As I said over on Twitter: "Few things are quite so permanent as a temporary tax."
Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist resigned earlier this week, amid calls for her removal by State Superintendent Ryan Walters over Tulsa's plummeting public education scores during her disastrous tenure.
Below are comments from Walters and Gov. Stitt, emphasizing their view that this could be a turning point of improvement for Tulsa Public Schools. For some excellent background on the Gist situation, read this over at BatesLine.
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| Go read his 20th anniversary post here. |
Conservative Tulsa blogger Michael Bates of BatesLine.com has posted his take on Tuesday's statewide election, State Question 820. As usual, filled with great insights and well-documented research, his excellent analysis and opinion is a must-read:
Michael Bates, the bonafide "elder statesman" of Oklahoma's conservative blogosphere (with a blog dating back to 2003), is out with an informational mega-post on the GOP Senate primary for the seat being vacated mid-tern by Jim Inhofe. In it, Bates presents some basic details about the candidates, along with links to campaign sites and further information.
Bates makes the case that absentee voters, especially conservatives, should hold off on picking a candidate just yet:
The disappointing thing is once again the education lobby won because self-described fiscal conservatives in control of the legislature caved. Education didn’t have to agree to consolidate administrative services, school districts, or submit to comprehensive audits of school districts. They just threatened to walk-out and lawmakers caved. No Oklahoman disputes teachers in Oklahoma deserve a raise, but so do the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Unfortunately, those people can’t afford to stage a walk-out because they can’t afford to take the day off. They have to work to pay their taxes.
Republicans traditionally have been known for smaller government and fought for citizens to keep more of their hard earned money, but here on planet Htrae, Republicans perform exactly the opposite of what you expect. On this cube-shaped planet we now live on, you can expect elected officials to contradict logic and adhere to the Bizarro Code. Voting doesn’t match their campaigning. Press releases and public speeches contradict their actions. It is no wonder the average citizen thinks politics and politicians are crooked, dirty and unethical- after all, we’re on Htrae.
I urge every Oklahoman to vote NO on Court of Civil Appeals Judge Jane Wiseman. As a district judge in 2003, Wiseman demonstrated partiality toward the rich and powerful by approving the unconstitutional logrolling in the Vision 2025 ballot. Her 2003 decision ignored her own reasoning eight years earlier when she rightly discarded a sales tax proposal for the new county jail because it included funds for early intervention programs on the same ballot item as funds for the jail's construction and operation.Bates plans on voting YES for Court of Civil Appeals Judge Brian Goree, and NO on all the rest.
Earlier this month, we saw Judge Wiseman officiate over the first "legal" "same-sex wedding" in Oklahoma, showing her solidarity not with the people who voted overwhelmingly to uphold the only definition of marriage that makes sense, but instead with the leftist fascists who seek to impose their morality on every state. Wiseman demonstrated her support for judges legislating from the bench, for seeing the voters of Oklahoma as subjects to be subdued, not a sovereign, self-governing people.
According to the most recent voter records I have handy, from July 2012, Francis A Keating II and Catherine H Keating are registered to vote in precinct 720071, with a residential address of 2121 S. Yorktown Ave. (a condo tower just east of Utica Square), Apt. 1203. No one named Keating owns property at that address, according to Tulsa County Assessor records, but Cathy Keating's mother, Frances Herndon Chandler, is listed as trustee of a trust that owns that unit.It will be interesting to see if Keating decides to pursue this any further.
But both Keatings list the following as their mailing address in their voter registration record (at least as of July, 2012):
820 NORTHEAST 23RD STREET
OKLAHOMA CITY OK 73105
Recognize that address? It's Oklahoma's Governor's Mansion, home to Brad and Kim Henry and their daughters from 2003 to 2011, and home for the last three years or so to Mary Fallin and her family. More than eleven years after moving out, Frank and Cathy Keating had not bothered to contact the county election board to change their voter record to their new mailing address. But they have continued to vote consistently, via absentee ballot. Presumably those ballots are being sent to a mailing address other than the one in their voter registration records.
The best hope for across-the-board (fiscal, social, and defense) conservatives is for another candidate to emerge, but it's too late (believe it or not) for another candidate to enter and compete effectively in the primaries. Filing deadlines have already passed for New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, and Missouri. Oklahoma, Ohio, Louisiana, and Michigan close filing this week. By the time we know the result in New Hampshire, even more deadlines will have passed. Although Iowa has no filing deadline (the caucus straw poll is not binding), a win there would require creating a grassroots GOTV organization ex nihilo in less than a month.But there is still a way for a "player to be named later" to become the Republican nominee. "Favorite son" candidates could file in each state, giving Republican voters a way to vote for "None of the Above" and to deny a majority of delegates to any of the currently active candidates, none of whom seem to have the right stuff to win the nomination, win the general election, and then steer the country decisively away from the fiscal Niagara Falls just around the next bend in the river.
