Alternative Tulsa

Tulsa Republican Fail: GOP Focus Group Repeats Nonsense

2012-01-30T20:37:00.000-06:00

The Republican noise machine—fueled by Blowhard Radio and the shills at Fox News—is alive in well in T-town.

How do we know? It was in the Tulsa World on Sunday when the paper published details of a GOP focus group run by SoonerPoll.com. Newt Gingrich was the favorite of the 11 registered Republicans who participated in the study—but only a slight favorite (see post below).

But the "best" news from the focus group was their repetition of bogus Republican talking points. These include a Wingnut favorite, that President Obama is—wait for it—not a Christian.

Yes, Sooner fans, one of the Tulsa Republicans actually said, "We don't need a non-Christian like we have now." So, the logic goes, Obama must be a Muslim!

But wait, there's more! Former city council candidate David Bell claimed "there's not a dime's worth of difference" between Mitt Romney and President Obama.

Really? That would be news to Romney voters. (On the other hand, Romney did get Romneycare in Massachusetts, which has been a good thing.)

Another Tulsa Republican called for "statesmen, not politicians. We need someone who will do something for the country."

Come to think of it, we agree with that idea. Yes indeed. We have seen the Republican field (Rick Perry, anyone? Herman Cain? Michele Bachmann?) and we too want a statesman who will do something for the country.

That's why we are supporting President Obama.

Newt-mentum! Tulsa Republicans Like Gingrich, Mostly

2012-01-29T16:41:00.001-06:00

Good ole Newt Gingrich—the gift that keeps on giving. Didya hear about his moon colony idea? Winning!

But seriously, Sooner fans, Gingrich was the favorite Republican presidential hopeful in a focus group of 11 GOP voters held in Tulsa three days after his victory in South Carolina.

As reported in today's Tulsa World, Gingrich was the choice of four voters, while Mitt Romney got two votes and Ron Paul and Rick Santorum got one each. Three voters were undecided, the World reported, and one Romney supporter was leaning to Gingrich. (Read the World story here.)

Herman Cain—remember him?—also garnered some support in the group, despite his suspended campaign. This being conservative Tulsa, one voter was still pining for Michele Bachmann, another causality of the GOP primaries.

Obviously, a group this small does not accurately represent all Tulsa County Republican voters. In addition, the results have probably shifted due to the Florida campaign this week, which shows Romney up and Gingrich down.

Gingrich may have peaked in South Carolina. After his pandering to the so-called Space Coast in Florida with his moon colony idea—a 51st state, anyone?—his slide in the polls is not a surprise.

Most comforting for those of us on the other end of the political spectrum was the disillusion of the Tulsa Republicans. One voter told the World that the GOP field was akin to the Keystone Kops and the Marx brothers.

To which we say, Amen, Brother.

Woody Guthrie at 100: TU Hosts March Conference to Celebrate the Man and His Music

2012-01-28T14:04:00.000-06:00

Fans of Oklahoma legend Woody Guthrie can celebrate the singer's centennial year right here in T-town.

The University of Tulsa has announced a day-long Woody Guthrie symposium for Saturday, March 10 at the school's new Lorton Performance Center. The event will feature panel discussions, a luncheon featuring the Texas activist and writer Jim Hightower, as well as a benefit concert at the Brady Theater.

The concert will feature some big names, including John Mellencamp and Arlo Guthrie.

Guthrie, of course, is famous for his songwriting, singing and social activism, some of which made him a pariah in conservative Oklahoma. The symposium panels and presentations reflect Guthrie's activism, with titles such as "A Culture of Protest" and "Demanding Democracy: The Socialist Movement and Oklahoma Politics."

In additon to the symposium, Guthrie's life is the focus of an exhibit opening February 5 at the Gilcrease Museum. The show will feature documents, journals, song lyrics and artwork, including an original draft of his famous song, "This Land is Your Land."

For more on the symposium, check out the website here.

Tulsa Trash Cart Plan Brings Out the Fruits and Nuts

2012-01-26T00:47:00.000-06:00

Oh no! Tulsa's Big Bad Tulsa Government is watching your new trash cart. Even worse, Big Bad will be forcing you to—heavens!—recycle.

Or maybe all of this is just made up by a bunch of paranoid people who have been listening to way too much talk radio.

For those of you keeping score at home, we're referring to changes proposed by the city's Trash Board to buy new trash carts, which could be tracked by radio-frequency-identification tags. This would allow the city to better monitor the pick-up service, officials explained.

Ah, but the city's zanies have figured out that this is a double-super-secret plan by Big Brother (and probably the CIA!) to invade our privacy! And make us do horrible things like recycle! And these folks are steamed.

Councilor Blake Ewing, quoted in the Tulsa World, said he's heard the radio ID carts called "a repressive, punitive, elitist, big government, nanny state, environmnetal, fascist recycling regime."

Whew!

Oh wait. How exactly will these new trash carts do all these horrible things? That's not clear. In fact, neither the city nor the trash board nor a new trash cart in your yard would seem capable of doing any of these things.

But to some among us, any attempt to change anything is obviously an effort by Big Bad to turn us into slaves of the power-mad, out-of-control bureaucrats. Or something.

By the way, you think any of these folks have heard of Google Earth, which has a picture of your house on the Internet for the entire world—including terrorists—to see?

A DUI Arrest for Former ORU President Richard Roberts

2012-01-25T23:59:00.002-06:00

Names make news, editors say.

Yes, they do—and was the case in Tulsa this week when evangelist Richard Roberts, former president of Oral Roberts University (and son of the late Oral Roberts), was arrested early Tuesday for driving under the influence. Ouch!

Some details of the complaint, courtesy of the Tulsa World: Roberts was clocked driving his Mercedes (naturally!) at 93 mph in a 65-mph zone. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.11, above the legal limit of 0.08. Roberts failed two—count 'em!—field sobriety tests.

Oh, and the arrest happened in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

We have no idea what Roberts was doing Monday night or Tuesday morning, but an arrest for DUI is the last thing he needs. This is the guy, after all, who resigned as president of ORU after charges "that he and his family misused university and ministry resources," according to the World.

For a man devoted to a higher power, this is not good. Not at all. A link to the World's story is here.

Jon Stewart Goes Bananas over Newt's Hypocrisy

2012-01-24T16:43:00.000-06:00

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Lyin' about Obama: Rick Santorum Plays Along with Bogus 'Obama Is a Muslim' Charge

2012-01-23T15:58:00.001-06:00

Remember when conservatives embraced things like facts?

Believe it or not, there was a time when right-wingers made rational arguments based on real-world facts. A few still do, but the overheated world of wingnut radio and television (That's you, Rush. And you too, Sean.) no actual facts are necessary. The truth is whatever you want it to be.

Which brings us to a Rich Santorum town hall meeting in Florida today where a woman stood up and declared that President Obama is "an avowed Muslim" and not legally the president at all. Naturally, some in the crowd applauded. Whoo!

And what's Santorum's response to this bit of delusional baloney? In a phrase, a big Santorum fail. Brave ole Rick failed to challenge or correct the woman's statements.

By now, we've come to expect a certain amount of nuttiness on the Right. But Santorum is not delusional and he's not a nutcase. He is, however, playing ball with the Republicans who are.

For more, check out the story here: Rick Santorum Panders To Woman Who Alleges Obama Is ‘An Avowed Muslim’

Evangelical Flop: The Incredible Shrinking Santorum

2012-01-22T19:32:00.000-06:00

What happened to Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and world-class homophobe?

Lost in all the Newtmania from South Carolina was the fact that Santorum—the choice of many leading evangelicals—finished third yesterday, well behind Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

And this was in South Carolina, home to many, many evangelicals. Some of them, apparently, fell under the spell of Newt, notwithstanding the former House Speaker's three (count 'em!) marriages and a laundry list of ethical baggage.

As John Avlon of The Daily Beast has noted, Santorum was endorsed last week by a high-level group of evangelical leaders including Tony Perkins, James Dobson and Gary Bauer. But the Palmetto State religious right failed to play along.

"If the leaders of the religious right can't deliver a victory for their chosen candidate here, where can they do it?" Avlon asks.

Last we heard, Santorum had vowed to fight on despite his dismal showing in South Carolina. But Santorum looks increasingly like a presidential loser, joining the ranks of such washouts as Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee and, more recently, Michele Bachmann.

Newt's Up; Mitt's Reeling and Rick Perry Is Long Gone

2012-01-22T13:41:00.001-06:00

The AltTulsa gang fell behind last week—sorry!—and what a week it was in the Republican presidential sweepstakes.

The most recent headline, of course, is the return of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who pulled off a big victory over his rivals in yesterday's South Carolina primary.

In recent debates, Gingrich delivered the kind of Red-meat Republican rhetoric (yawn…) that Southerners love.

Newt's victory, along with the delayed news of Rick Santorum's victory in the Iowa caucuses, means that three different candidates have won GOP contests this month.

