners for their sincere beliefs but it still seems - well, really hard to believe. But it's harmless isn't it?

Word on the Street on Vision 2025

The pro-Vision 2025 campaign in Tulsa seems to be gaining steam as more and more Tulsa County voters realize what is at stake for the county. Just judging by what I overhear in the city my perception is that people that don't normally get politically active are finally determined to put a stop to the decline of Tulsa and the surrounding cities. One elderly lady I overheard today said that she had voted against the previous two efforts but was going to vote "yes" this time because her children asked her to "for my grandchildren's sake."

Some of the reasons I've heard for voting "no" on Vision 2025 leave me cold. My neighbor said she was going to vote "no" because her children have already grown up and moved away. "Why should I pay for other people's kids?" she said. When I asked her why her kids moved away from Tulsa she said it was because they couldn't find the jobs they wanted in Tulsa. She doesn't see the connection between quality of life and jobs - or between infrastructure and quality of life. I think her attitude displays an all-too-common selfishness among us. If it doesn't directly benefit ME then I'm against it. Where is the sense of community with these people?

Another blogger expresses sympathy with the "no" folks because he thinks Tulsa should be unique and not seek to duplicate what Oklahoma City has done. What is left unsaid is that Oklahoma City, by investing in its infrastructure over the past decade, has succeeded at improving its quality of life and spurring economic development. Just take a look at the number of quality companies that have opened new operations in OKC this last year - and compare it with Tulsa. Tulsa should not be too proud to want to duplicate that kind of success. To be uniquely underdeveloped is no vision for a great metro area like Tulsa.

There are two kinds of businesspeople, those who invest in their business and grow it and those who don't - and slowly kill it. A city or county is no different. You've got to invest in it if you plan on maintaining it or handing it off to your children someday.

Republican National Committee hires India-based Telemarketers?

As Juscuz notes "In what can only be a test of voter loyalty in the face of an economy suffering from massive job loss the RNC has hired a firm in India to do their fundraising calls." Juscuz points out the irony of President Bush running around the country calling for job creation and his RNC simultaneously hiring a telemarketing firm in India to call Americans and ask them to contribute to the President's campaign. If this is true, the RNC decision-maker has some explaining to do.

I have nothing against India or Indians or international free-flow of services but to have citizens of another country hired to do fundraising for our political parties is inappropriate in the extreme. How callous can the RNC be?

Early Primary Brings Oklahoma a Little Attention

Oklahoma has been ignored by presidential candidates for decades so in one of its rare moments, the Legislature moved our 2004 primary to February 3rd - one week after the New Hampshire primary, the nation's first. As the Washington Post notes from Stillwater:


STILLWATER, Okla., Aug. 12 -- Democratic presidential hopefuls visited a state today that has been virtually ignored in past races, bringing with them their criticism of the Bush administration.

Oklahoma City has competition for Base

As reported in the Christian Science Monitor, Warner Robins, Georgia is in competition with Oklahoma City to keep their Air Force Bases - and the Georgia town has a war chest and a dedicated organized effort to go to battle. Is Oklahoma ready to fight to keep Tinker Air Force Base?

The Oklahoma Connection to Space Wedding

You probably heard about the first wedding in space this past week when orbiting Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko exchanged marriage vows with grounded Ekaterina Dmitriev. What you might not know of is the Oklahoma connection to the story. The bride's father is a professor of Russian at Oklahoma State University.

Dmitriev was born in Russia and moved to the Houston area when she was 3-1/2 years old. She received her US citizenship in 1995. Her mother works at NASA. Dmitriev first met Malenchenko five years ago at a social gathering in Houston, and the two started dating in 2002. She will reportedly be returning to Russia to live with him when he returns.

Will CITGO leave Tulsa?

Venezuela-owned CITGO has announced it may uproot its North American HQ from Tulsa and move it to Houston. This could be yet another blow to Tulsa and the state if it happens. CITGO has been a very positive corporate citizen in Tulsa and employs a thousand people in the state.

