Douglass-Locust Grove game: Just Let It Go

It's the end of high school football season, and most of the divisions are in the final games of the playoff. This year, a Class 3A quarter-final game has resulted in a lot of controversy.

Last Friday, Locust Grove High School defeated Douglass High School (OKC) by a score of 20-19. With a little over a minute left in the game, Douglass scored a touchdown, taking a 25-20 lead. However, Douglass' touchdown was called back due to a sideline infraction penalty (their second of the game), and Locust Grove held on to win.

Problem is, that penalty was improperly enforced. According to National Federation of State High School football rules, the penalty should have been applied to the extra point or ensuing kickoff. As it was, the referee's bad call wiped out the Douglass score.

It didn't take long for things to go south. Security had to restrain outraged Douglass fans (allegedly, one of the referees was punched after the game), and the Douglass coach apparently cursed at the referees and the OSSAA and otherwise behaved like an immature jerk.

Douglass appealed the penalty to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA), asking for the final 64 seconds to be replayed, and the OSSAA denied the request. Now, Oklahoma City Public Schools is suing, and got a judge to grant a temporary restraining order to keep the semifinal game from being played on Friday.

Now, we have a host of politicians weighing in on Douglass High's side: State Sens. David Holt (R) and Anastasia Pittman (D-OKC), State Reps. Bobby Cleveland (R-Norman), David Young (D-OKC) and Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore), even former OU coach Barry Switzer. All of these elected officials and public figures are calling for the last minute of the game to be replayed. Sen. Pittman did a press conference with NAACP officials where implications were made that the Douglass team was the victim of racial bias.

Here's my take. I think we can all agree that the referee made a bad call. It's unfortunate that the call cost Douglass the game. However, this is football. Things like this happen every single game.

Hardly a game goes by where some penalty isn't called when it should be, or is called when it shouldn't be. Sometimes, referees make the most inexplicable calls. Remember the onside kick in the 2006 OU vs. Oregon game? Yeah, bad calls happen.

Football is like that. Life is like that. Sometimes, you just have to deal with it.

Instead, now we have bunch of politicians and a big metro school district trying to force a do-over. Can you imagine how many other teams would like to be able to do that? What kind of precedent do we want to set? Part of me wonders if the roles were reversed -- if the rural school was the team that got the raw deal -- if all these elected officials would be as up-in-arms about it. Also, do we really want to litigate high school football games?? Is that a wise use of limited education funds?

Everyone agrees that the penalty was messed up. But, Douglass High School coaches and officials could have taken the high road and used this as a character building experience for their students, and shown them how to handle life's 'curve balls' with grace and class. Instead, they're setting a different example.

Just let it go, and move on.

Public Insight Network seeks input on immigration terminology

Which term best describes immigrants living in the U.S. illegally?

from Public Insight Network

The Associated Press Stylebook and several newsrooms have dropped the term "illegal immigrant." On the AP website, a top editor clarified, "The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term 'illegal immigrant' or the use of 'illegal' to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that 'illegal' should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally."

The decision has been applauded by Latino and immigration advocates. For years, many protested the AP and other journalism organizations, including The New York Times, over usage of what they believed to be an offensive term. But journalists are left wondering, what is the proper terminology for an immigrant in the country illegally?

Do you use a specific term to describe someone with a certain immigration status? What do you think of the AP's new stance?

Public Insight Network journalists have launched a collaboration to see which terms people across the United States prefer to use. Everything you share will be read by journalists only, and your responses are confidential unless you tell us we may publish them.

Thanks to Ben Allen of KOSU for making me aware of this project.

Submit your take at this link, and view a map of responses from across the country.

Post-Tucson gun-related political correctness? Blogger says "no"

In the wake of the shooting in Tucson, the left and the media has tried to push politically correct speech even more forcefully; in this case, anything remotely related to firearms. Recently, a CNN anchor even went so far as to apologize for using the term "crosshairs".

Blogger Charles Phipps of OKPolitechs has a post that makes a point while using as much politically-incorrect gun-related speech as possible.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been all over the news lately blaming everyone from Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh for the tragic shooting in his county.  It's time for Republicans to set their sights on replacing him.

Read the rest of his post here.

The Conservative View: Nausea and Political Correctness

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Nausea and Political Correctness

I have never played the stock market because it is a place that can land you in the poor house before you know it. Those that make a lot of money in the market often do a lot of research before they invest. I have heard of people that learned of an innovative invention that some company developed, then invested in that company and made a hefty return. I guess that everything that we do in life is a gamble. We gamble on the profession that we choose to make a living or the choice we make in choosing a husband or wife. From the news headlines that I have seen over the past year or so, I think a sure fire investment would be to invest in Pepto Bismol.

It is very evident that the politically correct crowd is so afraid that the Christian religion will offend someone or some group that they must remove this vile set of beliefs from any public view. I have written about the people in Haskell County in Oklahoma who were forced to remove a monument from their courthouse lawn that had the Mayflower Compact and the Ten Commandments inscribed on it.

We Americans may have become a victim of our own success. Have we grown so arrogant that we believe that all of the greatness of this nation was a result of us being more intelligent than the rest of the world or maybe the way we parted our hair? Our founders realized for our country to prosper we needed the help of a higher power. The U.S. leaders have called for a day of prayer during times of crisis since 1775 but the tradition is under attack. Many Americans are familiar with the name Billy Graham and his organization and his work to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have spent many hours listening to Mr. Graham and I never once heard him call for violence against anyone who did not prescribe to his belief system. His message was that it is the choice of the individual to accept or reject his beliefs. Recently his son Franklin Graham was invited to speak at a Pentagon prayer service, but that invitation has been rescinded because some groups disagree with his comments about Islam. I have never heard the Grahams call someone (who didn’t believe as they do) an infidel and suggest that they be killed because of their non-belief. Can the Muslims say the same thing? For now I will just buy an extra bottle of Pepto.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.