Who woulda thunk it? A real horse race is shaping up for the Republican nomination.

Meanwhile, Sen. Jim Inhofe's favorite candidate withdrew from the race last week. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, once touted as the True Conservative Who Could Beat Obama, was a bust. Despite his claims of divine inspiration, Perry proved to be a weak candidate, even in the South.

That's too bad, since some of us never tired of pointing out his many flaws. Without Perry's gaffs, Michele Bachmann's zaniness and Herman Cain's superficial clap-trap, what will we do?

Oh wait. With an ego the size of Donald Trump's (and that's saying something), Newt Gingrich is a never-ending source of inspired horse hockey. And Mitt Romney has proven to be a regular provider of cringe-inducing misstatements.

Yes, Sooner fans, it's Republican politics at its weirdest, all for the right to lose to President Obama in November.

Even in Texas, Rick Perry is Toast

2012-01-17T21:48:00.003-06:00

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was supposed to be the conservative alternative to that wily Massachusetts weasel, Mitt Romney. Perry was the real deal—hard-nosed, business friendly and—most importantly for the Religious Right—a genuine true believer.

Well, things haven't worked out so well for Gov. Perry.

Besides those conservative qualities the Right loves so much, Perry has proven to be something of a dunce. He appears lazy, he doesn't know too much and he has a gift for saying things poorly.

Despite such shortcomings, Oklahoma's senior U.S. senator, Jim Inhofe, has backed the Texas governor.

We doubt Inhofe's fellow citizens are so enamored of Gov. Perry. After all, new poll numbers from Texas show that even Texans are losing faith in their governor. Once the overwhelming choice of Texas Republicans, Texans are now about equally divided between Perry and Romney.

When you lose the home state crowd, that's a sign. As we have been saying for some time now, Perry is toast. He's not now—and never was—on the road to the GOP nomination. Not even close.

Read more on the recent Texas poll here.

More Right-Wing Pandering from Rep. Sullivan

2012-01-16T10:45:00.003-06:00

Tulsa's answer to a potted plant—Rep. John Sullivan—is out with his latest "Constituent Issue Survey" and it's more of the same claptrap we've come to expect from the First District congressman.

That's right, Sooner fans, Sullivan is still trying to whip up more outrage over the president's health care reform plan.

That's the same health plan that—heavens!—requires insurance companies to cover pre-exisitng conditions. And the one that extended coverage to millions of young adults. And the one that required insurance companies to spend 80 percent of their revenues on actual treatment, not administrative costs.

But that's not all. Oh no.

Sullivan is still pushing simple-sounding solutions to complex problems. So he's pushing a balanced budget amendment, a "solution" likely to undermine the Social Security and Medicare benefits so many of his older constituents depend on.

He's also beating another right-wing dead horse, claiming—without evidence, of course—that "excessive government regulations that prevent businesses from adding jobs."

Of course, all Rush-listening conservatives know this is true, never mind the fact that private sector hiring has been rising for many months now.

But who needs pesky facts, anyway? They just get in the way of Sullivan's partisan nonsense.

Oklahoma Economy Looks Up; Thanks, Mr. President

2012-01-13T12:52:00.001-06:00

The Tulsa World reported this week that state tax revenues are up—way up. In December, general revenue collections were up 19.3 percent.

And for this, we'd like to say "Thank you, President Obama."

The Very Red Oklahoma, the Republicans are unwilling to share the credit with that horrible socialist, anti-American Muslim named Barack Obama.

On no. Gov. Mary Fallin wants all the credit. It's her pro-growth policies that are fueling the state's recovery, she told the World.

Such a claim ignores global economic forces as well as national economic trends, many of which have been—gasp!—positive.

While the state and national GOP has been whining for three years, it turns out that many of the president's economic policies have worked. Things are much, much better than the bad old days of 2008, when George W. Bush was presiding over (and that's being generous) a major economic collapse.

No, the recovery isn't complete nor are all the signs good. Yet prospects are improving, as the tax figures show.

The fact is that Oklahoma is part of both a national and global economic system. If we are improving, some of the credit goes to the president's leadership in Washington.

But don't expect Oklahoma Republicans to say that. They're too busy whining.

Recalling the Shrinking Bush Legacy

2012-01-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

Wayne Slater, a long-time Texas political observer and columnist for the Dallas Morning News, has done the nation a favor this election year by pointing out the disappearance of George W. Bush.

That's right, sports fans, good ole W has completely disappeared from the GOP firmament, despite the fact that he is the most recent Republican president, wildly popular in places like Oklahoma.

Reporting from New Hampshire, Slater explains Bush's political absence by citing GOP voters unwilling to "embrace the Texan's legacy of budget deficits, billion-dollar wars and domestic policies that didn't pass muster with conservatives."

One voter put it this way: "Do I think he was a great president? No."

Such a sentiment will get no argument here. As long-time AT readers can attest, we have long been critical of Bush and his domestic and foreign policy agenda, especially his ill-fated decision to invade Iraq.

Slater has it right: "The government spending, growing debt and economic collapse that attended Bush's departure is not eactly something Republican candidates want to talk about…."

Urban Tulsa Weekly's Bogus Hot 100: Gotta Love the Boss!

2012-01-09T19:07:00.003-06:00

Yes, sports fans, it's a new year and time for another installment of Urban Tulsa Weekly's "Hot 100," a list purported to be local "up-and-comers."

Or so they claim. Let's say, for the sake of accuracy, that the list includes both hits and misses.

One major miss is the inclusion of—you guessed it!—UTW publisher Keith Skrzpyczak. According to his own paper, the man is—hyperbole alert!—"quirky, inquisitive, opinionated, off-the-beaten-path, brilliant, and a little on the wild side."

Wow! We're impressed. Or not. After all, this is Skrzypcak's paper and this description was written by his very own employees, not exactly an impartial bunch.

Imagine the howls of derision that UTW would unleash on the Tulsa World if they plugged a member of the Lorton family as one of Tulsa's gifts to local journalism. And they'd be right to point out the incestuous nature of such a story.

To be fair, we're confident that Skrzypcak has many fine qualities. He may even be almost as great as his employees think he is.

But pardon us—and more than a few Tulsa readers—for declining to burnish Keith's halo.

Dining at the Global Table: Local Food Blog Makes a Splash

2012-01-06T13:03:00.001-06:00

The AltTulsa gang loves to eat, so we were pleasantly surprised to hear Tulsa food blogger Sasha Martin today on the radio program Travel with Rick Steves (thanks, KWGS!).

We're not sure how we managed to miss Sasha's blog for so long, but let's make up for it now by saying it plainly: This is creative cooking at its best and Sasha's website is well worth a look.

For 2012, we'd like to spend more time doing what Sasha Martin does: cooking interesting food from across the world. Oh, and enjoying it too.

Check out Global Table Adventures by Sasha Martin. A link to her website is here.

Jon Stewart on the Mystery of God's GOP Endorsement

2012-01-06T11:05:00.001-06:00

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Tulsa Is No. 1 in (Yikes!) Booze

2012-01-04T12:47:00.004-06:00

That's right, Tulsa boozers! We're Number 1 in Oklahoma.

We referring to a Tulsa World analysis that revealed Tulsa County's first-in-Oklahoma ranking "for retail liquor stores' per capita sales."

If we understand it correctly, this means Tulsa County residents spend more on liquor, wine and strong beer than any other county on a per capita basis. Tulsa County, the World reports, spent about $16.50 per resident on alcohol, while second-ranked Oklahoma County came in at $13.92 per resident.

Whoo! Tulsans drink better booze than those those Cowtown Rednecks at the other end of the Turner Turnpike.

The good news in these numbers is the millions of dollars in tax revenue generated by liquor sales. On the down side, no one can claim that alcohol abuse is not a serious problem in Tulsa and elsewhere in Oklahoma.

Incidentally, the World published their page-one analysis on New Year's eve, just above an ad for the River Spirit Casino's Visions Champagne Buffet. Cheers!

The Miracle That Never Happened: Michele Bachmann's Failed Presidential Bid

2012-01-04T12:08:00.002-06:00

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was always a long shot in the Republican bid for the presidency, but the candidate never gave up hope.

Indeed, she predicted a miracle, one that would bring huge numbers of Iowa Republicans to her cause.

All that ended last night. Bachmann finished a weak sixth in a field of weak candidates, including the hapless Rick Perry and the ethically challenged Newt Gingrich.

Today, Bachmann abandoned the race.

This is the same candidate who had God on her side—or so she claimed. A graduate of ORU's now-closed law school in Tulsa, Bachmann was the darling of some on the Christian right. As the Tulsa World noted last week week, a group of ORU students went to Iowa to work on Bachmann's campaign.

Alas, no miracle materialized for Michelle Bachmann. But have no fear, Bachmann fans: It's clear that the good Congresswoman will keep spouting bad ideas and conspiracy theories for the foreseeable future.