Until recently, CITGO was run by a Venezuelan that loved Tulsa and intended to stay. Unfortunately, he was replaced some months ago by a loyalist to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who immediately ordered a study of whether CITGO should move to Houston.

At the same time that CITGO's pro-Tulsa president was replaced, Governor Brad Henry's Administration let the only Latin American specialist at the Department of Commerce go - a lady that had worked hard to establish a close relationship with CITGO and to assure they were happy in Oklahoma. With the state's primary link to the company's Venezuelan leadership gone - there was no one left that understood the company's inner culture. As the Miami Herald reports today, Houston moved quickly to stepup efforts to entice the new leadership to move to Houston. The leadership of the State of Oklahoma and Tulsa were apparently clueless about what was going on. This despite the common knowledge that the Houston Partnership (their Chamber of Commerce) continues to aggressively recruit Tulsa's remaining energy companies.

On the news tonight Governor Brad Henry was asked what he thought about yet another big company moving its HQ out of Oklahoma. Looking like a deer caught in headlights, the Governor murmured something about how CITGO really loved Oklahoma and that he'd be talking to CITGO. Belatedly, the Governor is now trying to meet with CITGO executives but CITGO seems in no hurry. Insiders at CITGO say they are frustrated the Governor had not moved earlier to court the new CITGO leadership. They also lament that Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Kathryn Taylor had relied on her ties to the equally clueless American side of CITGO's middle-management - naively thinking they called the shots at CITGO. And they don't. The Venezuelans do.

Oklahoma might lose CITGO (I hope not!) but we'd stand a better chance if our leaders were savvy.

Peeping Uncle Sam

As Cam Edwards alerts us:

"The US Postal Service may soon be tracking your mail. Yep, sounds like something out of "1984", but it's the proposal in a government report."

Read his comments and the link. This is an issue I think liberals and conservatives can surely agree on? Some in government are turning security into an overriding obsession - overriding liberty and our way of life. It's exactly what the terrorists wanted. We've got to put a stop to this.

What's Up with J.C.?

If you want to keep up with former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watt's activities just check at his website for the J.C. Watts companies. According to his webpage he's pretty busy with: "providing comprehensive public opinion research, image and brand marketing, issue advocacy and coalition building, diversity consulting, U.S. and international business development and crisis communication management." Pretty busy guy I guess.

In March he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Dillards. What is "diversity consulting" anyway?

Bootyliciousness

it was not. I was helping a reverend load some things into his SUV today when he bent over to pick up a box. To my horror I caught sight of his big butt crack glaring me in the face. I averted my eyes but not before the vision was seared into my brain. Try as I might I can't get the image of 6 inches of hairy fat ass out of my mind. My family went out to eat tonight but I just couldn't eat.

I've been seeing too much of this sort of cleavage lately. I wouldn't mind so much if it was attractive female posteriors - but it's not. It's invariably on some ugly-ass boy or man. Around the mall and in fast food eateries I've seen a parade of inadequately covered posteriors - of teenage boys walking around with their oversized jeans hanging around their thighs with boxer shorts displayed for all to see. I don't mean the boxer waistband - I mean the whole undergarment. Usually old, dirty, boxers. Sometimes the booty is exposed as well. What is this?

Is it possible to have your butt flapping in the wind and not know it? To find out I tried this at home. No, it is not possible to be oblivious to this condition unless you have no feeling at all in your butt. My conclusion is therefore that these people must know and must be doing this to us with full knowledge. This leads me to ponder what they are trying to signal.

Do ugly-ass males think that dirty boxers and flabby cheeks are attractive to others? Is it the equivalent of a lightning bug's glowing bum? Is this the new risque' haute couture? Or are the butt people showing their disdain for me and this signal is a kind of passive flip-off? Or are these just ignorant troglodytes too stupid to pull up their pants?

I just hope I can sleep tonight.

Will Bush Give in Again?

