Saturday, June 14, 2003

Mr. Man on the Street

Check out Cam Edwards blog about the "Mr. Man on the Street" - a fellow that the New York Times has featured a hundred times as a random, "man on the street". Apparently, being a "man on the street" is a full-time job, at least in NYC.

I was sorry to see Brill's Content go out of business. It was a mag that kept an eye on the media and watchdoged the Fifth Estate. Now we have blogging to do that - but I still miss Brill's.

The media needs watching. Last year the Daily Oklahoman featured an article about a state agency that was full of errors. I was interested to see how misinformation spreads through the media unchecked. In the case I am aware of several small city newspapers both editorialized on the basis of the DO's bad information and reprinted the misinformation without lifting a finger to confirm any of the "information" with the people misrepresented in the DO story. Even the Tulsa World used the misinformation in the Daily Oklahoman for the basis of an editorial that just further spread the errors as fact. None of the newspapers bothered to check out the story or the DO's story before spreading the errors. After the agency contacted the newspapers to alert them to the weighty errors did they correct the story? What do you think?

Are you with "the Family"?

The interesting Juzcuz brings to our attention a couple of sources on a bizarre story of intrigue that touches on Oklahoma's US Senators Inhofe and Nickles as well as ex-Congressman Largent. The story is that a secretive Christian group of powerful executives and government leaders runs a house in Washington where some Congressmen, including Largent, have lived and that seems to have a strange agenda among world leaders. Much of the story is said to be covered in a Harpers story by a writer named Sharlett. It's almost too bizarre to believe - and I'll be checking it out more thoroughly. In the meantime, you might want to read the links for yourself.

In an earlier blog I told you about hearing the Reverend Billy Joe Daugherty tell a huge audience that Senator Inhofe sets up meetings with leaders in Africa on the pretense of discussing bilateral matters and then uses the meeting to try to "bring the African leader to the Lord". If Senator Inhofe does this, in his capacity as US Senator, it is outrageous. If any of the facts in these articles on "the Family" are correct, it is outrageous, and downright scary. Ok, Oklahoma media, are you going to set on this one?
No Thanks AEP

When American Electric Power was allowed to buy out Public Service Company of Oklahoma a few years ago I thought it meant bad news for Oklahoma and consumers. I still think that. Not only did AEP eliminate jobs in Oklahoma and move them out of state they virtually eliminated PSO's long history of involvement in promoting economic development in Oklahoma. They used to contribute a lot to the state's efforts to recruit new investment into the state - now that assistance is almost non-existent. On top of that, their service is poor - at least their online service is poor. Try to pay your bill online. You can't do it without signing up for a third-party service called Check-Free that will debit your bank account "automatically" when your bill is due. I learned long ago (in Internet years) not to give any company carte blanc to debit my bank account. You can bet that when you end your service account with that company that they WON'T notify the guy/gal that debits your bank account. You always have to go back and forth with such companies to try to straighten out the screwed up accounting.

With SWBell at least it is easy to go online any pay your bill without giving the company the right to drain your bank account as they see fit. Allowing Ohio-based AEP to take over PSO was a big mistake. Thanks Corporation Commission!

Thursday, June 12, 2003

Goo-goo Over the Reverend

The Daily Oklahoman has gone goo-goo over the Rev. Billy Graham who is in OKC this week. The Reverend is front page news (as he should be) and the tone of the paper's coverage is, well, reverential. Today's paper leads off with:

"The Rev. Billy Graham offered thousands of Oklahomans a chance to experience the peace of God as he delivered his first sermon Thursday night during Mission Oklahoma City."

The paper also reports that OKC Mayor Kirk Humphreys offered a personal testimony at the event.

Mike Mass Wants His Seat Back

According to the Daily Oklahoman, Mike Mass of Hartshorne told Oklahoma City radio station KTOK he plans to run again for the District 17 seat in the state House. He gave up the seat to run for Congress but lost to Brad Carson. Now he wants his House of Representatives seat back. I know Mr. Mass is intelligent, but he likes to play the Pa Kettle role of a down home farmer - perhaps a Will Rogers wannabe. This doesn't help with Oklahoma's image.

The first time I saw then-State Representative Mass was at a reception in Oklahoma City. He was the only person there with a straw hat on - the kind you see on the stereotyped hillbilly. I thought it was a joke - but it soon became apparent that the costume wasn't. On another occasion he addressed a group I was in - while dressed in overalls and holding his straw hat. Now, he was kind enough to replace another speaker at the last minute and I cut him some slack for having to come in off the farm. Surely he has a farm to come in off of? Seems like a nice fellow but please, Mr. Mass, don't play the role others like to stereotype Oklahomans into. There's a difference between Norman Rockwell's image of the wise American agrarian and the cartoon hillbilly.

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Ambulance Chaser?

An article buried on page 26 of the Tulsa World last Sunday reports that David M. Garrett, an attorney, was arrested at his law office in Muskogee on Friday. He was arrested for alledged sexual battery charges. He is accused of grabbing women. The article also reported that Garrett was accused of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit in 1995. That matter was settled out of court.

Is this David Garrett the same "ambulance chaser" attorney that advertises on TV and invites people to sue for everything from accidents to drug side effects? The guy whose moto is "I Know What to Do."? You would think that the Tulsa World would tell us whether this is the same guy or not. The Garrett that advertises on TV is widely dispised in Northeast Oklahoma for his commercials. In one such commercial a supposed couple are telling us that they sued a nursing home for malpractice when their mother dies and the actor claims that his "mother" died with dignity because Garrett got a ton of money for him out of the nursing home. Makes you sick.

Sunday, June 08, 2003

Oklahoma Judge Does Pharmacists' Bidding


A state judge has done what the pharmacists wanted him to do, deny Oklahomans access to cheap, good, Canadian pharmacies and their cheaper prices. On the pretense of protecting Oklahomans from "questionable" Canadian pharmacies the Oklahoma Pharmacy Board got an Oklahoma County judge to order the shutdown of Tulsa-based RxDepot because they sold medicine from Canadian pharmacists. Prices for medicines in Canada are much lower than US prices because the Canadian Government has price controls on medicines. Millions of Americans now get their prescription medicine from Canada. The irony is that most (70%) of that medicine from Canada is MADE IN AMERICA! The rest comes from Canada and the United Kingdom - not what you'd consider unreliable sources of medicine.

Of course, prices for medicines in the US are the highest in the world. The medicine makers reap the cream of profits off Americans to subsidize their expansions in foreign markets. Our government lets them, almost invites them, to do this. Our system is broke. Canada's system works pretty well. But we are so blind to good ideas from outside our borders that we don't seem to care what works elsewhere. Our leadership has been without leadership in solving these problems. Could it be because the pharmaceutical companies are among the biggest contributors to their campaigns?

So, the solution? It seems to be to shut down every way consumers have of taking matters into their own hands. Force Americans, including the poor and elderly, to pay through the nose for drugs from American sources.