Michele Bachmann Gets Help from ORU Students, but She's Going to Need So Much More

2011-12-30T11:24:00.000-06:00

A group of ORU students is campaigning in this weekend for one of their own, Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Bachmann studied law at the now-closed ORU law school.

The Tulsa World reports this morning that the ORU students will spend the weekend campaigning for Bachmann in Iowa. They'll even earn course credit for their work, the World reports.

But Bachmann will need more than a few student volunteers to overcome her tendency to take extreme positions and simplify complex issues. Bachmann loves simple solutions (don't we all?), but her solutions are almost always wrong.

Indeed, Bachmann's star has fallen in recent months. Recent Iowa polls have her in the low double-digits, running even with another fallen star, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

We're not in the predicting business, but we feel confident in saying that Bachmann has a snowball's chance in hell of winning the Iowa Caucus.

Then again, with nut cases like Rep. Ron Paul and ethically challenged has-beens like Newt Gingrich going strong in Iowa, anything is possible.

Hypocrisy Alert! Inhofe Claims EPA Plays Politics

2011-12-29T18:43:00.003-06:00

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe is not especially self aware. Not at all.

So when the former Tulsa mayor—a first-rate political operator—claims that the Feds are playing politics, he's ignoring his own extensive history of hyper-partisanship.

Inhofe's latest head-spinning hypocrisy occurred earlier this month when Inhofe pounced on a draft EPA report that linked hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) to contaminated drinking water in Wyoming.

It's all politics, Inhofe claimed, telling the Tulsa World's Jim Myers that the EPA draft report is political science, not solid science. Notably, Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso did not endorse Inhofe's charges.

Excuse us for saying so, but Inhofe is in no position to comment on sound science. He's the guy who claims that global warming and climate change is a hoax, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

In the Wyoming case, Inhofe's "political science" charges are contradicted by the EPA's own procedures, which calls for an independent scientific review of the draft findings.

In other words, the Wyoming report is one more example of Inhofe—not the EPA—playing politics with science.

Woody Comes Home: Big News for Tulsa's Brady District

2011-12-28T19:02:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it, today is a big news day for Tulsa's Brady Arts District. The headline is this: The Woody Guthrie archive is coming to town.

Thanks to the George Kaiser Family Foundation, thousands of Guthrie documents and song lyrics will be housed in a new archive now under construction in the Brady District just north of downtown. The archive is part of a series of art and cultural developments going up in the district.

Check out a video report from the NewsOn6 link: Development In Tulsa's Brady District

Reading Lives: Tulsan G.T. Bynum Loves Biographies

2011-12-28T11:58:00.003-06:00

Tulsa City Council Chairman G.T. Bynum has been one of the few voices of reason at city hall in recent years. Some of his colleagues, as Tulsa voters know all too well, have been irrational hotheads.

We can't say for sure, but Bynum's thoughtful approach to politics may be due his habit of reading biographies, a habit described in a recent Tulsa World article.

Bynum told reporter Brian Barber that he got hooked on biographies as a schoolboy when his mother took him to the Yorktown Alley bookstore at Utica Square.

Over the years, Bynum said, he has read about 1,000 biographies, 40 or more a year. He keeps the books, so his study is overflowing with books. "It drives my wife nuts," he said.

We recount Bynum's book passion with admiration, since we too love books and the wisdom gathered in biographies, histories and other volumes.

Kudos to Bynum—and to the Tulsa World—for emphasizing books, reading and—heavens!—even learning something along the way. We wish more public people had this habit.

Coburn's Newt Gingrich Problem: Oklahoma Senator Knows Too Much about Former Speaker

2011-12-23T13:15:00.003-06:00

It's not exactly breaking news, but it's worth repeating: Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn is no fan of Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich, of course, is running for the Republican presidential nomination. According to some polls, he's running well in Iowa and South Carolina.

But Newt is problem for many Republicans, including Coburn.

Why such antipathy? As Sen. Coburn explained earlier this month, Coburn served in the U.S. House when Gingrich was the House speaker. That experience, Coburn has admitted, has left him unimpressed by Gingrich's leadership skills.

"I just found his leadership lacking," Coburn said recently.

That may be an understatement. Beyond leadership, Gingrich has a laundry list of misjudgments, ethical problems and moral failings, all of which are serious enough to turn off voters.

Nevertheless, a recent SoonerPoll found Gingrich the top choice of Oklahoma Republicans. We don't have a dog in this fight, but Oklahoma voters might be well advised to listen to Sen. Coburn.

Fun with Newt, Starring Jon Stewart, Featuring Okahoma's Own Tom Coburn (now with Whiskers!)

2011-12-21T15:37:00.002-06:00

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Inhofe's Pick, Rick Perry, Running Poorly in Oklahoma

2011-12-19T18:04:00.003-06:00

Sen. Jim Inhofe thinks he is leading, but Oklahomans aren't following.

We're talking about Inhofe's announced support fort Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who Inhofe has recently praised for his energy and environmental views. (Yawn…)

But the SoonerPoll.com results announced Saturday showed Perry well behind Newt Gingrich and even that Massachusetts "liberal," Mitt Romney.

Perry was the top choice of only 9 percent of Oklahoma Republicans in the SoonerPoll, which surveyed 400 Republicans from mid-November to mid-December.

National support for Perry continues to be weak too. In fact, the entire GOP field is flawed, from the morally and ethically challenged Newt Gingrich to the ill-informed Michele Bachmann.

We're sure Sen. Inhofe will keep flogging the Perry candidacy, but Sooners have seen quite enough of Rick Perry. As the kids say, stick a fork in him—he's done.

UPDATE: Perry isn't setting the world in fire in Iowa, either. Poll results released today have the Texas governor at only 10 percent, gaining only one point over an earlier poll.

UPDATE, PART 2: AltTulsa has seen new Iowa poll figures and Perry is up to 16 percent. Whoo! Of course, with Newt's recent slide, the voters have to go somewhere, even to a candidate as shallow and unthinking as Rick Perry.

Poll: Sooners Support Newt, an Honest Family Man

2011-12-18T14:48:00.000-06:00

Be careful what you wish for, Cowboy fans.

A new poll by SoonerPoll.com has former House Speaker Newt Gingrich well ahead among Oklahoma Republicans. Gingrich was the choice of 33 percent of the 400 GOP voters polled from mid-November to mid-December, well ahead of Mitt Romney, who was the choice of 14 percent.

None of the other Republican candidates broke single digits.

Despite this show of support, we suspect Oklahoma conservatives are (and will be) holding their nose when it comes to Newt's "family values."

That term deserves the quotation marks, inasmuch as Gingrich is now married to his third wife, a former aide who 23 years his junior. Oh, and Gingrich was having an affair with Callista while he was condemning President Bill Clinton for his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky.

Here's how Gingrich has tried to explain his infidelities: "There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate." Yeah, right.

And that's just the beginning of Gingrich's history of poor judgment and ethical lapses, all of which raise grave doubts about his fitness for office.

Given the Gingrich record, it's little wonder that many mainstream Republicans have begun to attack him. But more than a few Democrats are delighted.

Watch: NewsOn6 Report on Tulsa's Pop Up Shopping

2011-12-14T23:42:00.001-06:00

Double Dumb: Inhofe Doubles Down on Rick Perry

2011-12-14T12:32:00.002-06:00

Sen. Jim Inhofe never lets reality get in the way of a bad idea.

That's right, Cowboy fans, Oklahoma's senior senator is sticking with Rick Perry for president, even as Perry has demonstrated repeatedly that he's ill-informed, hot-headed and too bigoted for the presidency.

Speaking earlier this week to the Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce, Inhofe said Perry is his man "because on environmental issues and on energy issues he's still the best one."

We disagree. But we get it—Inhofe is pandering to the oil and gas bidness, as he always does. But even Republican voters aren't buying what Inhofe is selling.

On the national stage, Perry has proved a huge embarrassment, another Texas governor not ready for prime time.

It's possible, of course, that Perry will stage a big comeback—look at Newt!—but we aren't counting those chickens just yet.

Newt is smarter than Perry (though that's not saying much), but even Newt may not survive the primary season. Like the Texas governor, Newt is afflicted with foot-in-mouth disease. It may not be long before he comes crashing down again.

Meanwhile, Jim Inhofe is backing a loser.

Watch: Ron Paul's Powerful Takedown of Newt

2011-12-12T13:06:00.000-06:00

New Museum to Celebrate Tulsa's Deco Style

2011-12-11T17:39:00.000-06:00

Coburn on Newt: There's a Leadership Problem

2011-12-11T17:24:00.001-06:00

Oklahoma's junior senator, Dr. Tom Coburn, is not exactly thrilled over the recent rise of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's presidential prospects.

Here's how New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd put it:

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who was in the House when Gingrich was speaker, told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” that he would have a hard time supporting Newt because his leadership was “lacking oftentimes.”

