Arnold Hamilton, editor of The Oklahoma Observer, published an excellent article last week about the lack of interest among legislators to become part of a No Gifts List.
The list, which was created by Common Cause Oklahoma, allows legislators to vow they won't accept gifts from people trying to influence legislation. So far, according to Hamilton's article, only two legislators have signed up. They are state Rep. Jason Murphey, a Guthrie Republican, and state Sen. Andrew Rice, an Oklahoma City Democrat.
In his article, Hamilton asks: "Where is everybody else?"
State Sen. Andrew Rice wants to make it safer for bicyclists in the state.
Last week, Rice, an Oklahoma City Democrat, announced he plans to introduce legislation next session that will help to protect bicyclists. The idea for the proposed bill was prompted by the recent deaths of Oklahoma bicyclists in accidents, Rice said.
Rice, pictured right, also pointed out that bicycle accidents are on the rise in Oklahoma.
This is what we can expect from Mary Fallin if she becomes governor, and this is the type of publicity the state will receive. The Fallin material is at the end of the video clip.
State Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City) continues to attack the gay community here. Her Democratic opponent in this year's election is Brittany Novotny, who wants to focus on job creation and education. Here is Novotny's website.
Here's an item that didn't get much attention in the local media last week: As part of the Affordable Care Act, Oklahoma will receive $1 million from the federal government to monitor health insurance premium increases to determine if they are excessive.
If insurance companies are seeking "unreasonable rates" here, then the state could use the money to take action against them, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Oklahoma was one of 45 states and the District of Columbia to receive the money.
No, it's the Republicans who are mostly using fear-mongering as part of a regimented political calculation this election season, not Democrats.
So remind The Oklahoman editorial writers, who support politicians such as U.S. Sen. Coburn, whose predictions of future financial insolvency for the nation are about as lacking in facts and logic as you can get.
The newspaper, in an incredible act of rhetorical deceit and omission-it has been screeching doomsday for months over what it calls "Obamacare"-has now accused President Barack Obama of using "the politics of fear" when it comes to protecting Social Security.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn is back in the state scaring his town hall crowds with partisan and extremist claims about the current federal budget deficit.
According to the Tulsa World, Coburn, Oklahoma's junior Republican Senator, told an audience in Checotah today that the nation is nearing a "tipping point" when it comes to its financial solvency. Coburn, the newspaper reported, argues the nation has two or three years to turn things around and then, if not, well, it's all over. Spooky stuff, right?
The latest reminder how intellectually bankrupt the conservative movement remains in this country are the tributes written about journalist and once-avowed racist James Kilpatrick, an Oklahoma City native, who died recently.
In its obituary,The New York Timesmentioned this about Kilpatrick:
At times, Mr. Kilpatrick went beyond constitutional arguments. In 1963, he drafted an article for The Saturday Evening Post with the proposed title "The Hell He Is Equal," in which he wrote that "the Negro race, as a race, is in fact an inferior race."
President Barack Obama's weekly address Saturday should remind us that privatizing Social Security remains a priority, if not a dream, for some members of the Republican Party.
Obama used the 75th anniversary of Social Security to promise "to protect it from Republican leaders in Congress who have made privatization a key part of their agenda."
Joshua Jantz, the long-shot Republican candidate facing state Sen. Andrew Rice in the Senate 46 District race, is using religious rhetoric again in his campaign material.
As some of you may remember, Jantz ran against Rice in 2006. Rice, the Democratic nominee for the seat, which is in Oklahoma City, won 70 percent of the vote that year by the landslide margin of 7,342 to 3,217.
As part of his 2006 campaign, Jantz circulated campaign material, which thanked voters for praying "For God to place a hedge of thorns around the district, & every voter within, that no evil influence prevails, & that voters will know and believe the truth." (Read the 2006 Okie Funk post about it here).
A march to show support for soldier Bradley Manning will be held tonight (Thursday, Aug. 12) at 8 p.m. near the state Capitol. Those who would like to march should gather before the march at Lincoln and 16th Street.
Manning, an Oklahoman native, has been accused of leaking Afghanistan War documents and is currently being held at a military prison.
One of the groups sponsoring the march, Oklahoma Center for Conscience, has more information about Manning here.
Brittany Novotny, who is challenging state Rep. Sally Kern for her House seat this election year, has published an intelligent and important open letter to the legislator, which should be read thoroughly by voters in District 84.
Kern, as most Oklahomans know, is infamous nationally for her anti-gay crusade. She once claimed homosexuality is a bigger threat to this country to terrorism. Kern's 2009 Proclamation of Morality, a publicity stunt with no legal meaning, included language like this:
The anti-education agenda of some Oklahoma leaders can't get more apparent than last week when U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, the Republican nominee for governor, and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn explained their opposition to a federal bill that would provide emergency funding to the nation's schools.
