OK State Legislature: Bi-partisan idiocy

[swake]

The Oklahoma State legislature not only has hit rock bottom, they've started digging:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090330_11_A1_Statel165138&allcom=1

[Cats Cats Cats]

We don't need yer book learnin'

[Townsend]

Holy buckets...I can't find the words...that wouldn't be edited in red.

Pancakes

[Ed W]

Freedom of speech is critical to our democracy, provided that it doesn't contradict accepted wisdom or long-held religious beliefs.  Freedom of speech is essential and should always be in agreement with the prevailing political philosophy.  If it gets too free, however, it's subversive and should be punished.

Prosecutor: Tell the court why you think he is a traitor to this country.

Miss America: I think Mr. Mellish is a traitor to this country because his views are different from the views of the president and others of his kind. Differences of opinion should be tolerated, but not when they're too different. Then he becomes a subversive mother.   Woody Allen's 'Bananas'

Seriously, would David Boren be within his rights as the top university administrator to tell the meddling legislators to go to hell?

[FOTD]

Freedom of speech is critical to our democracy, provided that it doesn't contradict accepted wisdom or long-held religious beliefs.  Freedom of speech is essential and should always be in agreement with the prevailing political philosophy.  If it gets too free, however, it's subversive and should be punished.

Prosecutor: Tell the court why you think he is a traitor to this country.

Miss America: I think Mr. Mellish is a traitor to this country because his views are different from the views of the president and others of his kind. Differences of opinion should be tolerated, but not when they're too different. Then he becomes a subversive mother.   Woody Allen's 'Bananas'

Seriously, would David Boren be within his rights as the top university administrator to tell the meddling legislators to go to hell?

"from now on, everyone must where their underware on the inside out so as we can tell"

[Hometown]

Just about everything coming out of Oklahoma really makes one stop to think where is this going from here?  Do I really want to put down roots and continue to invest in Oklahoma?  I'm a lifelong Democrat but I feel very little kinship with local Democrats and Oklahoma's Republicans have not one redeeming feature.

I know there are other transplants out there thinking the same thing.

What is really disconcerting is that Oklahoma has gone backwards.  This kind of nonsense would not have happened in 1975 when I was growing up here.

You can only make so many excuses for this kind of behavior and then you just have to face up to who it is you live with.

[Hoss]

Just about everything coming out of Oklahoma really makes one stop to think where is this going from here?  Do I really want to put down roots and continue to invest in Oklahoma?  I'm a lifelong Democrat but I feel very little kinship with local Democrats and Oklahoma's Republicans have not one redeeming feature.

I know there are other transplants out there thinking the same thing.

What is really disconcerting is that Oklahoma has gone backwards.  This kind of nonsense would not have happened in 1975 when I was growing up here.

You can only make so many excuses for this kind of behavior and then you just have to face up to who it is you live with.

Probably because most Oklahoma Democrats are essentially "Republican Lite".  Especially in the state and national legislative bodies.

[FOTD]

Just about everything coming out of Oklahoma really makes one stop to think where is this going from here?  Do I really want to put down roots and continue to invest in Oklahoma?  I'm a lifelong Democrat but I feel very little kinship with local Democrats and Oklahoma's Republicans have not one redeeming feature.

I know there are other transplants out there thinking the same thing.

What is really disconcerting is that Oklahoma has gone backwards.  This kind of nonsense would not have happened in 1975 when I was growing up here.

You can only make so many excuses for this kind of behavior and then you just have to face up to who it is you live with.

Yes sir....hard to believe but true....1976 we were much brighter....IT'S THE SUBURBS THAT DUMBED US DOWN!

[Hometown]

I've gleaned a lot of insight from people here at TulsaNow and when I have asked "why have we gone backwards," I've gotten responses like ORU churning out a steady stream of Evangelicals that stay in the area, and the departure of the Oil Headquarters and the growth of Call Centers who attracted a different class of worker. 

The kids I grew up with here were sophisticated, worldly, well-educated and well-versed in Darwinism.  Apparently, we haven't sustained a critical mass.

[swake]

Let see what issues have been at the top the legislatures mind this year.

Banning abortion based on the sex of the fetus (something that failed to ever take place at any time in Oklahoma)

Mandating that all school children say the state and national pledges of allegiance

Erecting a monument with the Ten Commandments at the capital

And now this.

Please write these idiots. From looking around the good Rep Hamilton lists her profession as a "writer". She serves on the Higher Ed committee and doesn't list any history of education on her voter profiles. His education was as a punter on the OU football team.

Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, D-Oklahoma City:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 510
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7397
rebeccahamilton@okhouse.gov

State Rep. Todd Thomsen, R-Ada
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 408
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7336
todd.thomsen@okhouse.gov

[Ed W]

Yes sir....hard to believe but true....1976 we were much brighter....IT'S THE SUBURBS THAT DUMBED US DOWN!

