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.

Selling out the Kurds

I wondered how long it would take us to sell out the Kurds to please Turkey and the Russians. Looks like it took us just 75 days. Slate has the story.

We Don't Give a Flip?

As the Tulsa World points out in an editorial ("What a surprise" on A24) today, Senator Shurden continues his attempts to reverse the citizen's vote to outlaw cockfighting last November. In typical Shurden fashion he is using subterfuge to try to thwart the will of the people. He has introduced and changed his pro-cockfighting bills so often even close observers have a hard time figuring out what is going on. As the World points out Shurden has also changed his bill to call for a revote - but not during a general election as usual - but during a primary vote. Shurden is doing this because he knows Republican-dominated Oklahoma City and Tulsa don't participate big in Democrat-dominated primary elections. And the 2/3rds of the population of the state live in these two metro areas. Shurden wants to limit voters to rural Democrat-dominated primary elections.

This may be smart strategy but it is strategy that seeks to appease gambling (cockfighting) interests at the expense of straightforward democracy. That may be smart for Shurden and the cockfighters who don't give a flip about the principles of democracy but it is poor public policy. Comedian Joe Bob Briggs of Texas once called Oklahoma the "I Don't Give a Flip State" because we didn't seem to care about anything. When it comes to our state Legislature and voting, it is no wonder Oklahomans don't give a flip. They know their votes and their wishes mean nothing to the miscreants like Shurden that think they own Oklahoma and will do anything to keep it that way.

Religious Debate on Senate Floor

This week there was an interesting exchange on the floor of the Oklahoma Senate between Democratic Senator Bernest Cain of Oklahoma City and Senator Scott Pruitt, Republican of Broken Arrow. The debate was over some language Senator Pruitt wanted placed in science textbooks used in Oklahoma - a sort of disclaimer regarding the theory of evolution. Senator Pruitt, a very conservative and religious person, has been trying to insert a conservative religious agenda into the political debate - centered around efforts to get creationism into the public schools. This week Senator Cain, a liberal Senator who apparently believes in the separation of church and state, took the effort to put creationism into the schools head on. As The Tulsan points out, you can read the exchange, at least the part KFAQ radio wants you to read, at their website. Republican Senators Fine, (shouldn't be casting stones) Ford, and Wilcoxson jumped to Pruitt's defense and conservative talkshows in Oklahoma have pilloried Senator Cain's remarks in favor of religious diversity.

I cannot fault Senator Cain as I agree with his call for the defense of separation of church and state and his desire for the Christian right to stop trying to force their beliefs and codes on others. They will deny that they are wanting to do this but a read of the Republican Senators statements (if you can understand Ford's rambling) will reveal their intent. They may say they just want equal treatment for creationism and science but they never speak in terms of Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu theories of creation. Until they do, I cannot believe them. Their disingenuous attempts to lie about the ultimate agenda - the recognition of Christian values and beliefs as the tacitly approved religion - tells us we cannot trust them to be openly honest. The radio talk show hosts like Michael DelGiorno on KFAQ carry the water for the Christian right and they come closest to spilling the beans on what the objectives are. DelGiorno is honest, but scary. But thank (insert your deity or lack thereof here) he and his colleagues are out there revealing the true agenda of the Christian right.

The thinking around the Capitol is that the Republicans are pushing issues such as prayer in school and creationism to force Democrats to vote in ways that can be used against them in upcoming elections. Unfortunately, in Oklahoma it certainly never hurts to say your opponent is against teaching creationism in school or in favor of child abuse. Of course, using religion for crass political maneuvering would be frowned on by most faiths and holy men I am acquainted with. WWJD?

Senator Pruitt believes he is doing good. He's about as good a person as you'll find at the Legislature, but he's wrong on pushing his religious beliefs into schools and government. I'm with Senator Cain on this one. He's a good man too.

The Conspiracy Theorist that has cost Oklahoma Taxpayers $$$$$

Further to the posting regarding the State Auditor and a Mr. Sam Mahjoub, a conspiracy theorist that has harassed various state government agencies for a few years. The Daily Oklahoman claims the man is an Oklahoma exporter but sources at the Capitol say they can't find any evidence that the man makes anything in Oklahoma to export. The man has filed numerous freedom of information filings only to drop the requests after the agencies went to the trouble of counting all the files and estimating the cost of copying. Mr. Mahjoub has made a number of claims of corruption against agencies and individual civil servants. The claims haven't panned out but Mahjoub seems to have no reluctance to smear state workers by name. He has been dismissed by most Legislators and journalists - after claims repeatedly proved groundless. And after they discovered that the man had been trying to get a contract with the state Commerce Department for several years. The conclusion of most was that the man was seeking vengence for being denied a contract. The pity is that some Legislators continue to give the conspiracy theories an ear. Are some legislators really so gullible or are they afraid of the guy? The pity is that Mr. Mahjoub has cost the state tens of thousands of dollars in response time and lost focus and the media has not picked up on the story. Can failed contractor wannabes harass state agencies and smear civil servants and waste tax dollars for years on end?

