Commentary

On Feb. 4, 2008, the Oklahoma Legislature will convene its second session. The first thing the Legislature should do immediately is assemble a concurrent special session and take up ethics reform.   The problems confronting our state in the area of campaign finance increasingly are capturing the attention of the news media and do not […]

What will it take to make some Oklahoma politicians and leaders understand how detrimental it is for the state that teachers here are paid below regional and national levels?   Low teacher salaries send a clear signal to everyone here and outside the state that intellectualism and enlightenment are not appreciated in Oklahoma. This is […]

As someone who used to work under the dome of the state Capitol, I can tell you that many interim study hearings are not worth the ink spilled printing their agendas. A refreshing exception is the review of merit pay for teachers under way in the state House.   We say that teachers are professionals […]

With all due respect to Gen. David Petraeus, the American people should not be fooled by one more staged event that requires us to believe the unbelievable. It is no accident that the testimony of Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the American ambassador to Iraq, coincided with the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. Once more, […]

Francis Schaeffer is well-known for his book and video series “How Should We Then Live,” in which he describes the ebb and flow of culture over the centuries. And, 30 years later, it is still a profound work of literature. Some would argue that Schaeffer was prophetic in his presuppositional theological treatise, pointing to the […]

The 100 Ideas initiative for Oklahoma ” 100IdeasOK.org ” is in full swing. Around the state, residents are coming together in groups to brainstorm policy ideas for Oklahoma’s future. The inspiration for the 100 Ideas initiative comes from Florida, where former Gov. Jeb Bush sought input to craft a future policy agenda that would outlive […]

I travel a lot, and I’m always amazed at how many people I meet with Oklahoma connections. Years ago, while I was in Moscow, Enid attorney Stephen Jones ” the man who would defend Oklahoma City federal building bomber Timothy McVeigh ” walked up to me and introduced himself. You don’t expect to meet people […]

The famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass had it right about education in this often-cited quote: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”   Those words are as true today as in the mid-19th century when Douglass, a former slave, became the conscience of America, standing up boldly in speech after speech […]

What does the rest of the country think about Oklahoma in 2007? To answer this question, I recently completed an unofficial and unscientific survey of news stories about Oklahoma found in newspapers and broadcasts across the nation. My methodology was simple: I typed “Oklahoma” into a Google news search and read stories from non-Oklahoman sources. […]

I was driving on Interstate 270 in Columbus, Ohio, listening to my favorite talk-radio station, when a news alert interrupted the otherwise mind-numbing droning of the host. The alert indicated that an explosion had taken place in Oklahoma City, and authorities weren’t sure the cause. Something instinctively told me to cancel my appointments for the […]