Well, I think you've hit on something.  Owasso, for instance, has been overwhelmingly Republican as long as I can remember.  And our state senator is none other than Randy Brogdon. 

So it's refreshing to find someone who can candidly admit that Republicans are dumber than stumps.

[Rex]

Oklahoma seems to have a lot of "By Godders."

"I'm right By God!"

"By God, I'll whup your a** if you don't agree with me."

"By God, I have a RIGHT to be backwards!"

They purse their whacky agendas with the conviction of an SS Hauptsturmfuhrer.

And God help anyone who is in their way....

[sgrizzle]

It only took 12 posts to invoke Godwin's Law.

[FOTD]

What draws the uneducated to the Republican Party? Devil's curious because voter registration numbers show that the number of college and high school grads is much higher in the Democratic party. Don't get me wrong there are uneducated on both sides, just way more in the GOP...

May the invisible man in the sky bless you all.
Unless you don't believe in him, then may you burn in hell for eternity.
A bunch of devils in angel sheets.

Little do they understand the negative impact all this has on economic development.

[TheArtist]

I am gonna just push away from the Dem vrs Rep on this one.  I also don't think its a religious thing per say either.

I am a 4th generation Tulsan and from the best that I can recall and discern, something has indeed changed from when I was a kid and even from my parents generation and earlier, pertaining to how people think. Think about science and religion in general, and just how they think and reason, period.

I remember as a little boy staying with my grandmother every summer and spring break. We would walk to the little country church around the corner where she played the piano and church organ for the congregation. This side of the family was very poor, but worked hard and valued learning. She wore those simple handmade dresses, farmed and raised cattle, she would walk to church holding her bible in one hand while I proudly held her other hand.  I remember going to Bible School and memorizing the books of the bible, and bible verses, etc. I remember going to Falls Creek as a young teen. But I also remember my grandmother as being someone who was very intelligent and talented. My mom was a college professor and taught science in grade school and high school. There were always books in my home and both grandparents homes to read. Lots and lots and lots of books.  There was school and there was church, and the topics never mixed.

I actually cant remember a single time in my life when anyone in my family or extended family really mentioned church outside of church other than asking what you were going to wear that Sunday etc. lol. We didn't preach at people, or use religious language or quote bible verses and couch everything in a religious context. We were out eating the other day when my mother was in town and the people behind me in the booth were, actually getting annoying. They were discussing religious stuff, LOUDLY, this one guy kept singing religious songs, etc. Besides the fact that they had poor manners and were so loud, the point is it seems like there are more and more people who are just consumed with church, and church groups, church outings, making sure everyone else is "in on it".

The other day a lady on another forum mentioned something very interesting. She had recently moved here from the east coast. She said she was a Christian, had always gone to church,,, but she noticed something very different about things here. She said it seemed harder to make friends with the neighbors here. People are very friendly on the one hand, but distant on another. As she kept reaching out to her neighbors and community as was her habit where she used to live she noticed that people were busy doing things "with their churches" Kids soccer was with the church soccer club for instance. She said where she used to live there was more of a sense of community within the neighborhood or area you lived in. People went to all different kinds of churches, but their church wasn't so entwined with everything else, so all consuming as it seems here. You went to church but you also did things with your neighbors. Here, unless you go to the persons particular church, your kind of on your own. Not true in every case, but just enough truth to make a real and noticeable difference. It was interesting to read her perspective and how she explained it.

I also remember as a kid how important science education was. I remember those bw, fluttery, films that are so cliche in our memory. Science was honored and respected. It was important and so highly valued. I remember the same kinds of films that taught values and manners. Don't talk to strangers, always wear sunscreen lol, look both ways before crossing the street, say yes sir, yes mam and thank you, practice makes perfect, study hard, work hard, eat your vegetables, get plenty of exercise, etc. etc.  It wasn't "What would Jesus do?" You just learned good behaviors and habits period. Those old science books and movies made science seem as though it was something incredible. Not something to be scorned.

I would venture to say that its not that we are religious, its that we are perhaps religious differently. Its not that people may or may not be as smart. Its what they are smart about and the respect they give to different things. If you don't respect science, your not likely to respect getting it right. Somewhere along the way that lack of respect led to junk science and pseudoscience getting a big foothold. People cant discern between whats real and not real, then add to that religion that has become more a part of politics, daily life, community life, and one that has a tendency to believe in "magic" (vrs unknown and mystery, but with good science ultimately knowable). Which leads to another thing. More and more churches here ascribe to the "waving around of hands up in the air for some magical who knows what reason, flopping around on the floor, faith healing, working yourself up into some ecstatic trance by singing and saying adjectives like "wonderful, glorious, awesome, powerful, super duper megalistic,,," swaying back and forth jumping, up and down. At my church as a kid you stood up, sat down, didn't fidget or cough lol.  I can only guess that blabbering nonsense, rolling your eyes around, then flopping around on the floor would have been a definite no no.