Arrrrrrrrr! That's yer nine-letter arrr meanin' Planksy, yer favorite pirate turkey, is back in town with yer holiday greetings and grog as me gobbler mesmerizes ye into a swirl of hornpipe dances and mirthy songs. Is it a beaut of a mirage? Nay, it's me myself, with 300 fowl strong, sailing up I-35 in me pirate vessel filled with gifts galore, and me mateys, me special pirate's brew, eggnog rum (that's with yer soy substitute for yer milk and eggs), strong with me Jolly Roger, barrel upon barrel, not for land lubbers, nay, but for pirate turkeys in person and at heart. So, prithee, me dear Planksy lovers, what does yer pirate turkey have in mind this Christmas? Nothing else but ye annual dranks and planks. If ye done well, buccaneers, ye get me dranks straight from the barrel with hornpipe accompaniment and general merriment lasting to the wee hours. And it's all on board, if ye get me drift? If yer a lubber of the land variety, me admitted gobbler worshippers, ye get me planks, right off the boat where ye can make friendsies with the toothy fishes.
Whatever people might think about the specific decision by state officials to remove birth as a qualifying event for health insurance, it should serve as a reminder that our medical system remains relentlessly ruthless.
Gov. Mary Fallin, according to a media report, recently signed the rule as requested by the office of State Insurance Commissioner John Doak. Fallin's office said the reason was to entice health insurance companies who offer policies for children to come back to do business in Oklahoma. The companies stopped offering child policies in Oklahoma because of the "president's health plan," according to Fallin's office.
The Oklahoma Senate's media office has issued a press release in which two legislators essentially mock a prosecutor's decision to bring bribery charges against fellow lawmakers.
State Sen. Ralph Shortey (R-Oklahoma City) and state Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-Oklahoma City), according to the release, claim they are worried that national radio show host Michael Savage could face bribery charges by the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office because he has "offered" Newt Gingrich $1 million to drop out of the presidential race. Gingrich is on the ballot in Oklahoma's primary election.
The Oklahoman editorial published on NewsOK.com today that endorses Mitt Romney for president is a long-winded, overly dramatic screed that employs enough strange rhetorical tropes that it's worthy of critique by liberals and conservatives alike.
It should also leave people wondering if this is the type of over-the-top empty emotionalism-folks, sit down for this one, only Mitt Romney can restore the nation's greatness-readers can expect under Philip Anschutz, the Denver billionaire, who is the paper's new, absentee owner. The over-the-top visceral and breathless writing voice and the repeated, nauseating references to "Heartland" actually make the editorial more like a satirical piece in The Onion or an urgent editorial arguing for a more lenient hall pass policy in a junior high school newspaper than a serious political endorsement.
For weeks, the editorial page of The Oklahoman has mocked and sneered at the Occupy OKC participants and the entire Occupy Wall Street movement, employing demeaning, sarcastic right-wing rants to make its points.
On Wednesday, an editorial published on NewsOK.com ("Continued overnight stays in Kerr Park would only hurt Occupy OKC cause," Dec. 14, 2011) about the local protesters dropped the silly snark, for the most part, and offered its sanctimonious advice for Occupy OKC: Leave the downtown Kerr Park encampment for the good of your cause.
An annual study shows that Oklahoma's health ranking has declined.
The United Health Foundation ranks the state 48th in the nation when it comes to overall health in 2011. Last year, the state ranked 46th. Mississippi and Louisiana ranked 50th and 49th, respectively, in the study. Arkansas, the state's eastern neighbor, was 47th. The number one ranking went to Vermont, a state that has been a forerunner in establishing a single-payer health care system.
It's easy to dismiss such rankings, which always paint a dismal picture of Oklahoma. The years and the bad health reports go by, and not much ever gets done. Why even acknowledge the obvious? What's the point?
It comes with the standard irrelevant comparison and right-wing qualifications, but even the largest, conservative newspaper in U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe's home state disagrees with his recent declaration that there has been a "complete collapse of the global warming movement."
