Speaking before a joint session of the Legislature, Fallin touched on both accomplishments over the past few years as well as some of the initiatives and measures she hopes to implement over the coming year. Among the issues she hopes to see movement on this legislative session are:• a cut of the top state income […]
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Cars and guns
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, told a Tulsa radio station that he is working with some Senate Democrats on legislation that would require background checks for people buying a gun — the idea being to keep weapons out of the hands of convicted criminals and the mentally ill. That news, of course, has excited the easily […]
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Bills of goods
Credit: Brad Gregg We’re talking about the Oklahoma legislative session. Each year, bills are filed that, in the kindest of terms, could best be described as “paste-eaters.” Last year’s winner, hands down, was a proposal to ban the use of fetuses in food. It never made it to a vote, so be extra cautious […]
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Coffee’s mate
Credit: Brad Gregg The mystery of where Secretary of State Glenn Coffee will go once his resignation takes effect Jan. 31 has finally been solved. The former state senator revealed last week that he will buy the OKC law firm of attorney Lee Slater. Slater, a former head of the state Election Board, was appointed […]
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What would J.C. do?
Credit: Brad Gregg It might make sense for Republicans to be pondering a change in light of the party’s unpopularity among African- Americans and Hispanics. In the Nov. 6 election, President Barack Obama won 93 percent of the African-American vote and more than 70 percent of the Hispanic vote. Watts, who is African-American and long […]
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Pledge cleaner
Credit: Brad Gregg Perhaps the same can be said about congressional Republicans and the antitax pledge pushed by activist Grover Norquist now that U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, has said it’s time to cut a budget deal with President Obama and avoid the fiscal cliff. In an interview last week with Politico, Cole confirmed that […]
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A shameful turn
I would love to see the estimated 150,000 uninsured Oklahomans who could have access to health insurance through Medicaid expansion arrive on the steps of the state Capitol for Fallin to meet firsthand. Let her try to explain how it is reasonable and humane for them to remain uninsured in order for her to score […]
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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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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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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 […]