As Salon reports, Bush is thinking of cutting a little bit off the billions the US sends Israel every year. Why? Because Israel's Sharon refuses to stop building the giant fence meant to wall off the Palistinians from Israelis. The wall has been widely critized as a new Berlin Wall of the Middle East. It has also been criticized because its construction is more permanently cutting Palestinians off from land that has been taken from them by illegal expansionist Jewish settlements that the US has been calling for a stop to for years.

As intensely pro-Israel a president as we've ever had, President Bush has called on Sharon on a number of occassions to stop his aggressive tactics towards the Palistinians. Sharon and Israel have repeatedly thumbed their noses at the requests of their best friend. Each time Bush has been embarrassed by Sharon's brush-off Bush has quickly caved in and dropped his demands. Meanwhile, we have continued to pour billions in our tax money into Israel.

It's high time the US cut our subsidy of Israel while they ignore our requests. Let's not be surprised however if Bush caves in on this matter as well.

Tourist Info Centers in Oklahoma

During a recent cross-country drive I noticed that other states have placed their tourist information centers next to the highway - with easy on-off access for drivers. What a brilliant idea!! This is a tactic that the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation must have discarded if they ever even considered it in the first place. Our tourist info centers are invariably located off the highway in impossibly difficult-to-get-to locations that even locals can't get to.

Take the relatively new and expensive Oklahoma tourist info stop in Oklahoma City at the junction of I-35 and the Turner Turnpike. To stop, a tourist has to get off the highway completely, go around a loop and down a street and into a parking lot. Just for fun, next time you pass this area try to get to it. If you do blunder into it with luck you'll notice that the parking lot is empty. There are several of these new centers around the state - everyone of them impossible to get to.

We have many controlled access turnpikes in Oklahoma yet do you think the Tourism Dept. would put the tourist info centers on the turnpikes with easy on-off access? Nooooooo!! That would make too much friggin sense.

An Impression of Oklahoma

On Wednesday, May 28, Sue Nahm and Alex Tsai set out from Cleveland, Ohio for Santa Monica, California. They documented their trip, including Oklahoma, in their weblog. This is part of what they had to say about Oklahoma:

Once we crossed the border into Oklahoma, the flat lands and blue skies beckoned, while Tom Petty sang 'Into the Great Wide Open' on the stereo. The speed limit hit 75 miles per hour, which meant that we could drive 82 miles per hour without any fear of harassment from the 5-0. We stopped briefly in Vinita, OK for blue raspberry ice shavings and to order French fries at the world's largest McDonald's just outside the town of Vinita.

The sun started disappearing as we rolled into Tulsa, OK. All of the radio stations are playing country music, which isn't half bad. We picked up dinner at a local cookie-cutter Tex-Mex chain restaurant, ate dinner in the hotel room while watching the news intently for more details on the Laci Peterson case, and slept for 9 hours.

America's heartland is a strange place. Billboards reading JESUS IS LORD and PORNOGRAPHY DESTROYS EVERYONE are common. Across the street from Oral Roberts University, the monstrous Victory Christian Fellowship Center (advertising the 'Word Explosion 2003' conference) sits in all of its triumphalistic glory. That was the largest church building we spotted on our cross-country tour, unfortunately. We didn't get to see any of the megachurches that are said to populate the landscape of the south and midwest.

Not too far off the mark except that elsewhere they describe Eastern Oklahoma as full of red dirt and wheat fields. So they mixed up Western Oklahoma with Eastern Oklahoma - most people "from away" can't even locate the central states of the USA on a labeled map.

Cam Edwards on Bush and Democrats

You can count me among those disappointed in Bush policies like the USA Patriot Act, the lack of control over deficit spending, and even the No Child Left Behind Act (an attempt to appease the NEA while trying to improve public schools). That being said, I look at the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates and don't see one I would feel comfortable supporting.

I too fear the choices don't look too good at this point. I hope a hero emerges. I know it won't happen but I wish Colin Powell would give it a try. Will we ever find a wise pragmatist with vision?

