Intra-Party Politics

Two Democratic Friends

I sent this out to a list of Oklahoma Democratic Party leaders recently. I plan to run for the chairman's spot in my county, Oklahoma County. Our county convention is March 31st and I will be elected by delegates chosen at our state-wide precinct caucuses on March 8t. These are some of my reflections as a candidate for a party office. I will have a friend or two running against me, and we will be asking mutual friends for their support. I hope we can do this a remain friends with each other and united as a party.

We, the members of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, are about to enter a time of "Intra-party" politics. In other words, we are deciding who will lead us during the crucial election we face in 2008. We will be asked to make many decisions and have in front of us many choices, few of them easy. No where in our society, except perhaps in sports, is it more impossible to create "win-win" situations than in politics. Elections mean someone wins and someone loses, if there are at least two people who want the same position. The fact that these elections pit Democrat against Democrat means that we will have friends, colleagues, even allies asking, often demanding our vote.
Yet we recognize that we need a united party in order to succeed, so what do we do? We remember first and foremost why we are Democrats. We have all seen the slogan posted on various signs and bumper stickers: "Democrats Care." I wish I could amend that to read "Democrats Care: About More than Number 1". Probably wouldn't make for good advertising, but to my mind that's why I'm a Democrat. I want a world where we truly realize "justice for ALL." And if my political ideals go beyond individual comforts, then my political commitment must go further than my personal ambition.
Personal ambition is good and necessary if we are to have a vital party. I am running for an office in my county because I truly believe I can do it better than those who are also running for the office can. (We will see what the delegates have to say.) But I do not believe that winning the election is a personal endorsement or losing it a personal rejection. It is an opportunity for service, a means to advance the cause of justice.
So if my Democratic friend decides to support me, great; I hope a majority of them do so. But if not, she is still my Democratic friend, and we will work together for this party we love. For me to feel rejected or, worse, to drop out of active participation in my party would make a lie of everything I feel makes me a Democrat.
I wish you the best of fortune as you help to guide your portion of the party through this often difficult time. May we recognize that we Democrats care about more than 1 in regards to our party as well as our country.
Lynn Green
OK County Secretary

I wonder if he wore hip waders also?

Bush Bullshit


This veteran wears a protective flap

over his ears while President G.W. Bush

addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars

about veteran's benefits.

I checked this out on Snopes.com to see if this is an authentic photograph and text. They report that this actually happened during a speech made by Bush at a VFW Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah on August 22, 2005. The man's name is Bill Moyer, a 73 year old WWII veteran who was protesting Bush's policies.

Poor George

Shift the Blame

"Mr. President, I have bad news and I have worse news."

GI Joke

One day last January there was a heavy snow in Washington D.C. Bush woke up to find that there was at least 4 inches of snow on the ground. When he got down to the Oval Office, he saw something very strange outside one of his office windows. There in the snow were some words written in yellow that said "Bush Lied and Soldiers Died". Bush was enraged. He called down White House security. "Look at that!" he screamed. "If I'm not mistaken. Those letters are written in piss." (Bush recognized this from similar stunts he pulled during his drunken, drugged out college days.)"I want this investigated. And I want it done now!"

The security team got right to it. They photographed the words before they had a chance to disappear, took a sample of the yellow snow, and rushed photo and sample off to the FBI labs.

Later that day, Bush got a call from FBI headquarters. Robert Mueller, the FBI Director himself, was on the phone. "Mr. President," Mueller said, "we have made a positive trace on the DNA from the urine sample we got. I'm afraid I have bad news." Bush thought to himself, if the FBI Director called, this must be bad news. "Sir, I must inform you that the DNA matches that of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. It's a 100% match." Bush exploded, "That bastard., after what I did for him. I'll have his resignation immediately. He and I are finished!"

"Sir,” Mueller continued, "I'm afraid that's not all. It gets worse." Dumbstruck, Bush said, "How could anything be worse?" "Well," Mueller said, "we also used the photo to check the handwriting. It's Laura's."

'Nother favorite comic strip of mine

9 Chickweed Lane

Oklahoma Needs More Alternative Education

The Oklahoma Senate Education Committee passed Senate Bill 519 by Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson, R-Oklahoma City, which would eliminate one of the three exemptions from a compulsory attendance law.

Wilcoxson said the measure was requested by Gov. Brad Henry.

