El Rushbo: Oil Rig Explosion Could Have Been Set by 'Environmentalist Wackos'

There's no liberal conspiracy too idiotic for Rush Limbaugh to invent for his daily radio Blabfest.

The latest: Environmentalists blew up the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to make some point or other. It's brilliantly backward logic, of course, but it makes perfect sense to Limbaugh and his Dittoheads.

Here's the response of Media Matters, which keeps track of El Rushbo's own wackiness: 

Today Limbaugh theorized that environmentalists may have been behind the explosion of an oil rig that is currently dumping thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Because the rig exploded one day before Earth Day…. And Earth Day was inspired by a river in Cleveland catching fire. And cap and trade was strongly criticized by "hardcore environmentalist whackos," and what better way to "head off more oil drilling" than by blowing up an oil rig? His logic is airtight. Somebody call Mensa.

Headline of the Day: Another GOP Defector

A telling headline in today's Tulsa World:

 Florida governor dumps GOP

Oklahoma Tax Dodge: Oklahoma Observer's Hamilton Hits State Legislators

Arnold Hamilton, editor of The Oklahoma Observer and a columnist for Urban Tulsa Weekly, has a few choice words for Sooner State lawmakers in this week's issue of UTW.

It's not a pretty picture.

Hamilton's column takes a realistic view of the state's revenue problems, which include declining corporate tax collections and transferable tax credits, which, as Hamilton reports, are seen by some legislators "as a license to loot the state treasury."

The result: Massive cuts in state spending, including cuts to schools, human services, prisons and so on. Such cuts will not be painless, Hamilton points out, and they will affect ordinary people, including seniors and veterans. 

Hamilton hits the Republican legislators directly:

Oklahoma is 50th in overall tax burden, but Republican legislative leaders long ago concluded it is better politics to mislead citizens into believing we're overtaxed than to rally them in support of social compact that attempts to create a rising tide for all, not just the privileged few.

Sloganeering: Human Rights Watch Spreads the Word against Tyranny

One of AltTulsa's themes is civil liberties, especially basic rights such as free expression, free association and fundamental human liberties.

Those issues make us fans of groups like Human Rights Watch, a non-profit group whose goals we endorse. 

Reading some HRW literature recently, we happened across one of their T-shirts with a slogan we like. It reads:

Human Rights Watch: 

Making the world unsafe for dictators since 1978.

Bill-O Gets It Wrong on Fox Reporting of Health Care Jailing

Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn shook up the world of political news recently when he admitted what most of us know all to well: Fox News is not to be trusted.

Coburn's statement came at an Oklahoma town hall when Coburn pointed out that Fox News was saying that people who don't buy health insurance under the new health bill will be jailed. 

In other words, what appears on Fox is closer to sensationalism than truth. 

Bill O'Reilly, Fox News blowhard, responded, telling Coburn that Fox News had never reported any such thing. Except that it has. The guilty: Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, among others.

PolitiFact has the quotes, all "Pants on Fire" lies.  Bill-O was wrong. The PolitiFact link is here.

Bad Breathing: Tulsa Air Quality Gets an 'F'

Tulsa's air quality is, well, poor. 

That's the verdict rendered by the American Lung Association, which keeps track of such things. Using air quality statistics from 2006 to 2008, the association found Tulsa County had 32 high ozone "orange" days when the air was considered unhealthy for sensitive breathers. 

Tulsa County had three "red" days during that period, days when pollution levels were unhealthy for everyone. The information appears in today's Tulsa World.

The good news: Tulsa County had fewer high-ozone days in 2009 than in 2008. 

This is an improvement, of course, but there's still a long way to go before we have great air in T-town.

Power Problem: Venezuela's Chavez Jails Judge Whose Rulings He Doesn't Like

Hugo Chavez is nobody's idea of a democratic leader. He's a dictator, plan and simple.

As evidence, we present this NPR report on the latest Chavez move in Venezuela, where the president's enemies are on the endangered species list. The president recently jailed a judge who had the audacity to issue a ruling Chavez didn't like. 

The Chavez formula: Agree with me and you will prosper. Disagree with me, and, well, how about some time in the ole Graybar Hotel? 

The NPR story is here.

Colbert Explains Nevada Republican's Barter Plan for Medical Services

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Indecision 2010 Midterm Elections - Sue Lowden
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

Nathan Daschle: Republicans Go Negative, Alienate Moderates and Independents

Some perceptive comments on the GOP's increasingly alarmist rhetoric and its probable results, from Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association.

GOP gubernatorial candidates have become the shrillest voices on the right.

Scott McInnis (Colo.) wants to abolish the Colorado Department of Education. John Kasich (Ohio) wants to get rid of Ohio's income tax - though he has no clue how to make up the enormous revenue (40 percent of the state budget) this tax generates.

Former Rep. Bill McCollum, the state attorney general who is running in Florida, is spearheading a campaign to repeal health care reform that is already backfiring. 

Perhaps because so many have their eyes on the 2012 prize, Republican governors and candidates are increasingly talking past independents. Instead, they are targeting their far-right base, using language that would make Ronald Reagan blush.

Long gone are the days of "morning in America." The message of today's Republicans is one of anger, cynicism and doubt about our nation's abilities.

