Oklahoma
updated
3:45 a.m.
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What an asshole : In an amendment presented on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Steve Russell, R-Oklahoma City, gutted a bill that had been filed to create a task force to study the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, and inserted language to make changes to the state's hate crime statutes. Under the new provisions of Senate Bill 1965, reports that were collected ...
DailyKos (Oklahoma) - Mon 6:06 p.m. - 4 clicks 
H e was just in Tulsa yesterday, but his fans might want to rethink their affection for Fox News bonehead Glenn Beck. As we have documented on this site, Beck last week attacked those horrid churches who practice things like "social justice." But more and more theologians and other thinking Christians have reminded Beck of the real gospel of Jesus, who took more than a passing ...
Alternative Tulsa - Sun 9:45 p.m. - 6 clicks
State Sen. Steve Russell's quest to make Oklahoma opt out on federal hate crime legislation based on sexual orientation or gender identity is a repugnant crusade that does nothing more than pander to intolerant, right-wing religious folks here. Unfortunately, Russell, pictured right, has plenty of support in the legislature. Last week, the Oklahoma Senate on a 39-6 vote passed SB 1965, a bill...
Blue Oklahoma - Sun 1:02 p.m. - 5 clicks
State Sen. Steve Russell’s quest to make Oklahoma opt out on federal hate crime legislation based on sexual orientation or gender identity is a repugnant crusade that does nothing more than pander to intolerant, right-wing religious folks here. Unfortunately, Russell, pictured right, has plenty of support in the legislature. Last week, the Oklahoma Senate on a 39-6 vote passed SB 1965, a ...
Okie Funk - Sun 12:40 p.m. - 5 clicks
A h, good ole Glenn Beck. A man so simple that he says whatever pops into his head . Even (or especially) when he knows he's right — which is all the time. Beck, who will peddling his paranoia in Tulsa on Saturday , this week urged Christians to abandon churches that practice something terrible—social justice. That's simply a code word (Beck claims) for communism . And Nati...
Alternative Tulsa - Thu 2:44 p.m. - 13 clicks
G lenn Beck and sidekick Sarah Palin will be in Tulsa soon to talk and talk and talk about all the things that are wrong with America. To hear them tell it, we're all going to hell in a hand basket. So before you plunk down your cold, hard cash to hear the ravings of Beck and Palin, we suggest you check up on some of Beck's more outrageous claims. The record isn't pretty. An entire ...
Alternative Tulsa - Wed 8:27 p.m. - 5 clicks
E ven people who don't know Samuel Barber's name probably know his music . That's because one of his pieces, "Adagio for Strings," continues to be widely performed. We remember it from the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's movie, Platoon. As NPR puts it, "It's become, in a way, our national music of mourning ." In honor of Barber's 100th birthday , NPR did a report on the composer's life and ...
Alternative Tulsa - Wed 7:25 p.m. - 4 clicks
As one of the reddest of the Red States , Oklahoma has plenty of conservative voices. (True, a lot of them aren't very good , but we do have plenty to go around.) Today we learned of a new progressive voice in the Sooner state. It's called Oklahoma Citizen and—what do you know?—it's literate, thoughtful and active. (Imagine that!) It's worth reading. Check it out here . (H/t to Kurt ...
Alternative Tulsa - Wed 2:02 p.m. - 6 clicks
As part of our ongoing series in The Edmond Sun, we have published the first of the session's legislative scorecards. Visit http://www.edmondsun.com/local... to read it for yourself. Bills tracked were: HB 2745: Establishes voluntary licensing of dog and cat breeders. HB 3393: Provides scholarships for special-needs children to any accredited school. HB 3302: Creates an energy-stabilization...
Blue Oklahoma - Wed 12:04 p.m. - 5 clicks
Corey Haim died early this morning of an apparent drug overdose (but an autopsy is still pending). Corey was a teen idol in the 1980s and was in such classics as The Lost Boys , Lucas , License to Drive , and Dream a Little Dream . Rest well Corey. ...
Oklahoma Lefty - Wed 7:42 a.m. - 5 clicks
O ne the most ill-informed people in public life , Fox News windbag Glenn Beck , comes to Tulsa this week, ready to fire both barrels at everything he doesn't like. (Expect a very, very long whine.) That being the case, we want to do our part to let the public know how wise and thoughtful Beck really is. Today, for example, Beck attacked the U.S. census and its questions abou...
