Commentary

Now the Senate is likely to put the bill on its calendar again this month, but its future remains uncertain. And even if it can pass the Senate, the Bush administration might veto it over national security concerns. The shield law would cover anyone who “regularly gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports or […]

The Oklahoma conservative bastion and corporate media can attempt to rationalize it, but state government continues to inadequately fund public education. This has caused incalculable harm through the decades. It limits economic development because the state lacks a substantial educated workforce. It has led to high rates of cyclical poverty and hungry families. When people […]

I have to say I was a bit nervous. As I was packing to join the rest of the Oklahoma delegation in the Twin Cities, I wondered what the effect of Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential pick would be. Joe Lieberman would have been divisive, Tom Ridge disastrous. As for Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson, […]

Sarah Palin scares me. Not because she shoots guns or talks tough to good ol’ boys or wants more money for her state. Palin scares me because she could become president of the United States and not only is she unqualified, unprepared and uninformed, she makes it clear that while she’s free to make choices […]

I went to the Democratic National Convention in Denver because I could not help myself. As a lifelong and long-suffering Democrat, I wanted to be present for the making of American history. I heard lots of speeches and talked to lots of people, but on the whole, I thought the DNC was long on policy […]

District court judges in Oklahoma have sealed at least one record of a case in more than 2,300 court cases between 2003 and 2007 ” typically because attorneys in the cases had simply asked, the Tulsa World recently reported. Wrongful-death, medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits were among the cases the newspaper found with at […]

The official motto for the Olympic Games is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” ” Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” After watching University of Oklahoma gymnast Jonathan Horton compete in the men’s horizontal bar competition during the Beijing games, I think it’s time to add Horton’s motto to all the official paraphernalia:  “Go big or go home.” Horton […]

DENVER ” I write this from the Democratic National Convention in Denver as a Clinton delegate representing Oklahoma. Only halfway through the week’s events, I have heard Sen. Hillary Clinton at three events already, Michelle Obama at two, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I’ve also heard speeches from numerous other male and female dignitaries, both elected […]

The speculation has begun for the open governor position in 2010. Be it a Republican or Democrat, the next governor will face many of the same obstacles Oklahoma governors have battled for decades.  Our education system’s performance has never been rated anything better than poor to, at best, mediocre. Despite the efforts of Gov. Henry […]

A year ago, our state’s business outlook appeared bright. But over the horizon, storm clouds were gathering and a malaise of Seventies-style stagflation ” higher prices, falling asset prices and sluggish growth ” that began on the coasts is now encroaching upon America’s midsection. Oklahoma’s energy-dominant economy, bane of the Eighties, so far has shielded […]