It has been a rough couple of weeks to be a conservative Republican in America. As I sit here writing this my thoughts drift back to what happened in Gettysburg, PA 152 years ago this very afternoon. Members of the GOP, especially the Evangelical wing of the party, must feel like Confederate survivors of Pickett’s Charge. As one rebel…
Continue Reading
Farewell to toxic symbolism
It has been a very historic week in America in terms of commemorating notable events, landmark decisions handed down by the highest court in the land and executive orders issued by some southern state governors to remove archaic incendiary emblems from their purview. I myself could feel the tectonic shift of public opinion when the Supreme Court…
Continue Reading
FreeOK 2015
Imagine if you will a camp meeting of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and pagans. Focus on that conceptual image for a moment and you can grasp the essence of the fifth annual Oklahoma Freethought Convention. FreeOK 2015 was held on Saturday, June 20th at the Cox Business Center in Tulsa. This is another of those…
Continue Reading
A gutted budget, lofty platitudes and good stuff, too!
Will Rogers once waxed philosophical on the subject of the Congressional budget: “The budget is like a mythical bean bag. Congress votes mythical beans into it, then reaches in and tries to pull real ones out.” Oh Will, you have no idea how creative the legislature of your beloved home state has become in paying its bills. Earlier…
Continue Reading
Pride is alive along the Mother Road!
One of the community celebrations that make this the most conservative segment of Old Route 66 habitable took place this past weekend. Yes, the 33rd annual Tulsa Pride celebration attracted thousands to Downtown Tulsa on Saturday afternoon and evening culminating in the Pride Parade. This is an annual festival sponsored by Oklahomans for Equality. Yours truly was…
Continue Reading
Petroleum interests uber alles
Make no mistake about it, when it comes to pet industries of the State of Oklahoma Big Oil & Gas has a firm lock on the top spot. Yes indeed, just last week the small government conservative majority in the state legislature and their rubber stamp governor passed a law banning municipalities from imposing bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and…
Continue Reading
An Oklahoma primary for Independents?
It has been a busy weekend along the most conservative stretch of Old Route 66, especially for those of the Democratic persuasion. Friday evening many of the Oklahoma Democratic Party leadership met at the Tower Hotel in Oklahoma City for the annual Carl Albert awards dinner. After all the awards for Activist of the Year…
Continue Reading
Memorializing a wrong and worn out narrative
It was an eventful and amusing week along this exceedingly conservative stretch of Old Route 66 in the run up to the Memorial Day weekend. The justly earned “Tempest in a Teapot” award goes to the local ABC affiliate KTUL for their coverage of a Politico article posted to the Tulsa County Democratic Party Facebook page last…
Continue Reading
Arming our public schools
The deeply ingrained firearm culture has expanded yet again, this time to Oklahoma public schools. Governor Mary Fallin signed off on House Bill 2014 earlier this week. This new law authored by freshman representative Jeff Coody of HD 63 (Lawton) is intended to provide an extra level of security by allowing a trained school employee to carry a handgun on school…
Continue Reading
RUSH rocks the BOK!
Tulsa’s BOK Center was the venue for the opening show of Rush’s 2015 R40 Live tour. Rush, a three-member hard rock band from Toronto, Ontario, can still pack a stadium sized concert hall with all manner of fans and devotees that hang on every note and stay lost in the sound until the final curtain drops. This…
Continue Reading