Having served aboard a ship of the line during my first enlistment in the U.S. Navy, names of sister vessels have stuck in my memory. I served aboard a Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyer for roughly two and a half years. These and other small combatant vessels of that era known as frigates…
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The American dichotomy, up close and personal
My dear brothers, sisters, readers of Reason Rest Stop and only friends, this has been another of those weeks where I have stopped myself more than once from writing my commentary in an effort to allow a story to fully evolve. The fact of the matter is that this is a very trying time to…
Continue ReadingShaken to our core: Making the case for regime change
On this Labor Day Holiday when we should be celebrating our working class roots and remembering those who fought, bled and died for the rights of all working people, we here along the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66 are reeling and regrouping from a very sobering weekend. Forget the fact that our beloved…
Continue ReadingPost-convention identity politics
We Oklahoma Democrats who stayed home and held the fort so to speak were firmly riveted to our TV screens every evening through Thursday this past week. Even though it happened in Philadelphia, PA, it is not every day of the World we get to see such history in the making. Nominating the first woman…
Continue ReadingAn honor and a privilege to serve
At the end of a week where the wicked World seemed to be imploding all over from Dallas to Nice to Turkey, we here along the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66 have kept plugging along. Aside from a few local candidates doing their due diligence of door knocking in their respective districts, several…
Continue ReadingDocumentary film review: A Better Life
My dear brothers, sisters, readers of Reason Rest Stop and only friends, you all no doubt recall how often I enjoy writing glowing testimonials of the venues, enclaves, social organizations and events that make living along this the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66 tolerable for people like us. I had another such opportunity…
Continue ReadingLines of battle are drawn
It has been quite an eventful week of happenings, some wonderful, some expected and some extremely awful in the nation as well as along this the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66. I have been biding my time waiting for things to evolve before offering my meager contribution to the discussion. Over the past…
Continue ReadingReaping the bitter fruits of rotten governance
The second session of the 55th Oklahoma Legislature adjourned this past Friday amid an abundance of sunshine pumping from those in the majority party of how they passed a budget before their deadline. The outlook for a great number of the state’s citizens is increasingly more grim as so many less affluent bore the brunt…
Continue ReadingSweat equity and supporting local candidates
As one who has been directly involved in campaign politics for nearly a decade now, I have spent my fair share of time manning phone banks. I can empathize with those who call total strangers on behalf of political candidates to ask for things they normally would not ever ask anyone for like votes or…
Continue ReadingAdults reading their awkward teenage diaries
It may be a little known fact outside this most conservative corridor of Old Route 66 but there is a thriving community of aspiring story tellers, budding comedians and stand-up comic artists in my beloved home town. The Comedy Parlor in Tulsa’s Blue Dome district played host to OK, So Tulsa Storyslam Saturday evening for…
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