Alternative Tulsa - Tue 8:09 p.m. - 11 clicks
Last week, several dozen heroic Oklahoma college students showed us what it means to be committed to doing the right thing, and what it takes to hold a powerful elected official to account (at least if that official is Tom Coburn.) They are responsible for doing what 99 fellow Senators could not: They got Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to end his hold on a bill aimed at neutralizing the terrorist...
DailyKos (Oklahoma) - Tue 7:48 p.m. - 8 clicks
Sometime this week, likely tomorrow, the state House of Representatives will consider House Bill 1530, a bill to require a semester of health education in middle school. Although you've likely heard all this before, our state's dismal health indicators are what really drive this bill. Oklahoma is one of the nation's least-healthy states. We rank dead last in heart disease, mental illness and nut...
Blue Oklahoma - Tue 1:03 p.m. - 8 clicks
C ould urban land in Tulsa be used for free public orchards? It's an interesting question, one that would supplement the growing trend of public gardens . For city dwellers, it's a way of reconnecting with the natural patterns of growing and harvesting . USA Today reports that more cities are joining the public orchard movement . Learn more about the idea here . ...
Alternative Tulsa - Mar 8 - 12 clicks
T hanks to Tulsa's Circle Cinema , Oklahomans can get a inside look at Charles Darwin's life of ideas , especially his long struggle to write On the Origin of Species . The film, Creation , opened February 12 (Darwin's 201st birthday) . It follows the famous English scientist at home, providing a portrait of his passionate marriage and his grief over the death of a beloved daught...
Alternative Tulsa - Mar 8 - 6 clicks
A ltTulsa has been a consistent critic of fear-based campaigning . Now, at last, even Republican leaders are pulling back from the GOP's latest round of demonizing by the Republican Right. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has gone on record against GOP tactics. So has Orrin Hatch , the Utah Republican. We applaud these men and their rejection of destructive, hyper-partisan rhetori...
Alternative Tulsa - Mar 7 - 4 clicks
Oklahoma leads the nation in the per capita number of women serving prison sentences, a dubious national distinction. Many of the women in prison are serving time for nonviolent offenses. Some of these women are mothers, and their incarcerations often lead to family dysfunction, which creates even more problems. Recognizing the problem, the Oklahoma House passed a bill last week that c...
Blue Oklahoma - Mar 7 - 4 clicks
A ltTulsa likes to hang with artists . They're a quirky bunch —which is probably why we like them. Which brings us the Momentum show in Oklahoma City, a show in for Sooner state artists under 30. It's a cool idea . We like it. We've posted a link to a NewsOK video here . ...
Alternative Tulsa - Mar 5 - 6 clicks
Keith Gaddie is publishing unsubstantiated, self-serving and silly articles criticizing the Oklahoma political blogosphere. Gaddie , a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma, has published two articles recently in the Oklahoma Gazette that purport to give daily pageviews and backlinks to conservative and liberal blogs. The articles can be found here and her...
Blue Oklahoma - Mar 5 - 7 clicks
G l enn Beck is coming to Tulsa (yawn…) later this month. But Beck's fans many might want to consider the man's Montana-sized ego. To wit: Beck has repeatedly compared himself to great thinkers including (get this!) Socrates, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin, and Martin Luther King. Wow! It's silly, but true to the man. He's clueless, all hot air and fear. The dumb details here . ...
Alternative Tulsa - Mar 5 - 4 clicks
The state bill requiring women receive an ultrasound of the fetus before an abortion is about the government intimidating women into not having the procedure here. If it seems like we've been here before, it's because we have. Last year, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill that contained the same provision, but it was ruled unconstitutional because it violated a rule that requires bills con...
Blue Oklahoma - Mar 3 - 5 clicks
Add David Blatt, who maintains the OK Policy Blog , to the growing list of people who find flaws with proposed legislation that would allow outside health insurance companies to sell coverage exempt from state mandates. Blatt argues Senate Bill 2046, introduced by state Sen. Bill Brown, a Broken Arrow Republican, is part of a national effort to create interstate competition when it comes to...
Blue Oklahoma - Mar 1 - 5 clicks
…NBC premieres the most ill-conceived show in the network's history, The Tonight Show Without Conan O'Brien . And that's saying something from the network of Supertrain , The Man from Atlantis , and Fear Factor . The tag is the new department reserved for NBC and KFOR (Oklahoma City affiliate) exploits. ...
