When a family member loses his or her job, that family has less income and normally creates a budget to live within its means, maybe cutting cable TV, Internet, etc. Can government not survive within a budget, instead of requiring taxpayers to give more? It could if it tried, but it’s easier to raise taxes […]
politics
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Oklahoma needs the Affordable Care Act
Sound familiar? Under the Affordable Care Act, states will be given an opportunity to opt into an expanded provision of Medicaid, effective 2014. This provision in the ACA is of vital interest for Oklahoma. It means 200,000 more Oklahomans will be eligible, if they enroll, to receive health insurance (about 29 percent of Oklahomans are […]
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Clear and ‘present’ changer
That’s the impression you’d have after Coburn told The Oklahoman it was “stupid” for Senate Republicans to block a vote to confirm federal Magistrate Robert Bacharach to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. But then Coburn and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, both of whom have strongly endorsed Bacharach, stepped aside and left the judicial […]
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Medicaid expansion vital
According to Mike Fogarty, CEO of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the uncompensated cost of treating the uninsured in Oklahoma exceeds $1 billion annually, most of it paid for by shifting the cost to insured families, while bad debt and charity care costs hospitals $365 million a year. Fogarty estimates that the $1 billion in […]
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Off the campaign trail
Credit: Brad Gregg The 28-year-old Smith was arrested by Pontotoc County sheriff’s deputies on two warrants stemming from his owing nearly $3,000 in back child support and $1,850 in driving-related municipal fines. Smith’s campaign manager — who also happens to be his fiancée — and apparent Quentin Tarantino movie character SunShine Fox told The Oklahoman […]
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When conservatives attack
Credit: Brad Gregg So whether the latest dust-up between two of the state’s most arch-conservative groups is the culmination of a “divide and conquer” strategy by the chamber crowd, a genuine disagreement or just petty ego-tripping is hard to say. Whatever is behind it, the latest spat between Sooner Tea Party head Al Gerhart and […]
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A pilot’s revenge
Credit: Brad Gregg The saga of what future generations of grateful aviators might well refer to as Inhofecare began two years ago. That’s when the good senator, a pilot himself, had a run-in with the FAA when he landed his plane on a closed runway in Texas, scaring the bejesus out of some workers he […]
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Kern-fil-A
We’re talking about breasts of chicken, of course. From the because-the-Chick-fil-A-controversy-wasn’t-stupid-enough-already file, Kern issued a statement July 27 asking Oklahomans (even the gay ones, we guess?) to eat at the restaurant chain during Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on Wednesday. Just a week prior, Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy responded that his company was “guilty as charged” in […]
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Shining light on the legislative process
With the legislative session over, it’s a good time to think about ways to make the next one better. Specifically, I’m concerned with making the legislative process more transparent. Much has improved over the five years since I’ve been covering the state Capitol, but much more can — and should — be done. For starters, […]
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Caged heat
Credit: Shannon Cornman The comments were part of a larger discussion among the council at its June 16 meeting about what to do with a $1.3 million surplus to the city budget and whether to put that money into expanded bus service, street maintenance, or the hiring of more police officers. Shadid questioned why there […]