I'm asking you, Sen. Coburn, to run in Oklahoma's primary as our favorite son.Sure, any random Republican with the intention of serving as a placeholder for "None of the Above" could cut a check for $2,500 to put his name on the ballot. But Joe Random would have to raise huge amounts of money to publicize his reasons for running and to convince Oklahoma voters that he could be trusted with their votes.You wouldn't have that problem, Sen. Coburn. The media, both local and national, would give a Coburn favorite son candidacy significant coverage. Oklahoma Republican voters already know and trust you (your TARP vote notwithstanding -- an error, but well-intentioned), and they know you are not driven by a lust for power. And if a win in Oklahoma turned into a national groundswell for a Coburn nomination, the vast majority of Oklahoma Republicans and fiscal conservatives nationwide would be very, very pleased.If you should win the Oklahoma primary, as I expect you would, Oklahoma's 43 delegates would give you a seat at the table in deciding the outcome of a deadlocked national convention, helping to ensure that the Republican nominee is someone who understands the fiscal crisis that looms over our nation and who is prepared to act decisively to deal with it.
Our nation was founded by ordinary citizen activists desiring a government that was accountable to the people. Today, ordinary citizens in every citizen and in every community are tired of the status quo and are ready to get involved like they never have before to demand accountability.This will be a great event; I highly encourage you to attend if at all possible.
American Majority’s purpose is to address these passions by providing education and resources to help you reach your goals.
To that end, American Majority desires to challenge concerned citizens to turn their focus to state and local issues with the first annual Tulsa Battlefield Training.
This event will provide those in attendance with two things:
First, the Tulsa Battlefield Training will give those in attendance a clear picture of what is happening at both the state level and local level with government spending, waste, and clear explanation regarding how all levels of government got into this mess.
Secondly, the Tulsa Battlefield Training will also provide tool, resources, and specific ways that attendees can get involved in the local government structure – whether as informed citizen activists or candidates for local office.
Confirmed Presenters Include:
The Tulsa Battlefield Training will take place on Saturday, April 23rd at Tulsa Technology Center located at 3420 S Memorial Dr. from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Doors open at 8:30 am.
- Ned Ryun, President of American Majority
- Michael Carnuccio, President of Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs
- Matt Robbins, Executive Director of American Majority
- A Local Blogger Panel Consisting of Michael Bates of Batesline.com; Jamison Faught of MuskogeePolitico.com; and Peter J. Rudy of OklahomaWatchdog.org
- Plus Presentations by the American Majority Oklahoma Staff
Registration is $20 per person (which includes lunch and all materials) - space is limited.
Click here to register online. If you have any questions or would like additional information, call Seth Brown at 405-639-8896 or e-mail him at Seth@americanmajority.org.
With climate change becoming increasingly threatening, and decreasingly talked about in the media, we wanted to find a way to bring this critical issue back into the headlines whilst making people laugh. We were therefore delighted when Britain's leading comedy writer, Richard Curtis - writer of Blackadder, Four Weddings, Notting Hill and many others – agreed to write a short film for the 10:10 campaign. Many people found the resulting film extremely funny, but unfortunately some didn't and we sincerely apologise to anybody we have offended. [emphasis mine]I will warn you - this short, four-minute film is graphic and gory (schoolchildren blow up at their desks in a crowded classroom, splattering the rest of the class in gore, a soccer team manager and employees at a business meet the same fate, all in a nonchalant manner).
Although I'm told that Chris's ratings have been good -- the best for his timeslot since Tony Snow was on mid-afternoons several years ago -- parent company Journal Communications is suffering. In June 2007, the stock neared $14 a share; it was at $5 as recently as last September; yesterday it closed at 39 cents. (It ticked up today, back to 50 cents.) According to the transcript of the company's 2008 4Q earnings teleconference, Journal had a net loss of $223 million for that period. Journal Communications' flagship is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.On his Facebook profile, Chris Medlock confirmed that, "They said it was due to financial problems." When one of the commentors asked if there was anything his listening audience could do to get him back on the air, he said, "I guess if enough people complained...it's worked before."