Conservative Frum Blasts Conservative Media's Distortions

2011-12-11T15:36:00.001-06:00

Evidence, Anyone? More Bogus Speculation from Hannity, Trump

2011-12-07T16:51:00.001-06:00

Rachel Maddow Reviews Newt's History: It's Not Pretty

2011-12-07T14:48:00.001-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Cain Postmortem: Will and Vanity Was Not Enough

2011-12-04T17:31:00.001-06:00

A day after Herman Cain suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, it's worth taking stock of the Cain phenomenon.

Cain, a former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, was not a deep thinker or a particularly distinguished leader, yet he was—briefly—the rising star in the GOP firmament.

Some answers to the mystery of Herman Cain turned up this week in a prescient review of his book. This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House, by Michael Tomasky, published in the December 22 edition of The New York Review of Books.

One of Cain's favorite phrases, Tomasky writes, is "CEO of Self." That was (and still is) Cain's modus operandi, as in this quote from the book:

Again, seeing myself as CEO of Self, I was determined not to fall into a comfort zone of letting other people, no matter how competent and well-meaning, make the decisions for me.

In other words, Tomasky makes clear, Cain was (is) so confident in his own power and such a true believer in his own destiny that success—the White House!—was inevitable. Thus, Tomasky concludes, Cain had no "ground operation in New Hampshire because true CEOs of Self don't need things like ground operations. They exert their will and they win."

As a proud conservative, Cain explains his success in the private sector as the result of hard work. Tomasky correctly notes, however, that this is hardly a conservative view. Indeed, he writes, it applies to Barack Obama, Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey.

Beyond Cain's lack of self-awareness and huge gaps in his knowledge of public affairs, Tomasky also discovered another major weakness in Cain's character: vanity.

After reading Cain's book, Tomasky concludes the candidate was so convinced of the inevitability of his presidential success that he simply had to seal the deal.

Tomasky, recall, wrote this well before the most recent Cain scandal, charges by an Atlanta woman of a 13-year affair with the candidate. That report, along with several earlier charges of sexual harassment, put the final nails in Cain's coffin.

Unfortunately for Cain, his vanity long ago outstripped his ability. He was never as smart or as competent as he thought he was.

Recent Reading: Filmmaker Errol Morris' Observations of Photography, "Believing Is Seeing"

2011-12-04T13:04:00.001-06:00

The AltTulsa gang has a serious interest in all things cultural, creative endeavors such as art, film, literature and the like.

So we were suckers for Errol Morris' new book, Believing Is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography). Morris, after all, is a noted documentary filmmaker (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War) and MacArthur ("genius") award winner who is famously obsessive in his pursuit of the odd and the amazing.

In Seeing Is Believing, Morris writes about the more-complicated-than-you-would-expect meanings of photographs, focusing on a number of famous (or infamous) photos from the Crimean War to the Civil War and Abu Ghraib. (Remember the notorious photo of the hooded man, wires attached to his hands?)

The chapters, many of which include verbatim transcripts of Morris' interviews with various historians and photo buffs, raise important questions what is "real" in photographs. When the Depression-era photographer Authur Rothstein moved a cow skull in his documentation of the drought in North Dakota, for example, was that a "fake" photo?

The answer, as Morris tells it, is hardly straightforward. After all, there was an actual drought in North Dakota, as well as many cow skulls. So what, if anything, was fake about the image?

Believing Is Seeing is full of such conundrums, which is why it makes fascinating reading. We recommend the book, though with this caveat: Morris is so obsessive and relentless in his search for the truth, some readers may find the text tedious and off-putting.

For us, Morris' obsession was a small price to pay for a thoughtful meditation on images and the role they play in our lives and cultural history.

George Will Slams Herman Cain as 'Charlatan'

2011-12-04T12:42:00.000-06:00

Downtown Tulsa's Pop Up Shopping: A Photo Report

2011-12-01T18:13:00.001-06:00

Downtown Tulsa has not been a Christmas shopping draw in, say, something like 45 years. That's unfortunate, though Tulsa's downtown—like a lot of central business districts—was hurt by the rise of the suburbs and other social and economic changes in the post-WWII war era.

But there's a tiny ray of retail hope this year with the rise of some interesting "pop up" shops in the Philcade Building at 5th and Boston.

A local blogger, Prairie Hive, has posted a set of photos of the Philcade pop up shops. Check out the link here.

Jon Stewart: The Right's Phony Outrage over Obama's Thanksgiving Address

2011-11-29T16:43:00.001-06:00

Update: The Battle over Wind Farms in Osage County

2011-11-29T16:17:00.000-06:00

Tulsa's This Land continues to provide in-depth coverage of interesting environmental and political topics, including the on-going legal battle over wind farm towers—let's call them windmills—proposed for neighboring Osage County.

A link to Holly Wall's Osage report is here: The Energy War in Osage County.

More GOP Nonsense: A Great State with No Taxes

2011-11-26T12:53:00.001-06:00

Oklahoma Republican leaders have been pursuing their dream of a utopian Sooner state, a paradise unpolluted by the evil of—wait for it—taxes.

That's right, Sooner fans, we can have a great state for free. Well, not exactly. In fact, not at all.

Yet the state's GOP leaders keep pretending that this tax-free paradise is possible. Oklahoma City Rep. David Dank, for instance, is hawking the idea that Oklahoma can rid itself of the personal income tax.

Keep dreaming, Rep. Dank.

The fact is that a great state needs revenue to fund essential services that people need and want, such as public education and public health, transportation and law enforcement. As OU professor of economics Alexander Holmes recently noted, abolishing the personal income tax would gut state services. "It's willful ignorace of somebody to propose abolishing the personal income tax," Holmes said.

Prof. Holmes is correct. Rep. Dank and his Republican allies in the legislature are in fact willfully ignorant. Like a lot of conservative leaders these days, they are pretending that all state services are wasteful or useless and that all taxes are bad. This is pure political baloney.

More importantly, it's no way to have a prosperous and productive state where people want to live, work and raise their families. These goals require education and safety and public health, the very things that Dank and his allies would destroy with their irresponsible pipe dream.

Happy Birthday to Us! AltTulsa Turns Five

2011-11-23T12:29:00.001-06:00

We've been busy lately, so busy we almost forget our own birthday. We hate that when that happens.

Yes, Sooner fans, the AltTulsa blog is five years old.

In that time, we've blogged about everything from art to books to wine, though our primary focus has been on national and state politics, with occasional posts on the Tulsa political scene.

Thanks to the Wingnut branch of the Republican Party, we have a steady and never-ending source of commentary and (mostly unintentional) humor.

We've also outlasted a number of other Tulsa political blogs (remember Medblogged?), most of which were chock full of half-baked ideas and underwhelming insights. We wanted to counter that sort of conventional wisdom, which is why we called ourselves Alternative Tulsa.

To be honest, we aren't always as alternative or contrarian or inspired as we'd sometimes like to be. Perhaps it's our age (rapidly advancing, it seems). More likely, however, is the fact that in this highly partisan and often uncivil age, we want to be a thoughtful voice of ideas and reason, not a site for screaming, ranting or character assassination.

So here's to ideas, art, literature and thoughtfulness—and also longevity—here in T-town. Hear! Hear!

More Good Music: A Coda for R. E. M.

2011-11-20T17:19:00.001-06:00

The AltTulsa gang can't claim any musical chops, but we do know what we like. Our likes include the most famous alternative rock band in Athens, Georgia, R.E.M.

As you may have heard, R.E.M. is breaking up after 31 years, which was newsworthy enough to land a couple of band members on NPR's "All Things Considered" the other day.

ICYMI (translation: In Case You Missed It), here's a link to the R.E.M. interview.

New Music from Jazz Pianist Keith Jarrett

2011-11-18T22:31:00.001-06:00

Pianist Keith Jarrett is an amazing jazz performer.

This is not exactly news to anyone who has been paying attention to jazz piano for the last four decades or so. Jarrett has been dazzling audiences with his solo improvisations for quite a while.

We were reminded of Jarrett's long career this week when NPR ran an appreciation of the musician on the occasion of his new album, an improvisation recorded in Rio de Janeiro.

If you don't know Jarrett, the NPR report is a good introduction to his music. The link is here.

Oklahoma Native Elizabeth Warren Honored in OKC

2011-11-18T21:15:00.001-06:00

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone, but this week the Sooner state honored—gulp!—a Harvard professor.

It's true, Sooner fans. This week's Oklahoma Hall of Fame ceremony in Oklahoma City honored Elizabeth Warren, an OKC native who holds an endowed chair in law at Harvard (in lefty Massachusetts!) and who—dare we say it?—might be a liberal.

No, we are not making this up. Elizabeth Warren is an extraordinarily accomplished scholar (nine books, more than one hundred scholarly articles) who has been a national leader in economic and fiscal policy.