Safe Medicines' Misleading Ads hit Oklahoma

In the last week on Oklahoma radio stations I've heard advertisements sponsored by a group called "Safe Medicines". The ads warn consumers of the danger of imported medicines and urges them to use local, American pharmacies. The ad I heard urges Oklahomans to call Oklahoma Congressman Brad Carson to ask him to protect American consumers from questionable imported medicines. Only if you know what's behind this ad would you know how outrageous it is.

Nowhere in the ad does "Safe Medicines" mention Canada - but the importation or re-importation of American, Canadian and British drugs from Canada is what "Safe Medicines" is trying to stop. Millions of Americans are buying their medicines from Canada for the simple reason that the price they pay for a drug from Canada is much lower than the price we pay for the same drug in the USA. Canada puts caps on drug prices - we don't. US pharmacies and drug companies do not like this trend - and rather than lower their prices in the US their greedy solution is to cut off Americans' access to drugs from Canada.

Take a look at Safe Medicines' website. Who are their sponsors? The National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. While these may be fine organizations they are not people who stay up late at night worrying if your Grandmother can afford her medicine.

This is a classic case of businesses masquerading as a consumer group and using misleading advertising to scare consumers into doing the businesses' bidding. Rather than call Brad Carson and ask him to help cut off our access to medicines call him at (918) 341-9336 and ask him to protect your right to buy drugs from Canada - or whereever you want to.

Shame on the American drug industry for their greediness and their dishonest tactics. See what AARP has to say here.

Oklahoma Iraqis

Many Iraqis got their education in Oklahoma. A recent story in the Washington Post qoutes one of those Iraqis who was helping the Post reporter with his story on hunting down bad guys in Iraq:

Eventually I ask my translator what he thinks. A former Iraqi Airways flight engineer who studied in Oklahoma, Naseer Nori has at this point assisted me with more than 15 hours of interviews with Azzawi. We have visited the ex-cop's family twice.

Dish vs Cable

I have to laugh when I see those Cox Cable ads that feature disgruntled dish subscribers whose programming connection fails when "the dog wags his tail". I have Cox cable service and the outages are so frequent I'm afraid I've missed many of their anti-dish ads. Channels are so frequently unavailable I'm wondering is satellite dish could be any less reliable.

Tony Blair for President

Did you catch UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's appearance on Capitol Hill today? What a class act. Watching him debate in Parliament is even more fun. Blair is incredibly articulate - even if I didn't like most of his policies I would wish him as our President. Can you imagine a debate between Bush and Blair?

What pains me is how awfully bad Bush and Rumsfeld have treated Blair - their best foreign friend.

Unwanted Spam Faxes

It's bad enough getting all the unwanted spam in our mailboxes but can you believe the lowlifes that send advertisements to your fax machine? I don't know how these creeps get people's personal fax numbers but I know I don't give my fax number to ANYONE but family - still, I get an average of one unsolicited ad by fax at home every day. Today I recieved one advertising a "Rapid Weight Loss program by "Dr. Michael Bouchard". There is no address or no way to get off their fax list - at least the sender does not identify how to. They do give an 800 number to call to order their junk but I'm too wary of calling to tell them to stop sending me this stuff - I've heard too many stories of people unwittingly getting charged telephones fees by calling certain numbers.

This is worse than spam because it uses up expensive ink and paper. It should clearly be illegal.

But, I did file a complaint with the FCC. You can easily do this in about 3 minutes at the FCC's online complaint center.

A Lieberman in Tulsa

I received a postcard announcing the appearance of Hadassah Lieberman at the Teamster's Local 523 in Tulsa on July 22nd. Apparently, Jose Geise is the state director for Lieberman. Is Hadassah Joe's wife? Lieberman's sister lives in Norman, Oklahoma.

Lieberman seems to be a principled man but I'm not sure I care for some of his policies. His dedication to the crucial American principle of the separation of church and state is very shakey and at times he seems at least as interested in the welfare of Israel as he does in America's - and the interests of the two are often not the same.

