Sunday, December 11, 2011
Coburn on Newt: There's a Leadership Problem
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:
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.”
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
A Cain Postmortem: Will and Vanity Was Not Enough
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:
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.
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"
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.
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.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Downtown Tulsa's Pop Up Shopping: A Photo Report
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Update: The Battle over Wind Farms in Osage County
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.
A link to Holly Wall's Osage report is here: The Energy War in Osage County.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
More GOP Nonsense: A Great State with No Taxes
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Happy Birthday to Us! AltTulsa Turns Five
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!
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!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
More Good Music: A Coda for R. E. M.
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.
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.
Friday, November 18, 2011
New Music from Jazz Pianist Keith Jarrett
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.
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
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.
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.
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