Commentary

Oklahoma County District Judge Richard Freeman’s decision a decade ago to ban the Academy Award-winning film “The Tin Drum” still goes down as one of the most embarrassing moments in local history.   Freeman might as well have issued a judicial decree proclaiming only religious folks and meth-lab cooks would be welcomed henceforth in Oklahoma […]

I have discovered true misery. All it takes is a case of old-fashioned, “killer-diller” flu ” the kind that can be endured only if you curl up in a fetal position and sleep ” combined with a sick dog that needs medicine, meals and doors opened to the back yard approximately 20 times per day. […]

Another Memorial Day has come and gone, but instead of a sobering reminder that war is hell and requires the ultimate sacrifice, we are more disconnected from the war in Iraq than ever. Most Americans don’t know that May was one of the deadliest months, or that the surge has produced nothing but a surge […]

The economy is booming, but why does the middle class feel so squeezed? For parents, the soaring cost of higher education is an ever-present concern, and each of us is stunned by the price at the pump. However, neither one of those problems is enough to bankrupt the average family out of the blue.   […]

The 51st Oklahoma Legislature has completed its 2007 session. This historic session, which featured a tied Senate, a Republican House and an unfettered governor, will be remembered for a variety of reasons.   It is tougher to get an abortion in Oklahoma than it used to be, but you still easily can sue a doctor, […]

Why not establish a public university in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City?   This university would secure the financial viability of the entertainment area, offer conveniently located classes and become a model for new urban universities in the country. It’s an idea that deserves real consideration.   Oklahoma consistently ranks under the national average […]

At a time when Tulsa and Oklahoma City are enjoying an economic renaissance, the state’s business climate and reputation took a blow to the head, thanks to a tort-reform veto by the governor. What could possibly be worse for Oklahoma’s economic development than a Wall Street Journal editorial page lambasting of the governor over tort […]

America has a love-hate relationship with media. We complain about the lack of substantive programming, the bias of news reporting and the media fascination with Lindsay Lohan’s revolving-door rehab adventures. We proclaim from the mountaintops our hatred for the insipid offerings of media, but at the same time, we plop down in front of the […]

In the late Seventies, when I was still in seminary, William Sloane Coffin Jr. came to Enid to deliver the J. Clyde Wheeler Lecture. The former chaplain at YaleUniversity and minister of The Riverside Church in New York City said two things that I will never forget: one, that America might one day go fascist, […]

It’s time Oklahomans pay attention to how money has polluted the state’s political systems.   What many Oklahomans, no matter their political affiliation, may well conclude after taking a close look at the current situation is this: Politicians often abuse the contemporary campaign-funding system, and only rich people and their organizations have influence and power […]