The GOP controls every statewide elected position and body of government with level of domination that the state hasn’t seen since conservatives still voted Democrat (before civil rights got in the way) and Oklahoma was part of the Solid South. Despite the success at the voting booth, the Oklahoma Republican Party is about $25,000 in […]
debt
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Chicken-Fried News: Debbie Downer … debtor
Jim Gallogly recently snubbed University of Oklahoma (OU) administrators for being in the red and owing a whopping $1 billion in debt. “Our debt has more than doubled in the last 10 years, as we’ve been on a building campaign,” Gallogly said at an OU Board of Regents meeting over the summer. While Gallogly’s comments […]
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Sen. Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, recalls the photo of a friend’s son smiling in his new residence at Ada’s East Central University in August.
Sen. Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, recalls the photo of a friend’s son smiling in his new residence at Ada’s East Central University in August.
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Debtor’s prison, sort of
Here’s how it works. Get arrested and booked into jail. Stay one night and you’re billed $117 for that wonderful room and guest service provided by the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department, which provides questionable accommodations to all those folks arrested by OKC’s finest. As the guests check out, or bond out, they’re told about the […]
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Debt ceiling? Global warming? (Internet?) Bah!
For years, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Tulsa) has argued global warming doesn’t exist. It’s fictional and a figment of every scientist’s imagination. According to the good senator, it’s an attack on the energy industry by tree-hugging environmentalists. Now, Oklahoma’s other senator, Tom Coburn (R-Muskogee), contends the nation’s debt ceiling isn’t real and the U.S. won’t default […]
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The federal Titanic is sinking
This is an apt analogy for our nation’s current fiscal crisis. Because of an accounting gimmick where governments pretend future liabilities don’t exist and, therefore, don’t account for them, most Americans don’t know how big the problem really is. The amount typically reported, nearly $16 trillion, is actually only the surface of our debt. According […]
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A tale of two Toms
Tom Coburn credit: Mark Hancock If you picked Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, move to the head of the class. The plainspoken, sometimes grim physician, nicknamed “Dr. No” by his Senate colleagues for his penchant for holding up seemingly innocuous items, is the answer to all of the above. It’s among the reasons he is routinely […]
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Seeing ‘blue states’
B. Zoeller’s letter (“‘Red states’ should pay off GOP debt,” Jan. 26, Gazette) scared me so badly I was seeing “blue states.” What scared me the most was Zoeller’s misconception of how the federal government spends our money. A basic U.S. Government 101 course clearly explains that the president of the United States does not […]
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‘Red states’ should pay off GOP debt
A big national debt and big spending are scary. They sure scare me. But I’m sure most of you have heard the saying, “It’s easier to scare people than to find the facts.” What facts? Well, in 1981, the national debt was almost $1 trillion. This was debt left over from World War II, the […]