Is there another longtime Washington insider more pro-big business and with more ties to the financial industry and energy corporations than U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe?
It is not a stretch to claim that taken together-Inhofe's staunch right-wing view that big businesses should dictate government policy and the $1.3 million he has reportedly received from Wall Street-these two aspects of Inhofe's political career clearly show and symbolize how the current financial crisis was created. Big businesses give money to our politicians who then allow them to essentially non-regulate themselves.
Inhofe is not the only Washington politician to lose touch with the vast majority of people he represents, but he may well be the most obvious.
As the stock market declines, the financial crisis especially hurts people near or at retirement age, though the entire fallout will surely be much worse as more jobs and homes are lost.
The crisis has most Inhofe critics, most notably his election opponent state Sen. Andrew Rice, 35, claiming the Senator has his priorities wrong. What about the middle-class people in Oklahoma? Who will speak up for their retirement? At 73, Inhofe could retire right now with a decent government pension and great health insurance. So why would he care about your retirement, right? With his narrow concerns refuting the science of global warming, your retirement is not even in Inhofe's frame of reference.
Rice, an Oklahoma City Democrat, is trying to unseat the Republican Inhofe in the November election. The debate was televised by KJRH-2, which also streamed it live on the Internet. There was a small studio audience.
During the debate, Rice, 35, repeatedly challenged Inhofe for supporting unwise and sometimes horrendous government policies during the last eight years under President George Bush, one of the most unpopular presidents in modern American history.
The state Senator pounded Inhofe on supporting investment banking deregulation sponsored by "special interests" during the Bush years, leading to the recent $700 billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. Inhofe allowed these special interests to essentially non-regulate the financial markets, he charged, and now Main Street is suffering.
Rice argued Inhofe has allowed terrorist cells in other countries to flourish-a real threat to American security-because of his blind support for the Iraq war.
In a statement released after the debate, the Rice campaign said, "Despite what Jim Inhofe said in tonight's debate, our national security has been weakened, not strengthened, by his support for reckless and out of touch policies. By focusing so much of our superior military strength on Iraq, George Bush and Jim Inhofe took their eyes off the ball, failed to capture Osama bin Laden and allowed new threats to emerge."
Rice also argued Inhofe has done nothing to help solve the country's health care crisis.
Meanwhile, Inhofe, 73, offered no new initiatives or programs he plans to undertake in the next Senate, which will almost certainly contain a larger Democratic majority. He offered no real defense of his previous votes, which have favored Bush policies more than 90 percent of the time. He stood by his bizarre statements about global warming that have made him infamous around the world. To his credit, he often agreed with Rice on his positions.
In the debate, Rice depicted Inhofe as a Washington insider that has allowed special interests to dictate policy and legislation.
"The middle class has become invisible to Washington," Rice said, arguing the Inhofe was using the debate to take "political potshots" instead of trying to find solutions to the country's growing economic crisis.
Inhofe downplayed the financial crisis, arguing that Oklahoma has a better economic climate than much of the country as Rice talked about his experiences on the campaign trail meeting people who are suffering financially.
Rice also offered a bipartisan approach to solving the health care crisis by bringing business and government leaders together to reduce health care costs. Inhofe talked about medical malpractice lawsuits.
". . . Jim Inhofe has spent 22 years in Washington gutting health care services for Oklahoma seniors and the state's most vulnerable citizens," according to the Rice campaign in its statement, "while voting in favor of privatization schemes that let big insurance companies decide who will have health care."
On Nov. 4, Oklahomans have a serious question to ask themselves before voting: Do they want to be stuck with two Senators and all but one of their Representatives in the minority party for the foreseeable future, or do they want to be seriously involved in governing this country, solving our collective problems and moving into the future?
Plutonium Page has posted to Daily Kos a diary which helps to expose some important background information about T. Boone Pickens and his "plan" that supposedly will liberate us from foreign oil.
Devilstower and I just went to a talk here at the DNC featuring T. Boone Pickens. Everyone was under the impression that the event would involve an actual discussion (as in, a Q & A session, like nearly all of the other Big Tent special topic sessions). We had a really energetic live blog thread going, where all of you were submitting questions.
Sorry, guys. Apparently, the whole thing was just a sales pitch. T. Boone hightailed it out of there before anyone could even raise their hand.
I'll post some excerpts below, but really, go to the original, where you can also read the comments, which are just as illuminating.
The Democratic Party of Oklahoma has called for Senator Jim Inhofe to return "tainted" money he received from Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted today corruption charges. The Oklahoma politician is running for re-election this year, and got $10,000 from Stevens political PAC for his campaign.
The campaign of Andrew Rice, Inhofe's Democratic chanllenger, posted in a blog, "Today, the differences between Andrew Rice and his opponent, Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, became even clearer."
U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn continue to vote against the interests of Oklahomans when it comes to privacy rights and medical issues.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Andrew Rice, pictured right, who is running against Inhofe this election year, was honored nationally for his support of privacy rights as he challenges "one of the most extremist members of the U.S. Senate."