Life and Deatherage - Mar 1
Yesterday a 4.4 magnitude Earthquake struck in Lincoln County, Oklahoma north of Shawnee. About 40 miles Northwest of my house as a crow flies. It was the second largest earthquake ever recorded in... ...
Mainstream Baptist - Feb 28 - 5 clicks
Why do state legislators continue to want to dictate what women do with their bodies when it comes to reproduction issues? Why do they continue to crusade against science? On Thursday, the Oklahoma House passed a bill, sponsored by state Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, an Oklahoma City Democrat, which would make it illegal for state fertility clinics to compensate women for donating eggs. Under...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 27 - 7 clicks
(We need to get rid of Oklahoma City's antiquated liquor laws! Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette , the state's finest alternative newspaper.) The Oklahoma Policy Institute , operated by David Blatt, has emerged as the state's most credible outside source on budget information and analysis and has been praised by both conservative and progressives. In a recent fu...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 25 - 4 clicks
Will U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn go unchallenged by a viable Democratic candidate in his 2010 re-election bid? I discern two lines of thinking among local progressives over the issue. (1) Don't run a candidate because it will be a waste of financial resources and energy. Unless the political landscape changes drastically, Coburn, pictured right, will easily win re-election. He's the darling ...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 24 - 4 clicks
Last week, two conservative Republican Senators, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Barrasso of Wyoming, called for an independent probe of the IPCC -- the international scientific body that summarizes the latest climate science -- and asked the Senate to halt all climate action until that happens. The senators claim that because there were some errors included in the IPCC's 2007 report ...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 23 - 2 clicks
Okie Funk has been voted the state's Best Political Blog (Liberal) in the 2009 Okie Blog Awards competition. This is the third award won by Okie Funk in the annual competition. The blog also won Best Political Blog in 2006 and 2007. The runner-up in the liberal political blog category this year went to Alternative Tulsa . Batesline won the Best Political Blog (Conservative). The Be...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 22
A local judge recently ruled a draconian 2009 anti-abortion law is unconstitutional, but for pro-choice advocates it's a bittersweet victory. Oklahoma County District Judge Dan Owens ruled that legislators violated the state constitution when they placed multiple laws in a single piece of legislation. The ruling struck down a law that made it illegal for doctors to perform abortions on w...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 21 - 4 clicks
(Check out the discussion about this post on Daily Kos .) The next time you hear some local Second Amendment distorter talk about the government's efforts to put more restrictions on guns, remember this: Oklahoma has some of the least restrictive weapon laws in the nation. According to a new report by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates for stricter gun laws, the ...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 19 - 5 clicks
As most of you are well aware, last week was a snow week in Washington, DC, and the odds are pretty good that there's something like that going on for you as well. Our good friends in the conservative community have seized upon the moment as proof that this whole "global warming" thing is just a big scam perpetrated by the likes of Al Gore and his Legion Of Weather Nazis; their mission being only...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 18 - 2 clicks
The Oklahoma Policy Institute has published an insightful research brief that calls for more transparency regarding the state's numerous tax exemptions. The brief, titled "Let There Be Light: Making Oklahoma's Tax Expenditures More Transparent and Accountable," points out the huge reduction in revenue because of the exemptions, which are known as tax expenditures. According to a summary of ...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 17 - 3 clicks
During his time as Independent Counsel investigating the legality of President Clinton's Whitewater investments, Kenneth Starr, newly appointed President of Baylor University, often stood in the... ...
Mainstream Baptist - Feb 17 - 6 clicks
A Senate subcommittee has approved sale of the state-backed workers' comp insurance provider, CompSource Oklahoma, and a House committee will consider the matter Wednesday. Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, has a CompSource sale bill conveniently assigned to the Economic Development & Financial Services Committee, which he chairs. Rep. Sullivan is the point man for workers' comp reform in the House jus...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 15 - 3 clicks
The Oklahoman editorial page continues to use false comparisons to attack Democrats. On Feb. 1, I published a post criticizing an editorial that absurdly compared the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans four years ago to the country's response to the recent Haiti earthquake. The editorial's point was that President Barack Obama was doing as bad of a job rescu...
Blue Oklahoma - Feb 15 - 5 clicks
The Waco Tribune is reporting that Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who politicized the office of independent counsel and orchestrated the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton,... ...
Mainstream Baptist - Feb 15 - 5 clicks
