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?

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!

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.

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.

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.

President Bush. Don't Hold Back!

Today, I noticed an enigmatic billboard in Oklahoma. It's plain, it's ambiguous, it's a tremendous waste of someone's money. It's black and white and says only "President Bush, Don't hold back!" "Hold back on what?", I think. What does this inane statement mean? Is it the Israeli lobby wanting Bush to bag the Palestinians? Is it Forbes wanting Bush to wipe out all taxes rich people have to pay? Is it the oil industry wanting Bush to remove all restrictions on environmental destruction? It could be anything. A search of the Internet reveals nothing about this billboard or campaign. What bugs me is the sheer waste of money to put up a billboard so ambiguous that it says nothing other than the sponsor seems to like something Bush is doing, or about to do. It also says the sponsor has far more money than he/she/it has sense.

Hey, ClearChannel! Look here. Hey, come on!

I'm celebrating this week because the FCC loosened restrictions on giant media conglomerates buying up competing media in the same market. I predict blogging will go commercial and I'm ready to make the move. I've already notified ClearChannel Communications that OkiePundit is up for sale. I await their negotiating team.

Jews for Guns Group Surfaces

If you have been looking for a Jewish organization fighting gun control I've got good news for you. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership is not only fighting gun control but is also out to educate the public on how gun control resulted in the death camps of Nazi Germany. I imagine they will soon release an expose on the link between gun control and 9-11. This is the link-up I feared - when Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership links arms with the Charismatics for Handguns the show's over. Might as well issue me the obligatory handgun now.

Hay Patterns Linked to Agro-Terrorism

Sources at the Dept. of Homeland Farms report that scientists at the University of Northern Oklahoma have developed a methodology for fighting agro-terrorism. Using a maize-based grant from the Bush Administration the researchers conducted secret research utilizing aerial photo surveillance of farmers' fields throughout Oklahoma. "We were doing research on psychoanalyzing farmers by looking at how they distribute those rolls of hay around their farms", said Telmus Bizmo of UNO. "The original intent was to develop an early warning system to detect farmers experiencing pre-depression symptoms when we noticed that foreign farmers from suspect countries use distinctly different distribution patterns for hay bale distribution. I think we have further defined our analysis to the point that we are able to select out terrorists posing as harmless farmers."

"Without giving away too much, our research shows a correlation between a certain style of hay bale distribution pattern and terrorist intentions", said Bizmo. " We still have some challenges distinguishing terrorist-farmers from those simply experiencing mild forms of angst but we feel fairly confident that we will get this ironed out and the farmers that were unfortunately mistaken for terrorists will soon recover with a clean bill of mental health."

The source explained that terrorists can change their appearance, but it is very difficult to change the way they place hay around a field. The way people place hay bales can be highly individual and recognizable.

JuzCuz - A view from Retail

Thanks to Flyovercountry I just found a new (to me) Oklahoma blogger called JusCuz. He/she has an entry today about his/her experience in retail. As JusCuz points out a lot of people are rewarded with discounts if they are willing to act like jerks. JusCuz doesn't like to see retailers coddle jerks and reward them for being a societal debit. I'm with JusCuz on this - jerks suck.

Speaking of jerks, where does this word originate? Here's what Wordorigins has to say:

A jerkwater train was originally a small locomotive that serviced branch lines. Its small boiler requiring frequent filling by train crews which would have to dismount, form a bucket brigade, and jerk water from a river to feed the steam engine. The term dates to the 1870s and is American in origin. The term jerkwater town eventually came to mean any rustic or backwards town, along a train line or not.

Finally, the most common usage of jerk, meaning a fool or inept person, probably derives from jerkwater. A jerk being a resident of a jerkwater town. This usage dates to the 1930s.

I particularly object to the driving jerks that will do anything to cut in front of other people with the civility to queue, or wait their turn. There is a telephone number in Oklahoma that witnesses to littering can call to report the license tag numbers of litterers. I wish we had a number to call to report jerk drivers. But, somehow I think a letter of reprimand to these people would only result in more littering.

Goober Award Delayed

There has been an unexpected tie in the Legislative Goober Award count. Our auditing firm of Dewie Loosim & Howe is going back over all the ballots to see if any hanging chads were inadvertently not counted. We hope to have the final results by Tuesday. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Two Days To Go! Goober Award Expected Next Week.

Only two days to go before the Legislature declares sine die and goes home! It's been a tough session for them, with the budget crisis, a new governor?, and figuring out how to overturn initiative petition votes and all. There's some good ones, but they are in the minority - and I don't mean they are ALL in the Republican Party. Fortunately, many are drawing close to term limits.