While this works the tea partiers into a lather, the persuadable independents are left empty-handed. This is not hope, optimism or promise. This is "freedom fries" all over again.

Krugman Slams GOP's Dishonest Bailout Claim

Sunday Funnies: The Paranoia Behind the Weird Microchip Implant Ban

AltTulsa tends not to believe in fantasies, especially the kind cooked up by people with weird conspiracy theories and way too much time on their hands. 

The other day, the state of Georgia began plans to forbid the implantation of microchips in people's bodies for the purpose of controlling these people. One witness before a state legislative committee claimed she had one now, planted by the Defense Department in her "vaginal-rectum area."

Oh, really? Lady, that's too much information.

A Virginia legislator thinks the ban is a good idea, in accordance with Biblical prophecy. The Great State of Missouri has worked on this "problem" as well—can Oklahoma be far behind?

More on this bizarre story here.

Tulsa Promotes Local Shopping with New Website

Tulsa shoppers should spend their money in Tulsa.

That's the message of a new city-sponsored website called (what else) Shop Tulsa. The idea behind the site is to help Tulsa shoppers find local merchants and vendors, which will help the city's sales tax revenues.

As most everyone in Tulsa knows by now, sales tax revenues in T-town have been down for more than a year, resulting in big budget cuts to city offices and departments. 

We don't know if the new website will help, but it sounds like a promising idea. It's a new and evolving site, and city leaders say it will have more information about Tulsa shopping in the coming months.

The site is shoptulsa.org (it is not shoptulsa.com). A link is here.

Recent Reading: E.L. Doctorow's Civil War Novel 'The March'

AltTulsa has been a fan of writer E. L. Doctorow for many years, at least as far back as his acclaimed novel Ragtime.

Those readers with good literary memories may remember that Ragtime was made into a powerful movie, which, like the book, incorporated fictional characters and real historical characters (Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie) into a searing tale of power, violence and racism in New York. 

The March, published in 2005, is Doctorow's take on Gen. William T. Sherman's infamous "march to the sea," a devastating campaign that laid waste to a wide swath of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Doctorow creates a set of memorable characters who experience the war from different perspectives. We were particularly taken with the regal regimental surgeon, Dr. Sartorius and the former slave girl, Pearl. In Doctorow's capable hands, these and other characters make a compelling and moving story.

Doctorow also imagines the mental and emotional life of Gen. Sherman, a man widely despised in the South to this day. Doctorow's portrait of the man won't satisfy die-hard Southerners, but it does humanize the man and give a sense of Sherman's restlessness and turmoil.

The March tells an important American story. Get a copy and spend some time with Doctorow in the Civil War.

By the way, we met Doctorow in Tulsa a few years ago when he was at the Tulsa City-County Library to receive their Helmerich literary award. Good choice.

Republican Legislator Targets Illegal Shoes, Clothes. Really.

The Republican Party has a simple solution to every problem—and it's almost always hilariously wrong. 

Example: The Arizona crackdown on illegals (read: Mexicans) and all things brown-skinned.

Here's how it would work, according to Rep. Brian Bilbray, a GOP legislator from the Great State of California:

Chris Matthews: …like what, like what? Give me a non-ethnic aspect that would tell you to pick up somebody.

Rep. Bilbray: They will look at the kind of dress you wear, there’s different type of attire, there’s different type of—right down to the shoes, right down to the clothes.

Clueless Republican: Nevada Candidate Suggests Barter for Medical Services (Seriously)

Those clever Republicans in Nevada are on to something.

Need medical help? Trade some chicken to your doctor. Or paint her house. 

Say, I wonder how many chickens it will take to have a knee replacement? Oh wait, I don't have any chickens. I guess I'll have to paint houses—lots and lots of houses.

As another sign of GOP idiocy on health care, we present the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nevada, one Sue Lowden. Here's the story:

Sue Lowden, a Republican candidate challenging Majority Leader Harry Reid for his Nevada Senate seat is refusing to back down from an earlier suggestion that America consider a medical barter system as an alternative to current health care solutions.

On Monday Lowden took the idea one step further.

"Before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor," Lowden told a local news station. "They would say I'll paint your house."

Now, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has launched a new website to ridicule Lowden for her support of the bartering proposal.

The website, Chickens for Checkups, calls Lowden's health care barter system "an old-timey solution for a modern problem," and says that such a program would ask Americans to "barter with their doctors for health care with things like chickens and house painting," items she referenced on a local news program.

"Do you need medical care?" the site asks. "Write a letter to Sue Lowden with your ailment and what you're willing to trade, and we'll make sure she gets it. It's just like the good old days!"

Glenn Beck & God: The Lord Is Giving Beck His Plan (or Maybe Beck's Just Hearing Voices)

Glenn Beck thinks he's divinely inspired—God's special broadcast messenger to all of humankind (and especially us heathens).

But it's much more likely that Beck is simply deluded—a person so in love with in his own ego that he can't separate reality from wishful thinking.

That would explain Beck's bizarre radio comment that "God is giving me a plan." Yes, Beck really said that. It's scary stuff, but it's also typical Glenn Beck hogwash.

The story is here.