The wiretapping bill passed despite opposition from a broad range of organizations and individuals concerned with civil and privacy rights. The bill allows the government to continue to spy on its citizens without adequate judicial oversight. Telecommunication companies who previously helped the government spy on its citizens will face no penalty under the bill's provisions.
The Medicare bill passed by a veto-proof margin despite the opposition from Inhofe and Coburn.
Law-abiding Oklahomans concerned with protecting their privacy from government intrusion should be appalled the state's two senators voted in favor of the wiretapping bill. Will the government read your email, listen to your telephone conversations? How will the government use your personal information against you? Why should big corporations be immune from the law?
Oklahomans who rely on Medicare or know people who use Medicare should be extremely concerned about the Inhofe and Coburn votes. If the cuts would have remained in effect, many doctors would have stopped accepting Medicare patients, according to media reports. This would have impacted the lives of thousands of elderly Oklahomans.
The 73-year-old Inhofe is running for reelection this year. His main opponent, Rice, 35, an Oklahoma City Democrat, was recently cited by Blue America as a "Real American Patriot" on the popular blog Down With Tyranny for opposing the wiretapping measure.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe's abysmal record on the environment is a major issue among Oklahomans and could help pro-environment Andrew Rice in his campaign against the state's senior senator, according to a recent article in The New Republic.
The June 3 article, written by Marisa Mazria-Katz, notes how state Sen. Rice, 35, pictured right, has put "environment issues at the heart of his campaign."
On the trail, [Rice] emphasizes his efforts in the Oklahoma legislature to convert the state's vehicle fleet to clean-burning fuel and to require public schools to reduce their energy consumption. Rice is hoping his larger agenda of alternative fuel initiatives, which include better harnessing the state's vast natural gas resources, will appeal to a wide range of voters. "There is a segment of Oklahoma's population that is willing to swing to the other side for the first time in 20 years," Rice says.
Rice represents a district in Oklahoma City, but he continues to appeal to state rural voters who are tired of Inhofe's grandstanding on global warming. Environmental issues transcend political affiliation and the 73-year-old Inhofe seems out of touch with the latest scientific information about climate change. Even his own political party's presumptive presidential nominee has proposed a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions. The article notes,
State Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City) will liveblog on the progressive site firedoglake at 1 p.m. Saturday, February 23.
Rice, who is running against U.S. Jim Inhofe this election year, is expected to discuss his campaign and his recent initiatives in the state legislature to bring reform to our health care system. A bill proposed by Rice that would require health insurance companies to pay for costs related to clinical trials recently passed a state Senate committee.
According to his campaign, "Sen. Rice is fighting to move our state forward and improve our current health care status. ...Oklahoma last year ranked 47th in overall health and 50th in health system performance - which included a rank of 49th in health system access. The way to change that is not to continue to give the insurance companies free rein; it's to advocate for reform."
Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe is listed as a prominent reference on the Web site of a consulting firm operated by former Congressman Mark Siljander, who has been charged in connection with allegedly helping an Islamic charitable organization with ties to terrorists.
Siljander, a former Republican Congressman from Michigan in the 1980s, has been charged in federal court with 42 counts alleging he helped funnel money to an al-Qaida supporter "who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan," according to a media report.
Inhofe's name appears on a "List of References" given by Global, Strategies, Inc. Siljander founded the Washington, D.C. area firm, according to the site. Inhofe's name appears on the top of the list, which includes several politicians and leaders.
The indictments, according to the media report, allege Siljander lobbied senators "on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists."
This is from state Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City), pictured right, who is running for the U.S. Senate this year against Republican incumbent Jim Inhofe:
My wife Apple and I were recently reminded why so many Americans are frustrated and anxious about health care.
Our 11-month old son Parker was hospitalized here in Oklahoma City for three days last November with pneumonia. He received excellent care and, like most youngsters his age, he has rebounded very quickly from what was a scary time for all of us. But, that is only half the story.
One month later we learned that our health insurance company was refusing to pay the $10,000 hospital bill because they said our baby Parker had a "pre-existing condition." I'm not kidding. When we argued that baseless reason away, they changed their excuse to "improper notification" by the treating physician, and said it was not a big deal because the hospital would just "write it off." They don't think it is a "big deal" to avoid providing the coverage we pay them for every month, and instead have the Oklahoma taxpayer foot the bill. That tells you something about how they see the world.
State Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma), who is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Jim Inhofe this year, was recently interviewed by Grist, a prominent online magazine dedicated to environmental issues.
In the interview, Rice, pictured right, discussed his campaign against Inhofe, who once called global warming a hoax and fights against any federal legislation addressing climate change. Rice also discussed how fighting climate change could benefit the Oklahoma economy.
Rice said, "This is a win-win for Oklahoma, particularly around wind energy. We're really in a position to be able to provide clean, renewable energy [to nearby states].
"I've got two bills [in the state Senate], one that's going to be converting our state vehicles to alternative fuels, and another that's going to be doing an energy-efficiency study of our schools and state buildings, trying to find ways to save money. I have rural Republican state Senate colleagues who were very supportive of these ethanol, biofuel, wind-energy initiatives we have; it's not a partisan issue for them, because they have constituents in their communities poised to benefit from developing these programs."