The Conservative View: With What Brain Working?

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner.

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

With What Brain Working?

Our country has always prided itself on being a nation that is fair and just for all people. Over the past several years our leaders have gotten into a habit of political correctness that is going to get a bunch of Americans hurt or killed. We need to come to the conclusion that our enemies don’t have any intention of playing fair nor do they have any respect for us or our way of life. Whenever we get to thinking otherwise we need to watch some of the news footage from the 9/11 attacks. The people that were killed that day were for the most part just average people that were doing the best they could to provide for the needs of their family. They were victims of murder. After the planes crashed into the twin towers, many of the people above the crash had no means of escape and were being roasted alive by the fires below them, many of them jumped to their deaths instead of being burnt alive. The job of going after the groups responsible fell upon the men and women of our armed forces. Now some of our soldiers are facing charges because some terrorist is claiming that they were a victim of excessive force.

The person in question is Ahmed Hashim Abed who allegedly masterminded the 2004 murder of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah. The four bodies were mutilated, burned, and two were hung from a bridge. He claims he was hit during his capture, citing a bloody lip as evidence. As a result, three Navy SEALs face assault charges and court martial. Our military was never intended to be a police force. There is a huge difference in a police officer and a soldier. I do not envy ether job but for the most part citizen criminals are not intent upon killing the police officer; but our soldiers are going after people whose stated goal is to kill as many infidel Americans as possible.

For all of those people who want to press charges on our soldiers, maybe they should take their place for a while and show them how to do the job. If we don’t start using our brains and stop condemning the very people who are protecting us, who will be willing to do the job in the future?

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.

Columnist Ralph Peters on Ft. Hood Islamist Terror

The following is an article written by columnist Ralph Peters, which ran in the New York Post on November 6th.

Call This Horror by its name: Islamist Terror

On Thursday afternoon, a radicalized Muslim US Army officer shouting "Allahu Akbar!" committed the worst act of terror on American soil since 9/11. And no one wants to call it an act of terror or associate it with Islam.

What cowards we are. Political correctness killed those patriotic Americans at Ft. Hood as surely as the Islamist gunman did. And the media treat it like a case of non-denominational shoplifting.

This was a terrorist act. When an extremist plans and executes a murderous plot against our unarmed soldiers to protest our efforts to counter Islamist fanatics, it’s an act of terror. Period.

When the terrorist posts anti-American hate-speech on the Web; apparently praises suicide bombers and uses his own name; loudly criticizes US policies; argues (as a psychiatrist, no less) with his military patients over the worth of their sacrifices; refuses, in the name of Islam, to be photographed with female colleagues; lists his nationality as "Palestinian" in a Muslim spouse-matching program, and parades around central Texas in a fundamentalist playsuit — well, it only seems fair to call this terrorist an "Islamist terrorist."

But the president won’t. Despite his promise to get to all the facts. Because there’s no such thing as "Islamist terrorism" in ObamaWorld.

And the Army won’t. Because its senior leaders are so sick with political correctness that pandering to America-haters is safer than calling terrorism "terrorism."

And the media won’t. Because they have more interest in the shooter than in our troops — despite their crocodile tears.

Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan planned this terrorist attack and executed it in cold blood. The resulting massacre was the first tragedy. The second was that he wasn’t killed on the spot.

Hasan survived. Now the rest of us will have to foot his massive medical bills. Activist lawyers will get involved, claiming "harassment" drove him temporarily insane. There’ll be no end of trial delays. At best, taxpayer dollars will fund his prison lifestyle for decades to come, since our politically correct Army leadership wouldn’t dare pursue or carry out the death penalty.

Maj. Hasan will be a hero to Islamist terrorists abroad and their sympathizers here. While US Muslim organizations decry his acts publicly, Hasan will be praised privately. And he’ll have the last laugh.

But Hasan isn’t the sole guilty party. The US Army’s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Ft. Hood.

Given the myriad warning signs, it’s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly damn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Ft. Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor.

Had Hasan been a Lutheran or a Methodist, he would’ve been gone with the simoon. But officers fear charges of discrimination when faced with misconduct among protected minorities.

Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. 31 soldiers were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don’t roll in this maggot’s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption.

There’s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist whacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who’ve been assigned to his care? And he’s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on?

For the first time since I joined the Army in 1976, I’m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.

Get ready for the apologias. We’ve already heard from the terrorist’s family that "he’s a good American." In their world, maybe he is.

But when do we, the American public, knock off the PC nonsense?

A disgruntled Muslim soldier murdered his officers way back in 2003, in Kuwait, on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Recently? An American mullah shoots it out with the feds in Detroit. A Muslim fanatic attacks an Arkansas recruiting station. A Muslim media owner, after playing the peace card, beheads his wife. A Muslim father runs over his daughter because she’s becoming too Westernized.

Muslim terrorist wannabes are busted again and again. And we’re assured that "Islam’s a religion of peace."

I guarantee you that the Obama administration’s non-response to the Ft. Hood attack will mock the memory of our dead.

I agree. Political correctness is killing this country, from the avoidance of labeling Islamic terrorism terrorism, to the relabeling of Christmas. It has got to stop.