The Goober Legislator of 2003 Award is widely rumored to be going to Senator Frank Shurden of Henryetta. While the selection is a closely guarded secret at the Committee it doesn't take more than a chicken's brains to surmise this one. Other contenders will be revealed this weekend.

Dark Days at the Departments of Tourism and Commerce

Sources at the state Commerce Department report that on Thursday or Friday 20 more employees were informed they would be taking 20% pay cuts. The big question the demoralized employees have is why weren't cuts spread around so only a few don't have to take such huge cuts and others are asking whether the Secretary of Commerce and the group she brought into the Department with her are taking 20% cuts. Morale at the Department is so bad now that employees are searching for any hint of fairness or hope. Long-time employees at both Tourism and Commerce say the atmosphere at the two agencies has never been darker. This is not the kind of working conditions one would hope to have at what remains of the state's economic development agency.

What is not known yet is whether any of the Department of Commerce's $22 million in porkbarrel pass-through monies will also be cut. If the Administration and the Legislature had cut just 5% of the Legislature's pork flowing through Commerce into Legislator's pet projects none of the debilitating cuts would have had to happen at Commerce. If just 10% of the pass-through pork was cut the state's economic development program could actually grow. Why the pass-throughs continue is a question the state media has neglected to ask.

Porkbarrel Projects of Legislators Costing State and Killing Good Programs

The media and the Administration of Brad Henry have also failed to address the question of why there is no oversight of the hundreds of millions of dollars in pass-through money. A case in point is almost $100,000 in pass-through state money that flows from certain Legislators from southern Oklahoma to Rural Enterprises Inc.(REI) of Durant. The money is appropriated to the Department of Agriculture but Ag is required to pass it straight on to REI without strings or questions asked. No one knows how REI uses the money and REI, like most pass-through recipients, are not required to make any report about how the money was spent. Sources in the state media say REI has refused to answer questions or release details of how their pass-through bonanza of state dollars is used. REI is well known in Capitol circles to take Legislators on trips around the country and around the world. The unanswered question is whether any of the unaccounted for pass-through money is used to take the very Legislators that appropriate the pass-throughs on trips - and whether the trips are legitimate economic development trips?

At a time when legitimate government programs, economic growth programs included, are being slashed it is gross maleficence for the Governor, the Legislature, the State Auditor and the media to let the bloated and stinking mass of porkbarrel pass-throughs in state agencies go unaccounted for and hardly touched.

Let's Eat While Bush and Brad Fiddle

While President Bush is ignoring the economy and Governor Henry is busy micromanaging and politicizing state government we might as well get something good to eat. I tried the County Line in Oklahoma City today. I know that everyone else in Oklahoma has been there done that, but if you are one of the two or three Oklahomans that haven't tried it yet - do. The ribs can't be beat. Order the smallest size you can because all the servings are huge. Now back to the chaos and Orange Alert.

Henry Administration Destroying Innovative Economic Agency

It happened in the Department of Tourism and Recreation a few weeks ago and today it is happening at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The new Secretary of Commerce and Tourism, Kathryn Taylor, has turned into a hatchet woman - clearing the way for Brad Henry's political appointees by firing scores of professional managers and line personnel. The Existing Business Division was hit hard, with innovative director Beth Van Horn being let go and immediately replaced, without a job posting, with David Hinckle. The International Division of the Department of Commerce, known nationwide as one of the best in trade development, has also been particularly hard hit. Nearly everyone in the division was let go this week and others assigned to domestic duties. The only division not hit so far has been the old-line business recruitment division, headed by Brad Henry's friend, John Reid. Reid got his start in Democratic politics and in George Nigh's Governor office.

In what seems to be a trend with the Henry Administration, old George Nigh and David Walters political functionaries are replacing career professionals. Kathryn Taylor brought in Delmas Ford, formerly Secretary of Transportation under Walters, to take the place of former Department of Commerce Executive Director Ron Bussert - a true professional. Mr. Ford, not known for business or economic development acumen, is seen as Ms. Taylor's link to the state's good ol' boy network. Ms. Taylor, one of the richest people in Oklahoma, has been busy in her first two months destroying the careers of numerous long-serving and low-wage civil servants.

The irony is that when Brad Henry came into office he promised that during these challenging times he would focus on economic development and existing business and globalization. Instead, he and Ms. Taylor are busy destroying one of the premier economic development agencies in the United States. For almost 15 years the Oklahoma Department of Commerce has been remarkably free from political cronyism. While agencies in neighboring Texas, Arkansas and Missouri have floundered under rampant cronyism and political micromanagement at their economic development agencies, Oklahoma had invested in non-political career professionals. Those days seem to be gone under Brad Henry and Kathryn Taylor. This is turning out to be one of the worst administrations in memory.