As I wrote earlier, Inhofe produced a somewhat bizarre victory video last week in his war against the environment as the United Nations Climate Change Conference continued in Durban, South Africa. In it, Inhofe sanctimoniously declared himself the victor in what he perceives as a fight between "a one-man truth squad"-that would be him-and cap-and-trade proponents.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe's recent grandiose comments claiming victory for global warming skeptics should be condemned by local corporate media outlets here as a political stunt that lowers the dignity of his office.
Inhofe's comments come as global warming scientists and others meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. His rhetoric is designed to infuriate those concerned about climate change and the planet's environmental future, but ultimately he only looks petty and foolish. The media here should call him on it.
Let's be clear: If voters approve State Question 759 next November it won't end what its proponents say is reverse discrimination; it will codify and further institutionalize real discrimination.
SQ 759, which should be on the ballot in November, would essentially end affirmative action, with some exceptions, among public agencies. The Oklahoma Legislature recently approved the proposed constitutional amendment for the ballot after an initiative petition drive failed.
In the past, Gov. Mary Fallin has depicted herself as an anti-government advocate who shares concerns with right-wing Tea Party members, but that hasn't stopped her from relying on the feds to come to the state's rescue in emergencies.
It also hasn't stopped her from complaining when the federal government doesn't come through with help. Here's how Fallin responded when the federal government recently denied disaster assistance to Oklahoma for damage caused by the November earthquakes, including one that measured 5.6:
After receiving five presidential disaster declarations in one year, including snow storms, tornadoes and flooding events, Oklahomans and the voluntary agencies that are often called upon to assist them have been pushed to the limits. We felt the case for additional assistance had been made.
The Oklahoman editorial writers have become obsessed with deriding and mocking the Occupy OKC protests and the entire Occupy Wall Street movement, which means we know the local demonstrators have accomplished something positive here.
Two editorials this week that were published on NewsOK.com collectively refer to the local protesters as "clowns" and their downtown camp site in Kerr Park as one of the OWS's "Porta-Potty embattlements." But the mocking only highlights the fact that the local oligarchy here, or what the OWS movement calls the "1 percent," is worried about major structural change in our economic system that now privileges the wealthy at the expense of 99 percent of Americans. The movement reminds us that the growing wealth disparity in this country is not sustainable.
The recently announced National Basketball Association financial deal is a slam dunk for the owners.
That's not something you're going to hear stated much, if at all, in the corporate media here, but the announced deal will decrease the player's take of basketball related income from 57 to 51 percent. Some estimate that's about $240 million less for players and $240 million more annually for owners, which would include local businessman Clay Bennett, who leads the Oklahoma City Thunder ownership group, Professional Basketball Club, LLC.
Did the league and owners manipulate the corporate sports media into depicting the NBA players as overpaid, prima donnas who make too much money for doing nothing more than playing a game? If so, it worked, but the larger issue here is the collective bargaining deal serves as a stark reminder that management is in control and labor remains all-too subservient across the social spectrum in the country.
Oklahoma City took another step in becoming a truly big league city after voting Nov. 15 to expand its anti-discrimination policy for city employees to include sexual orientation.
Anyone who has fought for gay rights through the years in conservative Oklahoma, and especially in this area, understands the significance of the 7-2 vote to approve the measure. Councilman Ed Shadid, who I hope becomes the next Oklahoma City mayor, should be commended for pushing the measure. It shows the city has come a long way in escaping its parochial past, and it sends a powerful signal to everyone that discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community (LGBT) should not be tolerated.
Arrrrr! That's yer five-letter arr, me mateys, so be it. Shiver me handsome gobbler, ye rapscallions. It's none other than yer favorite pirate turkey, Plansky, sailing into the scorched Oklahoma prairie with me ship filled with 300 pirate turkeys strong, all a hornpipe dancing as the rum flows. Arr! I'm here to bring me annual Planksgiving thanks and planks to the deserving crew this year. If ye get me thanks, then come aboard, mateys, and dip your cup in me personal rum barrel, gold plated with me signature "P," a very nice touch if I do say so my pirate turkey self, and I do. But if you get me planks, take a blindfoldy walk on me springy board and take a nice swimmy with the toothy fishies. Arrr!