JC Watts in Nigeria

Former Oklahoma Congressman JC Watts showed up in Nigeria when President Bush visited the country last week. Watts just had to be there with the President so he could impress his Nigerian business contacts that he still has stroke with the Prez. Even while Watts was traveling to Nigeria as a Congressman (at gov't expense) the word is that he was trying to negotiate business deals there with, or on behalf of, a Tulsa-based energy company. As a private person Watts is free to do business where he can - the question is, did he do it while he was travelling in an official capacity for the people of the United States? The next question is, can you do business in Nigeria without paying illegal bribes to Nigerian officials? I don't think so.

Tulsa's No-Nicks Get Early Start

The Tulsa version of Oklahoma City's MAPS project is finally ready to go to the ballot in September. It took forever to get the package ready, partly because the Mayor LaFortune was so dis-engaged and partly because it was a grassroots effort. But the anti-tax Ludites got an early start in putting out their "Vote No" signs. I doubt they even know what's in the package Tulsans will be voting on.

The anti-tax and anti-investment crowd in Tulsa has defeated the last two bond issues brought to the citizens and have, as a group, caused the downward spiral of Tulsa over the past decade. Tulsa used to be the proud and progressive city that Oklahoma City envied. But Oklahoma City has invested heavily in itself over the same decade and has blown Tulsa away. If Tulsa doesn't overcome these selfish anti-communitarians in September the city might as well give up hope of ever pulling itself up by its bootstraps.

A Tulsa friend of mine told me last week she's determined to leave for Dallas if the bond issues are voted down this time. As more and more young professionals leave Tulsa for more progressive cities the negative nabobs comprise an ever greater percentage of what remains of Tulsa.

The Great Wall of Tulsa

Last year, the state Transportation Department bought and demolished dozens of houses along I-44 between Yale and Sheridan in Tulsa. The reason for demolishing all these very nice homes at taxpayer's expense was supposedly to widen I-44. In the neighborhood today I see that rather than widen the highway they built a wall where the houses used to be, landscaped the area, planted trees and built a walkway to nowhere. The area that used to have beautiful homes and many families in it is now occupied by homeless people and, judging by the graffiti on the wall, gangs. The highway can't be widened unless they tear out the wall and trees they planted. The question is, why are we paying for this kind of idiotic expenditure? I see no beneficial aspects of this expensive boondoogle at all. Was this a case of a contractor needing some business at state expense?

Tours for "People of Color"


Is this niche marketing or racial divisiveness? I was surprised to receive an e-mail inviting me to subscribe to the "Ethnic Traveler" newsletter - an online publication that "caters to the dynamic (travel) tastes of people of color". Maybe this is something I just missed, but I didn't know that "people of color" (why not just say "non-white" if that's the artificial and exclusionary concept you have in mind) traveled differently than Caucasians. Do Asians have special Asian travel things to do? Do Africans do special Africany things when they travel? Do whites take different airlines than others? What happens if someone advertises a newsletter for white travelers? Isn't this sort of nonsense just racism?

Steak and Potatoes Radio


Commercial radio in Oklahoma is awful. Commercial radio in America is awful. That is unless you like hip-hop, country, Christian, or a narrow spectrum of talk radio. Awful in choice and diversity that is. It's the steak and potatoes of the airwaves.

Just as an experiment I scanned the radio spectrum a few minutes ago and before I gave up I found a choice of several hip-hop or "urban" music stations (gag), a couple of country and western music options (ugh), three channels with preachers hollering at me (who listens to this?), two Christian music stations, four very conservative talk show stations, and several stations playing OLD rock and popular music. Only National Public Radio (NPR) had something to interest me. No cutting-edge music available at all. No politically moderate and in-depth talk shows to listen to. Certainly nothing from the political left on talk radio - not that I'd like that much more than the far right stuff.

I'm glad hip-hop lovers and rightwing folks have their thing to listen to but - What is a politically-moderate person interested in cutting edge music supposed to do? Don't look for help from Clear Channel Radio. Either listen to NPR for synaptic stimulation or go to the Internet. I go to Spinner.com - where you can find everything from Reggae to New Age to Europop to Electronica to listen to. When I can afford it I'll get one of those satellite radios for my car so I can have some choices. I just hope that Clear Channel doesn't buy it and homogenize it before I can experience it.