She's also an economic and policy adviser to—wait for it—President Barack Obama, which, in Far Right Oklahoma, makes her akin to Satan's girlfriend. (Warren also has the intellectual prowess to mop the floor with, say, an Oklahoma dinosaur such as Sen. Jim Inhofe)

In fact, Warren may get a that chance. She's a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, running against Republican Sen. Scott Brown, a Tea Party favorite who is probably vulnerable in 2012.

Is Mayor Dewey Bartlett Up or Down? It Depends…

2011-11-15T16:50:00.001-06:00

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett may—or may not—be highly unpopular with city voters.

If that sounds a little ambiguous, that's because it is.

We're referring to a recent Sooner Poll, the results of which appeared on the front page of the Tulsa World on Sunday. The World headline summed up the Bartlett poll question in unambiguous terms: "Poll shows most would vote against Bartlett."

True—but the numbers are not exactly as firm as they might seem.

In fact, the numbers showed that only 26 percent of voters would vote for Bartlett over "another candidate." Fifty-eight percent opted for another candidate.

Ah, but there's the rub.

"Another candidate" is not a person and, as an abstract idea, it's pretty easy to choose this imaginary improvement over a real (and flawed) actual mayor. In other words, don't bet the farm on a mystical candidate who can easily defeat Bartlett in the next city election.

There are many other problems with making predictions about the mayor's future based on a poll taken now for an election to be held in 2013. As the Sooner Poll's Bill Shapard noted in the World, it's a long time before the mayor faces the the voters.

Mayor Bartlett can also take comfort in his "negatives" compared to the city council's "negatives." On that question, Bartlett's "somewhat disapprove" and "strongly disapprove" ratings were 46 percent, while the council's ratings in the same categories were a whopping 71 percent.

That last figure is no surprise to critics of the outgoing council, almost of whom were booted out (or chose not to run) in elections this year.

Artists in Tulsa: This Land Presents the Joe Brainard Tour

2011-11-15T14:25:00.000-06:00

Head-spinning Wingnuttiness: Bachmann Goes Red; Praises the Communist Chinese Model

2011-11-14T14:21:00.001-06:00

In case you missed it, check out the latest Wingnuttiness from our old Minnesota friend, Rep. Michele Bachmann, speaking at the most recent Republican debate.

Never one to think deeply about much of anything, Bachmann went off about the failures of LBJ's Great Society and the successes of—wait for it—Communist China. Holy eggroll!

Yes, Cowboy fans, the new Bachmann model for economic success is the repressive Chinese regime, an anti-democratic state that allows industry to abuse its workers (child labor, anyone?) and has nonexistent environmental protections (because who needs clean air or water?).

But don't take our for it. Read the words of the Great Bachmann herself:

The Great Society has not worked, and it’s put us into the modern welfare state. If you look at China, they don’t have food stamps. If you look at China, they’re in a very different situ — they save for their own retirement security. They don’t have pay FDIC. They don’t have the modern welfare state. And China’s growing. And so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us with The Great Society, and they’d be gone.

Writer Ian Frazier Talks about Siberia (It's Amazing)

2011-11-11T20:15:00.000-06:00

One of the country's best writer's, Ian Frazier, was in Tulsa last night promoting the paperback edition of his book Travels in Siberia.

Frazier, who writes for The New Yorker and has published several acclaimed books of literary journalism (as well as a couple of humor books), was a guest of Booksmart Tulsa (thank you, Jeff Martin) and The Land (thank you, Michael Mason).

We first came across Frazier's Great Plains some years ago and we were bowled over. Frazier is a fiercely intelligent reporter and his grasp of history, literature and culture and such is impressive and far-ranging.

Family, another Frazier book, makes memorable literature out of his own family history—a rather amazing feat that few writers could manage with as much grace and humor as Frazier. We were also impressed by On the Rez, Frazier's popular report on Native American history and culture.

If you missed Frazier's Tulsa visit, you can hear from from the man himself courtesy of "Studio Tulsa," the KWGS program hosted by Rich Fisher. A link to the KWGS audio is here: Ian Frazier and His "Travels in Siberia."

This Land Investigates: Plagiarism, Illustrated

2011-11-10T16:47:00.000-06:00

Tulsa cartoonist David Simpson may be gone from the local media scene, but he's still making headlines.

But not in a good way.

No, Simpson is being investigated for more evidence of plagiarism, the very thing that has gotten him fired from the Tulsa World and, just last week, Urban Tulsa Weekly.

The details keep coming—and they aren't pretty. This Land has uncovered the evidence and posted the damning copies of the plagiarism on its website.

The link is here: Plagiarism, Illustrated.

Jon Stewart Nails It: The Phony Equivalence of NPR and Talk Radio

2011-11-08T16:01:00.001-06:00

Art Comes to Bentonville, Thanks to Alice Walton and Her Crystal Bridges Museum

2011-11-06T20:13:00.000-06:00

Shocker! Bynum Gets the Endorsement of His Family

2011-11-05T21:32:00.001-06:00

Tulsa City Counselor G. T. Bynum, the incumbent in District 9, is very likely to breeze to victory in Tuesday's municipal election.

That's a good thing, since Bynum has his heart in the right place and, more importantly, happens to be a reasonable politician.

Often, in fact, Bynum has been the only reasonable member of the council, the one councilor who actually seems to put the good of the city before his ego.

Nevertheless, Bynum's latest postcard mailer is, well, something of an inside job, including the endorsement of former Mayor Robert J. LaFortune. If we recall correctly, Mayor LaFortune is Bynum's grandfather.

It's swell that Grandpa likes G.T., but this is hardly an independent endorsement, of course. Nor is the endorsement of former Sen. Don Nickles, who turns out to be Bynum's former employer.

Despite such "inside baseball" endorsements, we still plan on voting for G.T. As we said, he's good for the city. Beside, he sometimes ticks off Tulsa blogger Michael Bates, which is worth something.

Raw Video of Arrests at Occupy Tulsa

2011-11-04T21:37:00.003-06:00

Video streaming by Ustream

This Week's Holier-Than-Thou Award Winner: Tulsa Today's David Arnett

2011-11-03T16:34:00.001-06:00

Yes, Sooner fans, Tulsa's own David Arnett doing the Lord's work, saving Christmas from the clutches of the Secular Humanists, socialists (Obama!), pagans and other heathens and ne'er-do-wells who would ditch the whole idea if only they could.

Arnett is the chief promoter and spokesman for a real Christmas parade, because, you know, that's exactly what the Lord wants for Tulsa.

No need for a phony-baloney Holiday Parade like they have downtown, a parade that might include all those unwashed non-believers and sinners.

We know all this because David Arnett has been all over the media with his Message from God; to wit, that the Evil Doers in Tulsa have sandbagged Christmas (again!) and that he has a Grand Plan to Save Christmas in Eastern Oklahoma.

He also told us on his website, Tulsa Today, the same website that has been uncovering secret socialists behind every clump of crabgrass from Poteau to the Potomac.

So let's hear it for the intrepid and ever-vigilant David Arnett, the undisputed winner of this week's Holier-Than-Thou award for Sanctimoniousness.

Audio Update: More Arrests At Occupy Site

2011-11-03T16:02:00.000-06:00

For those of you keeping score at home, Occupy Tulsa continues downtown.

The latest reports we've seen cover the arrests of those protestors who refused to leave the Centennial Green park after the police began to enforce an 11 p.m. curfew.

Here is an audio report that aired earlier today on KWGS 89.5: More Arrests At Occupy Site.

While we're on the topic, Occupy Tulsa has its own blog (naturally). Read their reports here.

Scenes from Tulsa's Day of the Dead Celebration

2011-11-03T13:53:00.001-06:00

Hat tip to the Tulsa World

From the Horse's Mouth: Hear from Daniel Lee, Organizer of Occupy Tulsa

2011-11-02T21:16:00.001-06:00

Video Lowlights: The Weird Rick Perry Speech

2011-11-02T17:50:00.002-06:00

Updated Coverage of the Arrests at Occupy Tulsa

2011-11-02T10:51:00.002-06:00

Yes, Cowboy fans, the police are arresting protestors in Tulsa.

For a city as complacent as T-town, this is a significant development. Or, to back up a bit, it is a significant development that Tulsa has protestors at all. This is, after all, a Republican-leaning city in a Very Red State.

The Tulsa World, whose offices are within steps of the Occupy Tulsa site, has an update on the recent arrests downtown.

Check out their coverage here.

Occupy Tulsa: Some Photos from Downtown

2011-11-02T08:46:00.000-06:00

Occupy Tulsa is making news. Or, more accurately, the arrest of some Occupy Tulsa protesters early this morning has brought new attention to the protest.

We don't have any first-hand information about the arrests, but we did find this photo gallery from the site of the protest in downtown Tulsa.

The link to the photos is here.

Worth the Cost? Forking over OSU Cash for Bush's Poodle

2011-10-31T15:51:00.006-06:00

Tony Blair, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, is speaking tomorrow in Tulsa, an event sponsored by the OSU Spears School of Business.

We like the idea of bringing in Big Name Speakers to enlighten us nobodies out here in Flyover Country.