No matter how much the local corporate media mocks the local version of the Occupy Wall Street movement, it will not be able to change the fact that the protests have significantly altered the national political discussion.
For the first time in decades, economic justice and wealth disparity have emerged as potent political issues, and the potential ramifications, from their effect on electoral politics to the corporate welfare state, could represent a major, national paradigm change. These ramifications may yet be years away, and they may not even come under the rubric of "Occupy," but the protests are a strong sign that our current economic system is growing increasingly incompatible with democracy.
Let's make no mistake about what the owners of National Basketball Association teams want in their negotiations with players: They want to pay less money and make more money.
This is why the Oklahoma City Thunder is not playing right now and might not play the entire season.
The owners want a better money split with players. As of October, according to media reports, they supposedly offered a 50-50 split with players, down from the 57 percent the players negotiated in their last collective bargaining agreement. The owners say they need the extra money for some teams to stay financially viable. But why not simply allow the free market to decide which metropolitan markets can support a NBA franchise? It's always interesting to watch wealthy capitalists discard the principles of capitalism when it suits them.
More information about wealth disparity here and elsewhere is coming out that validates the overall complaint about economic injustice made by the Occupy Wall Street movement.
A new study shows that middle-class housing areas, especially in "booming" Oklahoma City, are shrinking while lush enclaves for the rich and poorer neighborhoods are growing. In other words, as if anyone needed to be reminded, we have a decreasing middle-class and growing poverty. The wealthy are doing just fine, of course. This is the story of our new Gilded Age.
The study, titled "Growth in the Residential Segregation of Families by Income, 1970-2009," was conducted at Stanford University and based on 117 metropolitan areas. It found that residential segregation by income in Oklahoma City was the second highest in the nation, right behind Detroit, from 2000 to 2007. Overall, income segregation has more than doubled in the nation since 1970, the study found.
Has U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn joined the Occupy Wall Street movement at least on principle?
His recent report, titled "Subsidies of the Rich and Famous," contains much of the same populist rhetoric criticizing economic injustice used by Occupy protesters, including a reference to the oligarchic "one percent," but its recommended solutions to two of the problems it points out remain debatable and could be simplified.
Here's what "Occupier Coburn," a Republican, has to say, as outlined in the report:
From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off- costing billions of dollars a year - is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations.
Oklahoma House Republicans are touting what they perceive to be "historic" pension reform, but let's remember reducing the unfunded liability of the state pension programs was the result of reducing future benefits of current and future retirees.
According to a press release issued Thursday, the unfunded liability of the state pension programs has supposedly been reduced from $16 billion to $10.6 billion. (The release doesn't tell us exactly how this was calculated.) State Rep. Randy McDaniel, an Oklahoma City Republican and chair of the House Pension Oversight Committee, had this to say about the reduction:
The media and much of the football fan response to football coach Joe Paterno's firing at Pennsylvania State University has been so ludicrous and immoral that it surely will become a cautionary tale of what happens when college athletic programs become ridiculously sacrosanct even though they aren't vital to an academic mission.
Here's the broad outline of the case: Jerry Sandusky, a former defense coordinator under head coach Paterno, has been charged with molesting children from 1994 through 2009. Several of the alleged incidents took place while Sandusky was coaching at Penn State. The charges included the information that a graduate assistant reported to Paterno in 2002 that he saw Sandusky having sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old boy in the showers at the athletic facilities. Paterno, then, reported the information to his superiors, and, well, that was it. It didn't result in a thorough investigation.
This led to the Wednesday firing of Paterno, who is 84 and supposedly a football legend, and the university president because they simply didn't do enough given the serious nature of the allegations. Unfortunately and unbelievably, some Penn State students actually rioted last night as a gesture of support for Paterno, who coached the team for 46 years. We can hope it's just a small misguided group acting on impulse, not careful scrutiny of the case.
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