October 25, 2007
On The Cover
Teachers Still Waiting: What $3,000 Raise?
By Arnold Hamilton
The next time you hear legislative leaders bragging about “extraordinary” teacher pay hikes the last two years, remember the Midwest City-Del City, Okmulgee, Edmond and Harrah faculties. They are still waiting to be paid in full.
What’s Inside
Frosty’s Notebook: Union Twilight
By Frosty Troy
Historians of the future will have the sad duty of chronicling the decline and fall of America as an industrial power, a disaster that includes unprecedented debt and a battered dollar.
Roberts Seeds Political And Financial Power
By Don Wilkey
Recent allegations against Oral Roberts University in the press have raised a larger issue concerning the influence the university has around the nation.
A Christian Nation’s Indifference To The Poor
By Bob Bearden
We finally have an increase in the minimum wage, for the first time in 10 years.
The Tax Truth Hurts Greedy Rightwingers
Oklahomans pay just under 10 cents of every dollar we earn in state and local taxes. Oklahomans’ taxes are 43rd in the nation per capita and 35th as a share of personal income [2004].
How Stupid Can We Be On Tax Cuts?
By Karen Webb
I was wondering who might suffer from another Oklahoma State Tax Cut. I know they say we have some sort of surplus or that the economy of Oklahoma is OK enough for more tax cuts.
‘Reform’ Stirs Animosity, Hostility
By Charles Chastain
Immigration control is one of the most important and divisive issues facing our country today. How we meet this challenge will define us as a nation for generations to come
Books
Finally, The Voices Of Oklahoma Women
By Mike Nobles
I have long said the University of Oklahoma Press is one of the crown jewels in Oklahoma. They consistently publish quality, timely, authoritative books on a variety of subjects and do so in a professional manner. This book is a perfect example.
An Inconvenient Truth About Reason
By Alvena Bieri
Al Gore’s new book is an argument in favor of returning to the great old American value of Reason in our public and political lives. That is Reason with a capital R.
Public Forum
’08 Choice Is Clear: Clueless Vote GOP
By Kenny Belford
Testifying before a congressional committee, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey gave a sobering assessment recently of the state of our Army. He said, “The current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply.”
How To End This Senseless War
By James Nimmo
America, the light of the free world supported by corporate welfare, citadel of freedom where freedom is locked up right now, exemplar of excessive consumption and not of the tubercular kind – Let’s have some truth and it will set you free.
Racial Profiling Is Fact For Minorities
By Michael Camfield
Your Sept. 10, 2007 cover story referred to “onerous anti-racial profiling regulations” in a manner that dismissed the reality of racial profiling by law enforcement in the United States. The following information contradicts your story.
Observations
Hello?
Republican Speaker Lance Cargill says Oklahoma deserves a “modern government” and one way to accomplish that goal is to get rid of many of the state’s ABCs – agencies, boards and commissions.
Sick Okies
Here we go again – more bad news about Oklahomans and their habits. We have one of the highest rates of seven chronic diseases in the country.
Homeless
It was at the stoplight intersection of I-35 and NE 10 Street in Oklahoma City that a scraggy, stooped young man in fatigues was bumming money.
Farce
The Republican 100 Ideas farce continues – aided and comforted by too many in the media.
Old Felons
The biggest ongoing political scandal in Oklahoma is not the Republican ethics debacle but the refusal of the Legislature to deal with the prison crisis.
Suit Revived
Justice was served when the Oklahoma Supreme Court restored a lawsuit accusing state officials of fraudulently giving nearly $5 million to Phillips Petroleum Co., now ConocoPhillips.
Crowded?
There will be 125 million births in the world this year.