But for those of us with long memories, Mr. Blair is an odd choice. After all, he's the principal U.S. ally who fell for the Bush administration's bogus weapons of mass destruction nonsense.

Blair, who is well-educated and apparently thoughtful in many ways, should have known better. Indeed, his own citizens did know better. Most of them opposed the war and took to the streets in a number of massive anti-war demonstrations.

Which brings to mind the charge that Mr. Blair was, for the purposes of the Iraq war, Bush's poodle. This is not a compliment, but it is a stain on Mr. Blair's judgment and leadership.

Saddam Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, a fact that Mr. Blair should have given the UK leader pause when he signed on to Bush's dangerous foreign policy misadventure.

So now OSU has seen fit to pay good money to bring Mr. Blair to town. We have no idea what Mr. Blair will say, but we expect that it will be less than earth-shattering.

But hey, maybe some of us Okies can visit the UK next summer, where we can visit some of our precious Yankee Greenbacks.

Holy Smokes! Sooner State Nonsmokers Now a Majority

2011-10-31T15:25:00.000-06:00

AltTulsa likes to keep an eye on public health statistics, many of which provide a snapshot of the state's health concerns.

As nonsmokers, we have long been sensitive to the many Sooner state smokers out there (cough, cough). We can even recall a visit to one of the old Indian bingo parlors (remember those?) where the smoke was a blanket of gray haze as thick as the San Francisco fog.

So imagine our surprise to learn that Oklahoma's ex-smokers now outnumber the smokers. As reported in the Tulsa World, smoking rates in the Sooner state have reached an all-time low of 23.7 percent.

State Health Commissioner Terry Cline said the change is historic. He cited state anti-smoking programs as part of the reason for the declining number of smokers.

We take Cline's word for this bit of good news. After all, as the World notes, "Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in Oklahoma and the nation."

How 'bout those Texas Aggies? Oh, Wait. Never Mind

2011-10-29T15:54:00.000-06:00

As all Texans know, there's nothing funnier than an Aggie joke. Take Rick Perry, for example— please!

With that in mind, let's review today's Texas A&M football performance.

Playing at home, the highly ranked Aggies were sure bets to whip the hapless Missouri Tigers. Gig 'em Aggies!

Oh wait, they lost? In overtime? Choked again? Really? You betcha!

Wow. Aggie losers. Again. Go Tigers!

Interesting New Study on the Health Benefits of Coffee

2011-10-29T14:36:00.000-06:00

And now, for your edification, a story on the health benefits of coffee. Sounds a bit unlikely, to be sure. But read it and judge for yourself.

The story here: Can Coffee Save Your Life?

Dewey Plays Along: The Tulsa Mayor's Own Salad, er, Soup, that is, Sandwich

2011-10-29T14:27:00.000-06:00

A new video featuring Tulsa mayor Dewey Bartlett, courtesy of This Land.

GOP Overeach in Ohio: Polls Show Republican Agenda Failing with the Voters

2011-10-29T11:16:00.001-06:00

The Republican Noise Machine has been blasting its anti-worker, anti-union message for many months now, but the voters aren't buying it.

At least, not in Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich is racking up negative poll numbers and appears to be headed for a political defeat in the upcoming vote on public employee union busting.

Here's a summary from one observer that tells the story in a nutshell:

A controversial law sharply curtailing collective-bargaining rights for Ohio’s public employees is sinking in the polls, raising Democratic hopes that the measure’s defeat could boost their prospects in the crucial swing state in 2012.The law’s diminishing poll numbers have coincided with a decline in the approval ratings of Republican Gov. John R. Kasich, the measure’s most visible proponent. The drop is coming as the law’s union-led opponents have waged an energetic campaign against a measure that they say represents an overreach by the state’s Republican political leaders.

Hat tip to our friends at the Daily Kos.

Remember the $16 Muffins at Justice? Turns Out, It's Not True

2011-10-29T11:05:00.002-06:00

Like a lot of phony outrage on Fox and other right-wing sites, this meme was wrong.

Herman Cain's Unintentional Humor: Colbert Tackes the New Cain Ad

2011-10-26T16:26:00.000-06:00

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Tulsa Politics: District Four City Council Debate

2011-10-26T14:22:00.000-06:00

As a public service, AltTulsa presents (or, more accurately, re-presents) a 30-minute radio debate between the candidates for Tulsa city council, District 4. The candidates are Blake Ewing, a Republican, and Ken Brune, a Democrat.

The debate was broadcast this week on the KWGS program "Studio Tulsa." The host was John Durkee, KWGS news director.

An audio of the debate is here: District Four Tulsa City Council Debate.

Dan Sullivan: The Good Ole Boys in Action

2011-10-25T14:13:00.003-06:00

How 'bout that Rep. Dan Sullivan?

Yes, Cowboy fans, Dan Sullivan, conservative Tulsa Republican legislative leader, will be supping at the public trough. Again.

Sullivan, one of those brassy anti-government types, is taking—wait for it!—a lucrative government job. Sullivan was recently hired as the new CEO for the Grand River Dam Authority, a state energy agency. This despite the fact that Sullivan has exactly no energy experience. Sweet!

This is business as usual at the GRDA, which had previously hired another politician as its CEO. That time it was a Democrat, Kevin Easley, and the GRDA was criticized (and rightly so) for Easley's hiring.

Ah, but the good-ole-boy system endures. Sullivan, who should be opposed to the government gravy train, isn't about to criticize his new salary, reported as more than $200,000. All together now: Sweet!

Again, Sullivan has no energy experience whatsoever. In fact, this is just the sort of deal that Rep. Sullivan would criticize, if the GRDA had offered the post to a Democrat, especially one with no experience.

In Oklahoma sometimes, as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

New Hotel Slated for Tulsa's Downtown Brady District

2011-10-20T20:19:00.001-06:00

A new hotel in Tulsa's Brady District is another sign of the revitalization of downtown Tulsa. Here's the story, courtesy of Tulsa's KOTV Channel 6: A Renaissance For Tulsa's Brady District

Zing! Evangelicals Attack other Evangelicals

2011-10-20T13:46:00.000-06:00

Our nomination for Quote of the Week, from an op-ed in the New York Times by evangelicals Karl Giberson and Randall Stephens.

The writers, both associated with Eastern Nazarene College, go after the "simplistic theology" and "stubborn anti-intellectualism" of popular fundamentalism, the kind embraced by most of the Republican presidential candidates.

The opening lines:

The Republican presidential filed has become a showcase of evangelical anti-intellectualism. Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann deny that climate change is real and caused by humans. Mr. Perry and Mrs. Bachmann dismiss evolution as unproven.

***

The rejection of science seems to be part of a politically monolithic red-state fundamentalism, textbook evidence of an unyielding ignorance on the part of the religious.

And remember: These guys are evangelicals.

The GOP's War on, Well, Just about Everybody

2011-10-19T12:32:00.001-06:00

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Jon Stewart on Rick Perry's Amazing Fall

2011-10-18T13:30:00.002-06:00

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Ideologue Sally Kern: More Baloney from Oklahoma's Worst Legislator

2011-10-17T20:04:00.003-06:00

AltTulsa missed it the other day, but Rep. Sally Kern—card-carrying member of the American Taliban—is up to her old tricks.

Yes, Sooner fans, Oklahoma City Kern, a Republican, has been flipping her lid over national education standards. Yep, those dad-blamed ole federal standards are (according to her) a federal takeover of Oklahoma education. We ought to have local control, Kerns says.

This is standard-issue Kern nonsense, of course. Public education is already under local control.

In fact, Kern's agenda has less to do with local control than with her own desire to impose religion—her particular brand of religion—views on local districts.

As a Tulsa World editorial pointed out recently, Kern really wants "forced prayer, the teaching of creationism and the banning of certain books, among other restrictions." How's that for free inquiry?

No, Sally Kern is not in interested in education at all, not actual education that challenges students to think for themselves. Her idea is indoctrination, especially of the Far Right variety.

Oklahomans of all persuasions ought to be wary of such baloney.

KWGS Interview: Rich Fisher's Talk with Jonathan Franzen

2011-10-14T14:54:00.000-06:00

As we mentioned in this space a few days ago, Jonathan Franzen, author of novels such as The Corrections and Freedom, was in Tulsa this week for a lecture at TU.

If you didn't get to the lecture, you can still catch up with Franzen through an interview conducted by Rich Fisher for KWGS 89.5, the NPR affiliate in Tulsa

Fisher, host of "Studio Tulsa," talked to Franzen in advance of his visit. It's an interesting conversation. Here's the link: KWGS: Interview with Jonathan Franzen.

Circle Cinema's Skype Interview with Filmmaker Miranda July

2011-10-13T16:38:00.002-06:00

Circle Cinema Skypes with Miranda July from Circle Cinema on Vimeo.