Texas Democrats Find Refuge in Oklahoma


Faced with a gerrymandered Republican redistricting plan in Austin over 50 Texas Democrat Legislators made a strategic retreat across the border to Oklahoma yesterday. Incredibly, the State of Texas sent Texas Rangers across the border to try to arrest the Texas Legislators in Oklahoma. At some point it dawned on the Texas Rangers that their law doesn't apply in Oklahoma and they retreated back across the border to Texas without the runaway Legislators. Meanwhile, half the Texas Legislature is meeting in a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma - out of the grasp of the Texas lawmen. Exactly what is illegal about a Legislator not showing up for sessions in Austin escapes me. The Democrats that control the Oklahoma Legislature invited the Texans to come on up to Oklahoma City and be welcomed as heros.

The Texas Democrats say they won't go back to Texas until the Republicans play fair.

State Auditor a Marketing Guru?

The State Auditor's office, headed by Jeff McMahan, recently spent an undisclosed amount of taxpayer money, investigating the Tourism and Recreation Department, at the request of the Attorney General at the insistence of a Tulsa man that has made a career of harassing state agencies with unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. The man, identified in Daily Oklahoman articles as Mr. Sam Mahjoub, has spent several years accusing the Oklahoma Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Tourism of everything from running fake overseas offices to conspiratorial secret meetings in exotic European capitals. For at least three years Mr. Mahjoub has been roaming the halls of the State Capitol with a trolly full of "evidence" to back up his conspiracy theories. Many Capitol denizens and staffers have grown weary of his obsession and his lurking presence in the halls. The State Auditor however, has spent tens of thousands of dollars investigating claims raised by the man in the last few years. More on his conspiracy theories in a later post.

The latest travesty was an exhaustive and expensive investigation of Mr. Mahjoub's claims against the Tourism Department. The investigation covered the period from July 1, 2001 to October 10, 2002 and investigated claims of illegal contracting and contracting procedures and such matters as whether clothing was purchased for employees. The result? Nothing of any significance at all. You can read the report for yourself at the State Auditor's website. It is said that the State Auditor's office released the report to the conspiracy theorist before they released it to the public. If so, the State Auditor needs to answer concerns of those who believe the office has become too close to a modern-day Rasputin.

Disturbingly, the State Auditor, in this report, and other recent reports, has overstepped the office's responsibility and started making recommendations on strategic decisions he knows little or nothing about. In the Tourism report for example, the State Auditor says the "Legislature might consider prioritizing the Department's funding in a more appropriate manner...an advertising contract of $4.5 million dollars per year may seem inappropriate during a period of economic downturn and severe budget cuts at the state government level." The State Auditor's business sense, or lack thereof, aside, he has no business trying to make agencies strategic decisions for them. Will he next start telling the Wildlife Department how long hunting season should last? Or perhaps he'd like to weigh in on whether the Secretary of State's office should use ivory or winter white-colored stationery? The public's welfare is not well looked after by having an accountant tell marketers how to do their job. Any business/marketing professional knows that when times get tough that is exactly when you don't cut your advertising budget. That's when you need sales more than ever.

It is very necessary to have a State Auditor to investigate possible corruption or misuse of funds in government agencies and departments. But if the State Auditor allows his office to be used by people obsessed with conspiracy theories and wildly throwing around unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against agencies and public servants, he is not spending our money wisely. He is engaging in a disservice to those whose interests he takes an oath to protect.

What comes as a surprise to many is that those audited, or investigated, must pay the State Auditor's office for the entire cost of the audits. These amounts can easily be in the tens of thousands of dollars. So, no audits, no income for the State Auditor's office. The State Auditor has a financial incentive to investigate agencies. Even the innocent must pay to be investigated. This can be quite an unplanned-for blow to the budgets of agencies and offices trying to do their jobs of serving the public. To be fair, the State Auditor must respond to citizens, even crackpot citizens, who alledge corruption. But should the State Auditor allow himself to be manipulated by crackpots?

Oklahoma Today

If you haven't read "Oklahoma Today" magazine you should! This is a first class magazine that does more to promote an Oklahoma culture and an awareness of Oklahoma than all the politicians talk put together. The Legislature has been trying to starve the magazine to death for years or offload it. They need to wise up and realize what a gem they have.