Here's how extremist and intransigent Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is: The short-term FAA and surface transportation bill he's holding up passed the House of Representatives. The John Boehner-led House of Representatives. But the bill is not ideologically pure enough for Coburn, and he's holding it up so that it can't be passed by the Friday night deadline at which the FAA once again shuts down. More

If you told me that a bunch of filthy rich people got together every couple of years to plan how to take over the United States and the world I would have told you you were off your rocker crazy.  You've been watching too many conspiracy movies.  If you also told me that one of Oklahoma's most religious political leaders was involved in this Bilderberger-like shadow conspiracy group I would be doubly sure you were crazy.  But I would be wrong.

This past week just such a gathering was brought to light by a secretly-made audio recording that was released to the press.  Oklahoma US Senator Tom Coburn has been involved.  See for yourself - read this article from Mother Jones here.

It should come as no surprise that Tulsa's US Representative John Sullivan recently voted in favor of the outrageous Ryan budget proposal.  Rep. Paul Ryan's 2012 budget proposal was one of the worst attacks on the social safety net in decades.

Economist Paul Krugman called Rep. Ryan's budget bill both "ludicrous" and "cruel." "Ludicrous" because the budget projections were pure fantasy, "cruel" because it proposed massive spending cuts for programs that mainly help children, the poor and the elderly, while slashing taxes for corporations and the ultra-rich.

One of the main programs targeted by the Ryan budget was Medicare, which under the proposal would be destroyed in all but name, and replaced by a voucher program for seniors who'd be dumped into the private insurance market. And if the vouchers didn't cover the cost of insurance, too bad.

Senator Jim Inhofe has garnered some attention recently from the national press for his flying abilities as well as for his refusal to help the State Department diffuse a civil war in the Ivory Coast. Oddly, both stories were ignored by Fox News and almost completely ignored by the Tulsa World and the Daily Oklahoman. In keeping with its tradition, the Tulsa World noted that the national press was covering the story of the Senators dangerous landing on a closed airstrip in Texas but went no further.

One of the few journalists to cover the story at all has been the Atlantic's James Fallows whose stories here and here come as close as most Oklahomans will ever get to reading about what their U.S. Senator is doing to get attention for Oklahoma.