So let the people say amen! If only it were this simple. The truth is, people with guns kill people, and in America, we kill more people with guns than anywhere else on earth. In America, where citizens can legally buy assault rifles with high-capacity ammunition clips, disturbed or despondent young white males commit mass […]
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Citizen wane
Those two findings were part of the 2012 Oklahoma Civic Health Index, which was developed by a team of faculty and student researchers at the University of Central Oklahoma in partnership with the National Conference on Citizenship. The research team presented its report Dec. 4 to Oklahoma Secretary of State Glenn Coffee. According to the […]
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Hey, Legislature, nothing’s happening here!
In 1971, the Legislature enacted laws authorizing public school district employees to collectively bargain. The power of employee unions in the district has grown incrementally ever since, including a teachers’ strike that shut down the district in 1979. Although the American Federation of Teachers recently has acknowledged the need for more teacher training and accountability, […]
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Health insurance? Fooey!
First, the Republican governor delayed implementing aspects of the ACA, otherwise known as Obamacare, in hopes that it would be rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. When that plan failed, she and others counted on the election of a Republican president to push its repeal. That plan didn’t work out so well, either. Finally, it’s […]
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Ease the pain
Dr. Hal Vorse Credit: Mark Hancock In 2009, 83 percent of drug overdose deaths in Oklahoma were attributed to prescription drugs as compared to 17 percent of the overdoses related to street drugs. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1.2 million emergency room visits in Oklahoma that year were related to […]
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Oklahoma’s post election rise
Why and how are we Okies different, and what does that mean for the future? It might help to look at California, which is where four more years of Obama-style tax increases, hyper-regulation and deficits will take us. California just doubled down on liberal policies, electing veto-proof Democratic majorities in its legislature and approving draconian […]
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Capitol commandments
The monument is the result of a measure introduced by state Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, and passed by the Legislature in 2009 allowing for a privately paid-for monument to be placed on public property outside the Capitol. Little fanfare accompanied the installation on the north side of the building, with about a dozen non-workers […]
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A new hope
When it finally opens, the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, located at Interstate 40 and Eastern Avenue, is expected to become an international tourism destination. Securing additional funds, however, continues to be the last major hurdle to completing construction that began six years ago. NACEA Executive Director Blake Wade said he’s counting on $40 […]
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Kicking the crap out of Democrats
Credit: Brad Gregg Let the postmortems commence. Despite little actual change in the national political landscape, with President Barack Obama holding on to the White House, Democrats retaining Senate control and Republicans holding the House, inquiring minds want to know: How “red” did Oklahoma — already known as one of the reddest states in the […]
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Solutions for progressives
President Barack Obama was reelected in an Electoral College rout; Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin were elected to the U.S. Senate, Tammy Duckworth won a U.S. House seat, three states approved same-sex marriage and two states passed legalized marijuana. The country’s demographics are changing and so are cultural and social attitudes. By the 2016 presidential […]