Poor Sally Kern, Attacked by Those Mean Gay People

2011-10-11T13:58:00.002-06:00

Gotta love that Sally Kern, an Oklahoma politician who always stands up for the downtrodden and the outcast, those folks that society has shunned.

Oh, wait. That's what Jesus would do.

Kern, on the hand, works hard to shun the sinners that Jesus himself would embrace.

Instead, Kern plays the victim card, imagining herself under physical attack by all those well-muscled, militant gays, people so well known for their violence and gun-play.

Read about Kern's latest complaint here. Boo-hoo.

Flashback: Romney Endorses the Individual Health Insurance Mandate

2011-10-11T13:01:00.003-06:00

Ah, the joys of videotape. (Okay, digital technology.) It's great to recall what the candidates once said.

Take Mitt Romney—please. Turns out, the former governor and current Republican presidential candidate likes the individual health insurance mandate, the same one that the current GOP has been deriding for years.

It's more evidence (as if any were needed) of the shifting positions that Romney has taken on, well, most every major political position.

For conservatives, Romney's principles are firmly fixed in the wind.

The link, with revealing video, is here.

Georgia County Considers Replacing Firefighters With Prison Laborers

2011-10-11T10:48:00.001-06:00

We hate to be blunt, but this strikes us—and most other people, we suspect—as an incredibly stupid idea.

A Georgia county is considering using inmates as firefighters. Hey, what's not to like? It's free labor. It's innovative. It's cool.

Or maybe not. Maybe this is just a dumb idea.

The details are here: Georgia County Considers Replacing Firefighters With Prison Laborers.

Author Jonathan Franzen Visits Tulsa Thursday

2011-10-10T13:04:00.000-06:00

The AltTulsa gang likes to keep up with contemporary writers and their writing, so we are pleased to put in a plug today for novelist Jonathan Franzen. He will speak Thursday night at TU as part of the university's Presidential Lecture series.

The lecture is set for 7:30 p.m. at TU's new Lorton Performance Center.

We admit that we know Franzen more by reputation than by a deep reading of his work. Nevertheless, we have been impressed by the popular and critical acclaim that Franzen's work has garnered and we expect his public lecture to be enlightening and even provocative.

Here's some background on the author from the TU website:

Jonathan Franzen stepped into the international pop culture spotlight in 2001 when his book “The Corrections” was published, with translations in 35 languages, American hardcover sales of nearly 1 million copies and nominations for nearly every major book prize in the United States. As if sales and critical acclaim weren’t enough to boost his profile, the author found himself in a public relations imbroglio over his conflicted reaction to his novel’s endorsement by Oprah’s Book Club.

Franzen’s most recent novel is “Freedom” (2010). Writing in the New York Times Book Review, editor Sam Tanenhaus declared the work a “masterpiece of American fiction,” and “Freedom” debuted at No. 1 on the Times’ bestseller list. His short stories and his essays, including political journalism, have most recently appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Essays, The New York Times, and The Guardian. A new collection of his nonfiction, “Farther Away,” will appear in 2012.

Fallin Fail: Governor Defends Air Show Boondoggle

2011-10-07T09:54:00.000-06:00

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin pretends to be a good steward of the taxpayer's money. She's one of those highly accountable, tight-fisted Republicans who wouldn't waste a dime of the Sooner state treasury.

Actually, not so much.

As the Associated Press reported this week, the Fallin administration sent four state employees to the Paris Air Show this summer to the tune of $84,000.

How 'bout that $400-a-night luxury hotel? How 'bout that $188 daily meal expense? Nice (state) work, if you can get it.

Fallin has defended the trip, calling it a "legitimate investment" in the state's aerospace industry. The state needs to wave its aerospace flag, Fallin said, because it's an important Oklahoma industry.

We're not buying it, not when Fallin and other state leaders have been cutting spending on public education, health programs and other state services.

After laying out $84,000 on a dubious junket, Gov. Fallin and the state's Republican leaders need to drop all the "woe is me" baloney about state revenues. If they can afford to send four state employees to Paris, they can do better for the underfunded and underserved people of Oklahoma.

From the Tulsa World: Bartlesville To Restore Santa Fe Railroad Caboose

2011-10-03T19:33:00.001-06:00

Writer and Filmmaker Miranda July: An Appreciation (and a Thanks to Tulsa's Circle Cinema)

2011-10-01T13:36:00.003-06:00

Speaking of writers (see last post), AltTulsa wants to put in a good word for Miranda July, writer, filmmaker and actor.

We first encountered Ms. July some years ago when her film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, made a splash on the indy film circuit. It's an inventive, odd and engaging film—though not the sort that brings the masses to the mall cineplex.

Later, we were taken by her 2007 collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You. Although it's been years since we read the stories, we've never forgotten the hard beauty of her characters and their emotional lives. In a word, unforgettable.

We were reminded of Ms. July this week because Tulsa's art house, Circle Cinema, is playing her latest film, The Future. We saw it earlier this week and were charmed again, in part by the originality of the story—a quirky mediation on time—and in part by Ms. July's radiance on the screen. For a writer who is only part-time actor, Ms. July is remarkably convincing (and lovely) on the big screen.

Ms. July also appeared at the Circle this week via Skype, answering questions from the audience. She talked about her film and writing. Given the originality of her work, her answers provided insights into her creative process and, more importantly, her artistic vision.

There's more about Miranda July and The Future here.

A Contemplation of Home: Tulsa Writer Considers Meanings and Memories

2011-10-01T11:46:00.005-06:00

James Watts is an arts writer for the Tulsa World. As such, he reviews classical music, museum exhibits, art shows and other cultural events for the newspaper. (Yes, wise guys, Tulsa does a serious art and music scene.)

Watts also writes personal columns every now and again. One column, published several weeks ago, struck us as particularly evocative. The column was a rumination on the meaning of home, which in this case was his wife's parent's home near 21st Street and Yale.

When it came time to clean out the house after they died, the task seemed overwhelming, Watts writes.

The couple had lived in the house for 50-plus years, collecting (as we all do) "everyday objects, family heirlooms, geegaws that no one could quite figure out their purpose or their worth….."

Watts also writes of his own parents, their many homes and and their late-life adventures. Is home a building, Watts wonders, or is it something more?

Maybe it's just us, but we were moved by Watts' thoughtful prose—something that doesn't happen with every newspaper column.

Read Watts for yourself. The link is here.

Education Food Fight: Oklahoma's Right-wingers Get Nasty

2011-09-30T15:11:00.003-06:00

Whoa Nelly! The education food fight in Oklahoma is heating up, with some of the state's right-wingers spouting off in hyperbolic terms.

The dust-up (pun intended) began the other day when one of Superintendent Janet Barresi's staffers, Jennifer Carter, called some Tulsa-area educators "dirtbags" for their legal challenge to a new state law.

The law involves private school scholarships for special-needs children, which Jenks and Broken Arrow officials say is unconstitutional.

Poor choice of words, Barresi explained. You think?

Now, conservative OCU law professor Andrew Spiropoulous has unloaded on the school officials, referring to "the thuggish tactics of the school mafia and their legal henchmen." And "school mafia"? Really?

It's hard to see how filing a lawsuit is "thuggish," but that's what the good professor wrote in the Journal Record.

And Rep. Jason Nelson, Republican of Oklahoma City, claimed that Jenks and Broken Arrow were "persecuting" the special-needs children, though that too seems far from the truth.

But wait, there's more! "I've got news for them [Jenks and BA school officials]. Get used to it. Oklahoma citizens will no longer stand by while wealthy [?] school bureaucrats abuse their power," Nelson said.

Of course, filing a lawsuit is not "persecuting" children, nor are these bureaucrats necessarily acting against the will of the people.

One other thing: Janet Barresi and Jennifer Carter are education bureaucrats too, and, for all we know, wealthy.

Give Him Credit: Obama's Foreign Policy Success

2011-09-30T10:05:00.002-06:00

From the NBC News website today, following news of the Obama Administration's latest anti-terrorist success:

No president since George H.W. Bush has had more foreign-policy successes happen under his watch than President Obama. The death of bin Laden. The dismantling of al Qaeda. The ouster of Khaddafy. And the end of combat operations in Iraq.

Just a thought: The president deserves a lot more credit for getting the job done.

Simonson Resigns from Mayor's Staff

2011-09-29T17:22:00.002-06:00

Terry Simsonson is out at Tulsa city hall.

Simsonson, chief of staff for Mayor Dewey Bartlett, resigned today following charges that he used his city position to help his son. His resignation is effective October 15.

Here are some details, courtesy of the Tulsa World:

In his resignation letter, read by Mayor Bartlett, Simonson states, “Without admitting any wrong doing on my part, what started out as my simply wanting to help my son become a Tulsa firefighter has turned into a distraction for you from the important work you must focus on as Mayor.

“This was never my intentions and, therefore, I believe I must do what is best for you and right for Tulsa,” the letter states.

Bartlett would not say whether he asked for the resignation, saying, “It’s a private matter.”

