Commentary

Should Oklahoma City voters approve an extension of a penny sales tax to fund improvements to the Ford Center so the city can have its own NBA team?   There is little doubt the city is ready for the big leagues. It proved this when it became the temporary home of the New Orleans Hornets […]

Mitt Romney is running for president, and the Christian right runs the country. The result is that a Mormon felt compelled to make a speech in which he pretended to defend the separation of church and state, and the freedom of religion. What he was doing, in fact, was pandering to a crucial voting block […]

  It was a Thursday evening and my lovely wife, Suzanne, and I were sitting in the living room watching the news, and there he was: Mayor Mick Cornett, discussing an extension of the existing MAPS tax to make improvements to the Ford Center so we can lure the Seattle SuperSonics or perhaps even a […]

Laugh or cry ” your choice. A key, fast-growing industry in Oklahoma operates largely under rules of its own creation, with oversight by its own employees, for the benefit of some, but not necessarily the majority of state residents. That industry is comprised of gambling casinos built and operated by Oklahoma’s American Indian tribes.   […]

Indian gaming benefits Oklahoma in many ways. Oklahoma tribes operate about 95 gaming facilities, with gross revenues of nearly $2 billion in 2006. This revenue directly or indirectly supports more than 50,000 jobs in the state. Treasurer Scott Meacham recently estimated that the state receives between $60 million and $70 million annually from the tribes, […]

It has not been a good autumn for Oklahoma’s national reputation. In November, The Wall Street Journal compared us to Pakistan and Forbes magazine compared us to North Korea. Why all the criticism? A decision by Attorney General Drew Edmondson to indict three political activists for actions related to their attempt to place the Taxpayer […]

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights ” or TABOR ” initiative petition was thrown out by the Oklahoma Supreme Court last December because the process was riddled with fraud, including the illegal use of out-of-state petitioners (non-taxpayers) as circulators.   Oklahoma’s multicounty grand jury looked at the tactics of the petitioners, and it also found them […]

It’s the Christmas season ” be careful what hate-crime legislation you ask for.   The murder of Steven Domer, 62, was and is a heinous, barbarous act by, allegedly, a couple bottom-feeders bent on the destruction of human life. And why? We are not really sure just yet, but evidence thus far indicates that the […]

  Arguments ad nauseam over who is number one in football, and why the Bowl Championship Series is the Great Satan have overshadowed a much more important debate in Oklahoma about what kind of state we really live in, and why we refuse to add “sexual orientation” to our hate-crime laws. It took the murder […]

Oklahoma’s new illegal immigration bill, considered one of the strictest such laws in the country, should become a catalyst for state leaders from diverse political backgrounds to come together to oppose it and educate the public about its unintended effects.   Those leaders opposed to House Bill 1804, now the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection […]