May 25, 2007

On The Cover

Style Over Substance: Speaker Lance Cargill

By Arnold Hamilton

There was cautious optimism when Todd Hiett’s mercurial reign as House Speaker ended. His successor, Harrah’s Lance Cargill, promised a new era of openness and transparency.

What’s Inside

Frosty’s Notebook: Teacher Pay

By Frosty Troy

Are Oklahoma teachers better paid than most other professionals? So wrote Jay Greene and Marcus Winters in a paper for the rightwing Manhattan Institute, titled “How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid?”

Governor Triumphs In Budget Battle

Democratic Gov. Brad Henry played hardball to win almost all of his proposals – a $7.1 billion budget. He did it by holding up a Republican tax cut until the last minute.

U.S. Chamber Flunks, Not Oklahoma Schools

By Ed Cannaday

During my days as a high school principal, a school board member once asked me why I did not attempt to manage the schools the same way I had successfully managed my former dairy farm operation. I told him the key to my success in the dairy was that I culled the 10% lowest producers from my herd each year. If I did the same thing in my school, I could show similar success.

Oklahomans Honored For Interfaith Outreach

The Oklahoma chapter of The Interfaith Alliance recently received the Bishop P. Francis Murphy Local Activism Award for their dedication to interfaith outreach.

The Anti-Tax Spiel Can Kill Warr Acres

By M. Scott Carter

If you travel far enough on Oklahoma City’s Northwest Expressway, past the restaurants, banks, and struggling strip malls, you’ll eventually wind up in Warr Acres.

Senator Wants To Be Buried With Pet

By Karen Webb

My state Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson is pretty strange and my state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft is stranger because he wants to ban a certain breed of dog. Now I found out there is a Republican senator in Florida who codified his right to be buried with his dog.

Sexual Violence In Oklahoma Rampant

Sexual violence in a community has typically been difficult to estimate or characterize due to under-reporting and social norms that encourage secrecy. The Oklahoma State Department of Health has undertaken surveys to estimate the true incidence and prevalence of rape and sexual violence among Oklahoma’s population.

CareerTech Grad On National TV

By Lauren Merryman

Armed with new skills in the electrical trades, Carolyn Kent is getting a second chance at life after release from Mabel Bassett Correctional Center.

Meet The Alfalfa Bill You May Not Know

By Bob Darcy

In his 1947 self-published Palestine, former Gov. William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray advocated not allowing Jewish refugees – “Refu-Jews” – into the United States and those Jews in the United States, citizens or not, be rounded up and shipped to Madagascar.

Public Forum

Romney’s Liberal Logic On Abortion

By Danny Adkison

A recent Supreme Court decision has apparently caused some Republicans to rethink their thinking on abortion. One presidential candidate announced that he had a change of heart on the subject and had a new opinion on the matter. It is one that should be attractive to most conservatives. It just so happens that, taken to its logical conclusion, it is exactly what liberals believe, too.

Taking The Politics Out Of Abortion

By Edwin E. Vineyard

Every once in a while, when hearing or reading about some abortion controversy, the question occurs to The Militant Moderate: “Who advocates abortion? Who favors abortion?” The answer always comes up, “Nobody.”

Observations

A Tragedy

Thanks to Republicans, big losers in the unlamented legislative session were Oklahoma’s seriously mentally ill.

Lonely Voice

The Observer takes no pride in the fact that this publication has been a lonely voice in cataloging the criminal and ethical misconduct in the Bush Administration.

At Last

At last, a bill to keep Oklahoma college students’ names and addresses from being sold to credit card companies has won final approval from the state Senate.

The Lege Rules

No surprise that the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld a district court opinion throwing out a $1 billion lawsuit filed by a teachers’ union and others that accused the Legislature of under-funding state schools.

Slander

On the way to passing legislation to allow cities and colleges to start charter schools, Rep. Jabar Shumate said this: “If the public schools were doing their jobs, charter schools wouldn’t be needed.” How dumb is that?