Easy to be spoiled

I bought a simple bamboo steamer recently. It was made in China. It's hard to find a "Made in USA" bamboo steamer. In reading the instructions on the side of the box it came in I was puzzled by the following English:

"The bamboo steam-cooker can acheieve (sic) better cooking by electric apparature. This steam-cooker set includes a pot for boiling water so that the pot can be heated by gas stove, or magnetice stove."

The operation instructions further advised:

"This steam-cooker made of nature bamboo. In 1st time. Boiling water remains light-brown water color due nature bamboo, no harm health." "If no clean, it will easy to be spoiled."

I was spoiled long ago but I just love reading instructions in English obviously written by non-English speakers. As more and more foreign companies get savvy and have their prose checked by native English speakers it's more difficult to find these gems.

Supreme Court Opens Gates of Hell!!

Well, at least that's what our pastor said in church last Sunday when he was warning us that the Court's striking down of Texas' anti-sodomy law was just the beginning. He said if we hope to stop the legalization of "homosecshul" marriage we had better get serious about only voting for political candidates that will openly declare allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Pastor Billy was just one of the alarmed that I heard from. I listen to talk radio when driving because it is so irritating it keeps me awake - and the coming of the abomination of homosexual marriage was all I heard on the radio this week. Laura Ingram was foaming at the mike on her show tonight - telling me I'd better help get some REAL hardcore conservatives on the Supreme Court.

I find this amusing to some degree - that so-called conservatives would feel the need to try to regulate what consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedrooms. What hypocrites! I don't care what other people do with their bodies as long as they don't hurt others. Gay marriage? Bring it on. It's their right to marry who they please - except I draw the line at animals since who can tell whether it's consensual?

Just a note - have you ever considered the fact that a certain percentage of every animal population is gay? Seagulls have the highest average of gays in their population. It happens, so chill out homophobes.

Hargis Dissed, Biboists Outraged

Biboists in Oklahoma are up in arms over the dissing of Burns Hargis by Governor Brad Henry. As you may recall, Biboists regard the sayings of Burns Hargis as the revealed truth and thus have a high regard for the man that comes to us in the forms of a banker, TV pundit, and Chamber of Commerce official. The offense of the Governor was to agree to appear as keynote speaker at a Hargis-hosted OKC Chamber fund-raising function earlier this year - and then to fail to appear. And to offer no apology, no explanation.

Of course for Henry to fail to show for an event is no great surprise. He does that very often. But, Burns Hargis, was on Henry's Transition Team - a Republican that stuck his neck out to help Democrat Henry. The thanks Hargis gets? Public embarrassment at being stood up by the Governor.

The buzz around Oklahoma is that this governor is the worst in memory at sheer rudeness as exhibited in unkept promises, missed events, very late arrivals, and dissed supporters. Many are overheard saying that the only work this Governor does is to work overtime to rub everyone the wrong way.

A Letter from Walter Cronkite

A "personal" appeal from Walter Cronkite arrived in my mailbox today. "Well, it's about time!", I thought to myself. Walter's letter told me of his disapproval of the Religious Right but singled out Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for attack because they blamed 9-11 on America's ho-hum attitude toward gay marriage, feminism, etc. Walter pointed out that the two Christian Coalition leaders had also, in essence, blamed God for inflicting 9-11 on us in retribution. Walter said he didn't agree with these two characters and said they did not represent most "people of faith" (is this the politically correct way to say "religious folks"?) like him.

Walter was writing on behalf of an organization called the Interfaith Alliance and invited me to contribute to the group's effort to promote an acceptance of all faiths and an agenda of loving kindness rather than a hateful political agenda dressed in religious clothes. Checking the organization's website I see where the Oklahoma City and Tulsa chapters of this group are having a seminar in OKC on Monday, June 29th.

I'm with Walter on this issue with one request - what do they have to say about people of no faith? Do such people exist in equal standing?