opinion

When Oklahoma Gazette readers pick up this issue, the results will all be in, and the voters who bother to vote will have spoken. My hunch is that however much the Democrats gain, the country will have taken a sharp turn toward the middle ” helped along by disgusted Republicans and a jilted Christian right. […]

Dear candidates: What if I promise to vote for you? Hey, what if I double-dog promise? (OK, some of you; my ballot will limit me to marking the box for just under half of all possible candidates. I didn’t make the rules, you know.)   Anyway, if I promise, will you please stop getting in […]

The joy of politics is watching people freak out over polls. Pollsters perform them, the news outlets run them and the activist community freaks out over the results. The advantaged act as if Nostradamus had come from the 16th century with a forecast from his golden tripod. The disadvantaged seek some reason, any reason, for […]

We have become a nation of stupid lawsuits. Any damn fool can sue for anything and often win. Cigarette companies are running commercials against smoking while putting warning labels on cigarette packs that tell you smoking causes cancer, yet people still sue when they ” guess what? ” get cancer from smoking.   The latest […]

The lyrics of “Oklahoma Rising,” the state’s centennial anthem, are infested with clichés, insensitive to contributions made by American Indians to the state and filled with hokey banalities that should embarrass anyone who lives here. The lyrics should make Oklahomans extremely suspect about the tone of the official centennial celebration in 2007. Will it be […]

I live with a man who wants to make gas out of grass.   I live with a man who talks to himself and anyone who will listen about farmland, feedstock and fuel tanks.   I live with a man who has spent most of his adult life trying to figure out where and how […]

Oklahoma’s political system could use a makeover. Voter turnout continues to decline in the primary, runoffs and general elections. Party politics are changing as the Republicans gain membership and the Democrats lose. All too many candidates are more concerned about their parties gaining control of the House or Senate than compromising to accomplish something rather […]

Last month’s primary elections were heavy with the usual rhetoric: smooth talk, trash talk, sweet talk, empty talk. Now God talk has been added to what was one of the most alienating elections we’ve had in a long time.   In the 5th U.S. House District Republican primary, the five candidates became whirling dervishes of […]

I confess: I am a 42-year-old “Harry Potter” fan. My son is also a “Harry Potter” fan, but I am willing to admit that my appreciation for the J.K. Rowling series goes beyond paternal duty, and, like my son, I jump up and down on the couch and squeal when a new installment is released. […]