According to recent media reports over the last several weeks, hundreds of Oklahoma teachers face layoffs this fall because of the state's ongoing budget crisis. The federal bill, which passed the Senate Thursday, will provide $10 billion to school districts nationwide and another $16 billion for Medicaid funding.
Those who pushed the bill through the Senate-and it's expected to pass the House this week-say the bill could save the jobs of about 300,000 teachers nationwide. Oklahoma could save 1,900 teaching jobs if the bill is signed into law, according to a published media report.
The Oklahoman continues to deal in rhetorical demonization and deceit in its obsessive opposition to State Question 744, a proposed constitutional measure that if passed in November would simply fund state schools at the regional average.
No one can get a fair sense of what SQ 744 is about on the newspaper's editorial page or in its news columns. At this point, The Oklahoman has forfeited any right to be taken seriously about the issue.
A recent editorial, ("NEA investing plenty in Oklahoma school funding initiative," August 3, 2010), criticizes the National Education Association, which has apparently donated more than $3 million to help fund the Yes on 744 campaign. The editorial engages in fear mongering and omission.
Oklahoma Republicans and local political pundits have been confidently predicting a GOP win in the U.S. Congressional Fifth District this year.
The GOP runoff over the seat now held by gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin is between former state legislator Kevin Calvey and political newcomer James Lankford, who won the most votes in the race. The third-place winner, state Rep. Mike Thompson, has endorsed Lankford.
One obvious interpretation of the GOP election result is that Republicans are split and don't clearly know who they want to replace Fallin. This fracture obviously allows Democrats a unique political opportunity this year in a district that political pundits claims is a safe one for the GOP.
Democrats have nominated Oklahoma City attorney Billy Coyle for the Fifth. Coyle is the best candidate for the seat. He would bring more political balance to Oklahoma's congressional delegation and would at least work in favor of issues that would benefit regular Oklahomans.
(Be sure to look at the videos in the comments section of this post.)
The Oklahoman editorial page, which serves as chief, local cheerleader for U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and his global-warming-is-a-hoax claim, published a commentary Saturday that essentially refuted people who draw on one season of extreme hot or cold weather to make a claim about climate change.
I wonder why the editorial writer(s) won't apply this same criticism to Inhofe.
(Oklahoma, which leads the nation in female incarceration, needs corrections reform. Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette.)
It's vitally important that Lt. Gov. Jari Askins becomes Oklahoma's next governor so she can provide crucial political balance as Republicans retain or increase majorities in the legislature this year.
Askins, who won the Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, is an intelligent, experienced leader, who will serve the state with distinction as its first woman governor.
One of the major tasks facing Askins in her gubernatorial campaign will be to find some type of counter to U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin's Tea-Party rhetoric and sloganeering.
Politico published a recent post about U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, who has apparently turned over emails to federal investigators probing the fallout from U.S. Sen. John Ensign's extramarital affair.
Here's the post, the gist of which is that Coburn is now going to fully cooperate with investigators in the scandal. Coburn was a former roommate of Ensign and apparently knew about the affair, according to media reports. The Politico post stated the investigation is apparently focused on whether Ensign helped former staffer Doug Hampton obtain lobbying work. Hampton is the husband of Cynthia Hampton, who was involved in the affair with Ensign.
Oklahomans should support State Question 774, a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that, if approved, would increase per-pupil funding to the regional average.
The amendment is a long-sighted and game-changing approach to solve the systemic problem of inadequate education funding in Oklahoma, which ranks 49th in the nation and dead last in a seven-state region in per-pupil spending, according to studies. The historical and contemporary negative impact of this underfunding on student success, the high school dropout rate, the low college graduation rate and economic development here is incalculable.
What is obvious is that a state that ranks so low in per-pupil spending tells its own citizenry and the nation that public education has never been nor will ever be a priority among its leadership. It tells the story that this state is anti-education and doesn't care about children, its most vulnerable residents. This is simply a horrible message that depicts Oklahoma as a backwards place, not "a great place to raise a family," whose leaders care more about punishing petty criminals-we rank first in the nation in female incarceration-than developing young minds.
This is a community blog operated since 2006 by people dedicated to promoting and restoring progressive values in Oklahoma. A courageous band of patriots, we fight right-wing tyranny in one of the reddest of red states. Do you want to help by posting here? Do you want traffic back to your blog or site? We welcome posts written by liberals and centrist to conservative Democrats and Independents. Register above and start posting. Crossposting is allowed. Questions? Contact kurt.hochenauer@gmail.com.
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