Commentary

The “tea party” crowd can be a force in Oklahoma politics. To do so, they need to do more than protest the status quo, which inexplicably emerged before their eyes this past May after eight years in the driver’s seat of the Bush administration. The tea party’s real issue is corporate America, which is capable […]

Well, it seems that in this legislative session we are going to debate divorce. With all our fiscal troubles, I’m sure you didn’t have that on your list of legislative priorities for the year.The proposed House Bill 2279 disallows a court from granting a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility if there are minor children, […]

They are good enough, they are smart enough, and gosh-darn it “¦ people like them!It’s the new breed, the new face of my beloved Republican Party, and they are ready to lead us into battle against the evil hordes of those “doggone Democrats” who are bound and determined to turn us into a socialist country. […]

The state’s current severe budget crisis could finally force legislators and other public officials this year to address Oklahoma’s burgeoning correctional system. Oklahoma is the only state in the country that still involves the governor in every parole recommendation. The main problem with the current system is that any Oklahoma governor runs great political risk […]

Trying to access the Cherokee County sheriff’s booking records years ago suddenly became a problem for the newspaper. Reporters couldn’t do their jobs, and the public didn’t know who the sheriff was putting in jail. I didn’t understand why he was refusing to release the information. The newspaper had had no problems in the past, […]

Jan. 1, 2010: 31,000 University of Oklahoma football fans show up at the El Paso International Airport asking for their charter to Los Angeles. Sun Bowl promoters sold out the game by telling Sooners fans that it was a scrimmage before meeting Alabama.Jan. 6: Bob Stoops turns down Florida coaching job in exchange for being […]

As the national recession drags on, it has become abundantly clear that Oklahoma cannot avoid a financial disaster. Golden opportunities to invest in our future were lost when revenues were high. Without long-term vision, we failed to properly fund our “best” education system or improve our workforce development. Our state further failed to shrink government […]

Reducing poverty remains one of Oklahoma’s greatest challenges in the early 21st century.Poverty, in the state’s historical context, is systemic and has gut-wrenching realities, such as basic hunger. It’s also a major part of the state’s mythology. Oklahoma’s image as a “poor state” has endured ” fairly or not ” since the Great Depression and […]

At the 62nd annual Interfaith Thanks-giving Service held at Temple B’Nai Israel on Nov. 24, the featured speaker was Imad Enchassi, the imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City. This was the first time in our city’s history that an imam had spoken in such a capacity at a local synagogue. As we […]