Simsonson has been a long-time political figure in Tulsa, once writing a weekly political column for Urban Tulsa.

Letterman's Top Ten Signs Rick Perry is Sinking

2011-09-27T22:25:00.001-06:00

Zing! Stewart Finds the GOP's Problem: Republican Voters

2011-09-27T10:10:00.002-06:00

Bachmann Wrong Again: Why Can't She Tell the Triuth?

2011-09-26T17:15:00.001-06:00

No one has ever accused Rep. Michele Bachmann of having a firm grip on the facts. If anything, Rep. Bachmann's grasp on actual facts has been, shall we say, tenuous.

So when the Minnesota legislator spouted off the other day with the "news" that President Obama''s approval ratings were the lowest of any modern president, a thoughtful voter would have good reason to check the figures.

And guess what? Rep. Bachmann was off—way, way off.

Despite several years of Republican efforts to delegitimize the president (Born in Keyna? Not a citizen? A Marxist?), Obama's ratings are much, much stronger than Bachmann's phony charges would suggest. (Ronald Reagan, for instance.)

In short, Bachmann's wishful thinking triumphs over facts once again. The details are here.

From This Land: The Making of Tulsa's 'Artifical Cloud'

2011-09-26T17:02:00.000-06:00

Gays Cause Tornadoes! So Says Perry's Florida Co-Chair

2011-09-22T16:50:00.001-06:00

It's always the danged gays. They're always messin' things up for the rest of us.

This time it's tornadoes. Of course it is.

Why the co-chair of the Perry campaign in the Great State of Florida has said so her very own self—and she ain't kiddin'.

For all we know, these gay sinners (are there any other kind?) are causin' earthquakes and hordes of locusts too. Oklahoma's own Guardian of All Things Right and Proper, Rep. Sally Kern, would be proud. We're bettin' she is.

The link is here.

Today's Best Quote: Bill Clinton on Uninformed Politicans

2011-09-22T13:39:00.004-06:00

AltTulsa's nomination for best political quotation of the day. It's from former President Bill Clinton, who takes aim at the tidal wave of nonsense spouted by the Republican presidential candidates. Here's the quote:

You can stand up and say anything and nobody rings a bell if the facts are wrong. There’s no bell ringing. It’s crazy, we’re living in a time when it’s more important than ever to know things. And not just to know facts but to put them in a coherent. sensible pattern. And we live in a time, if you just want to talk about the economy, where the model that works for economic growth and prosperity is cooperation. But the model that works in politics is conflict.

Only on Fox: Gov. Perry is Superman, Prepared to Save the U.S.

2011-09-22T13:22:00.002-06:00

Colbert Skewers the GOP 'Class Warfare' Meme

2011-09-21T10:02:00.002-06:00

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Ouch! Ethics Group Blasts Florida Congressman

2011-09-20T16:06:00.002-06:00

South Carolina Governor Makes Up Drug Test Data

2011-09-20T12:59:00.000-06:00

The Republican war on the poor has few limits, which means it's just dandy to make things up when it suits your political purpose.

Thus our GOP pal Nikki Haley of South Carolina blundered into a set of fake statistics to make a point about rampant drug use among South Carolina's unemployed.

"The problem was so unbelievable, Haley said last month, that at the Savannah River nuclear site, '[of] everybody they interviewed, half of them failed a drug test,'” the website Think Progress reported.

Well, no. Haley's figures were bogus, as the governor has now admitted.

This is all-too-typical Republican behavior, namely, "My mind's made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."

For the True Believers, ideology trumps factual evidence every time. The full story is here.

Alternative Tulsa

Tulsa Republican Fail: GOP Focus Group Repeats Nonsense

Newt-mentum! Tulsa Republicans Like Gingrich, Mostly

Woody Guthrie at 100: TU Hosts March Conference to Celebrate the Man and His Music

Tulsa Trash Cart Plan Brings Out the Fruits and Nuts

A DUI Arrest for Former ORU President Richard Roberts

Jon Stewart Goes Bananas over Newt's Hypocrisy

Lyin' about Obama: Rick Santorum Plays Along with Bogus 'Obama Is a Muslim' Charge

Evangelical Flop: The Incredible Shrinking Santorum

Newt's Up; Mitt's Reeling and Rick Perry Is Long Gone

Even in Texas, Rick Perry is Toast

More Right-Wing Pandering from Rep. Sullivan

Oklahoma Economy Looks Up; Thanks, Mr. President

Recalling the Shrinking Bush Legacy

Urban Tulsa Weekly's Bogus Hot 100: Gotta Love the Boss!

Dining at the Global Table: Local Food Blog Makes a Splash

Jon Stewart on the Mystery of God's GOP Endorsement

Tulsa Is No. 1 in (Yikes!) Booze

The Miracle That Never Happened: Michele Bachmann's Failed Presidential Bid

Michele Bachmann Gets Help from ORU Students, but She's Going to Need So Much More

Hypocrisy Alert! Inhofe Claims EPA Plays Politics

Woody Comes Home: Big News for Tulsa's Brady District

Reading Lives: Tulsan G.T. Bynum Loves Biographies

Coburn's Newt Gingrich Problem: Oklahoma Senator Knows Too Much about Former Speaker

Recommended Reading: Tracy Kidder's Inspiring 'Mountains Beyond Mountains'

Fun with Newt, Starring Jon Stewart, Featuring Okahoma's Own Tom Coburn (now with Whiskers!)

Inhofe's Pick, Rick Perry, Running Poorly in Oklahoma

Poll: Sooners Support Newt, an Honest Family Man

Watch: NewsOn6 Report on Tulsa's Pop Up Shopping

Double Dumb: Inhofe Doubles Down on Rick Perry

Watch: Ron Paul's Powerful Takedown of Newt

New Museum to Celebrate Tulsa's Deco Style

Coburn on Newt: There's a Leadership Problem

Conservative Frum Blasts Conservative Media's Distortions

Evidence, Anyone? More Bogus Speculation from Hannity, Trump

Rachel Maddow Reviews Newt's History: It's Not Pretty

A Cain Postmortem: Will and Vanity Was Not Enough

Recent Reading: Filmmaker Errol Morris' Observations of Photography, "Believing Is Seeing"

George Will Slams Herman Cain as 'Charlatan'

Downtown Tulsa's Pop Up Shopping: A Photo Report

Jon Stewart: The Right's Phony Outrage over Obama's Thanksgiving Address

Update: The Battle over Wind Farms in Osage County

More GOP Nonsense: A Great State with No Taxes

Happy Birthday to Us! AltTulsa Turns Five

More Good Music: A Coda for R. E. M.

New Music from Jazz Pianist Keith Jarrett

Oklahoma Native Elizabeth Warren Honored in OKC

Is Mayor Dewey Bartlett Up or Down? It Depends…

Artists in Tulsa: This Land Presents the Joe Brainard Tour

Head-spinning Wingnuttiness: Bachmann Goes Red; Praises the Communist Chinese Model

Writer Ian Frazier Talks about Siberia (It's Amazing)

This Land Investigates: Plagiarism, Illustrated

Jon Stewart Nails It: The Phony Equivalence of NPR and Talk Radio

Art Comes to Bentonville, Thanks to Alice Walton and Her Crystal Bridges Museum

Shocker! Bynum Gets the Endorsement of His Family

Raw Video of Arrests at Occupy Tulsa

This Week's Holier-Than-Thou Award Winner: Tulsa Today's David Arnett

Audio Update: More Arrests At Occupy Site

Scenes from Tulsa's Day of the Dead Celebration

From the Horse's Mouth: Hear from Daniel Lee, Organizer of Occupy Tulsa

Video Lowlights: The Weird Rick Perry Speech

Updated Coverage of the Arrests at Occupy Tulsa

Occupy Tulsa: Some Photos from Downtown

Worth the Cost? Forking over OSU Cash for Bush's Poodle

Holy Smokes! Sooner State Nonsmokers Now a Majority

How 'bout those Texas Aggies? Oh, Wait. Never Mind

Interesting New Study on the Health Benefits of Coffee

Dewey Plays Along: The Tulsa Mayor's Own Salad, er, Soup, that is, Sandwich

GOP Overeach in Ohio: Polls Show Republican Agenda Failing with the Voters

Remember the $16 Muffins at Justice? Turns Out, It's Not True

Herman Cain's Unintentional Humor: Colbert Tackes the New Cain Ad

Tulsa Politics: District Four City Council Debate

Dan Sullivan: The Good Ole Boys in Action

New Hotel Slated for Tulsa's Downtown Brady District

Zing! Evangelicals Attack other Evangelicals

The GOP's War on, Well, Just about Everybody

Jon Stewart on Rick Perry's Amazing Fall

Ideologue Sally Kern: More Baloney from Oklahoma's Worst Legislator

KWGS Interview: Rich Fisher's Talk with Jonathan Franzen

Circle Cinema's Skype Interview with Filmmaker Miranda July