Rice's positions on climate change are reasonable and responsible and stand in marked contrast to Inhofe's over-the-top, anti-environment rhetoric, which has embarrassed the state.
The prevailing political partnership between U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and The Daily Oklahoman will lead to even more severe ice storms like the one Oklahoma experienced last week.
This is because the state's largest newspaper continues to support Inhofe and his wild claims denying the impact of climate change on the state and nation. (Click on the image to the right. An Inhofe interview comes on in about two minutes.) Meanwhile, a state climatologist, Derek Arndt, said last week's ice storm was part of a pattern produced by warmer winters in Oklahoma. In past decades, the ice might have turned to snow-far less dangerous and destructive than ice-before falling to the ground.
Last week's storm was blamed for the deaths of 23 people here. More than 600,000 people were without power at one point. About 125,000 people still remain without power. The storm killed or damaged thousands of trees in the state.
Inhofe and the newspaper's editorial board do not get it, and the state will obviously suffer through frequent, horrific ice storms in the future because of it.
As everyone in the world knows, Inhofe has called global warming a hoax, and he continues to deny that climate change is caused at least partially by carbon emissions. Reputable scientists throughout the world argue otherwise. The evidence is overwhelming. Inhofe, with the newspaper's tacit approval, will not even engage in an intelligent conversation about it. It seems perfectly fitting he represents a state that is probably experiencing more destructive storms caused by global warming than anywhere else in the nation right now.
State Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City), pictured right, will liveblog on Daily Kos at 3 p.m., Thursday Dec. 13. Here is the link.
Rice, a progressive Democrat, is running against U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe in the 2008 election. Rice, 34, hopes to upset the 73-year-old Senator who has become a symbol of everything that is wrong about Washington politics today.
As Rice reaches out to his constituents and voters, Inhofe, who denies the existence of global warming, will be "gearing up to filibuster a Republican bill that will confront climate change and carbon emissions." (That's not a typo. It's a Republican bill.)
Inhofe continues to embarrass the state with his personal war on science. His political stunts, which only serve the interests of the big oil companies, make the state seem backwards. If the state's chamber of commerce types really want to improve economic development here, they will get behind Rice's campaign.
It's time for a change. The state needs to send Inhofe into retirement and elect someone as U.S. Senator who is forward thinking and intelligent. Check out Daily Kos here at 3 p.m.
It should surprise no one that U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe's name has surfaced in connection with the ongoing Oral Roberts University scandal in Tulsa.
Inhofe, a former Tulsa mayor, was mentioned in a recent Tulsa World article that published excerpts of emails allegedly written by Stephanie Cantees, Richard Roberts's sister-in-law. Cantees served as an advisor to Roberts, who recently resigned as ORU president amid allegations he and his family misspent university money to fund a lavish lifestyle. The emails were addressed to Roberts, according to the article.
The emails seem to support claims by a former ORU professor that "Roberts ordered students to participate in Randi Miller's mayoral campaign," according to an attorney for the professor, the article states.
This is a press release from the Andrew Rice campaign:
OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 29, 2007) - After U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe consumed another two hours of Senate floor time on Friday railing against "left wing scientists" who express concerns about global warming, Oklahoma State Senator Andrew Rice, D-OKC, today asked Inhofe to devote equal time instead to promote his home state's unique position as a leader in the development of clean-burning fuels.
Rice declared his candidacy in August for the Democratic nomination to challenge Inhofe in next year's general election.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe is making controversial news again. This time he is trying to stop open access to government-funded research.
A bill, passed by the House, would require that manuscripts associated with research conducted by the National Institutes of Health be made public in at least 12 months after they are published.
Inhofe, the infamous global warming denier, has introduced two amendments in the Senate's bill that would effectively gut the provision. Andrew Leonard over at How the World Works at Salon.com has an interesting take on the issue. Leonard ties it to Inhofe's global warming position.
Overall, this is a just another example of the Republican Senator's continued war on science. What people do not know will hurt them, and Inhofe obviously does not care.
Click here to help State Sen. Andrew Rice defeat Inhofe in the 2008 Senate election.
(Yes, please, Inhofe already. It is time to send U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) into retirement. Check out his opponent in the 2008 election, State Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City), a true progressive who supports a full and open discussion on climate change and all environmental issues.)
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe has brought more embarrassment to Oklahoma. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has designated Inhofe as the leader of its "Dirty Dozen" list for possessing one of the worst anti-environmental records in Congress.
Unfortunately, the designation ultimately reflects on the state's residents, many of whom do not support Inhofe's radical anti-environmental agenda and ideology. This must include some of his fellow Republicans. For example, in his ongoing gesture of absurdity, Inhofe calls global warming a "hoax" developed by liberals. He has been admonished by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer twice at Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meetings for acting rudely to former Vice President Al Gore and a fellow senator as they tried to speak candidly about climate change.
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