The bill would eliminate the exemption that allows a student to drop out when a parent, custodian or guardian of the child and the school administrator agree that the student's leaving school is in the best interest of the community and child.

All well and good, but what are the teachers and administrators of Oklahoma's public schools to do with these "at risk" students who will be denied their wish to drop out and must remain in our student population? After all, very few young people drop out of school because they are experiencing success in the classroom.

If Oklahoma lawmakers really want to do something about Oklahoma's dropout problem, they need to expand the opportunities students and administrators have to use alternative education, especially in the urban areas of the state. Any teacher can point out those students in the school who will not make it to graduation unless some type of radical intervention takes place. These students usually constitute about 5% of the student population, but they create about 80% of the schools problems through their poor socialization skills, low academic achievement, and disruptive classroom behavior. These are the students, often, the teacher prays will be absent of class that day because then the rest of the students can learn.
The reasons for these students' problems are numerous: single/zero parent families, drug usage, lack of motivation, and so on. The result is uniform. They create a poor school environment. They hinder other students. They lower school test scores. They drop out and become wards of the state either on the welfare roles or in prisons.

These students will not make it in the "traditional" school. No manner of teacher heroics will save them from their fate unless there is a method to meet their needs, needs the traditional school is not and never was set up to meet.

We need to provide them the opportunity to succeed through something other than the traditional school, but school districts, already pressed with budgets strained beyond capacity, have only limited alternative spots which quickly fill up during the first quarter of the school year. And don't think that school consolidation will provide the necessary resources. In fact, the problem would likely increase if schools become larger and administrative staffs shrink.

The legislature needs to quit its habit of looking for quick fixes and do what any teacher or administrator knows must be done. We need a true state-wide alternative education system and we need it before we lose more students forever.

Huge Increase of Diabetes in the UAE Result of Our Weapons?

Numerous scientific reports state that "GULF WAR SYNDROME" was caused by Depleted Uranium. Fifty-six per cent OF ALL GULF WAR I VETERANS are experiencing health problems compared with 5% of Korean War and 10% of Vietnam War vets!

I received this in an e-mail from Bob Nichols whom I believe works as a reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bob has been long concerned along with others about our use of "depleted" Uranium as a material for conventional weapons like armor piercing shells. The problem is that such shells disintegrate on contact and spread radiation into the ecosystem. Bob sent this information about possible affects that our use of uranium based weapons have had in the region.

World Wide Diabetes Epidemic: "If it is Epidemic, it is not Genetic." - Leuren Moret

UAE [United Arab Emirates] is on the Gulf Coast. . . . They are within close range of Iraq.

Diabetes is contracted within two months of radiation poisoning, according to Dr. Earnest Sternglass. He was the person President Kennedy asked to 'talk to" the US Senate to get them to pass the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963.

Dr Sternglasss told me in an interview that "40 years ago everybody knew it [the relationship between diabetes and fall out radiation]." He was speaking of the increase in diabetes over the historical occurrence rate of diabetes. That knowledge has been "disappeared."

It has been cynically replaced by more of a "personal responsibility" concept of disease that sees CDC actually funding research to see if underarm deodorant causes cancer, rather than funding research to see if radiation causes cancer.

Mueller, a scientist, found in 1927 that one shot of radiation was 10 to 100 Million times more likely to cause cancerous and or genetic changes to egg and sperm cells of a colony of flies. He tracked the same radiation caused diseases and mutations through 40,000 generations.

It has only been taken humans 80 generations to cover the past 2000 years.

Bob Nichols
Project Censored Award Winner
Doctors Welcome UAE Approval of "Revolutionary" Insulin Inhalation Treatment

Molly Ivins 1944-2007

Rest in Peace, Molly

Oklahoma Flag
Oklahomans need to get over an inherent inferiority complex. I wish we would stop our "Texas" fixation. All our politicians want us to be "like Texas" in our tax structure and our economic system. Yet Texas has some of the poorest people, worst crime, and worst pollution in the nation! If we want a model, let us look to states like Iowa or Minnesota where they are dedicated to improving education and health care, not to states where robber barons are given free reign.

Dumpster Diving

Rubes

It Ain't Easy Being Prophetic

Hot Time on the Old Earth


Someone once said that conservatives have an easier task persuading people that conservatism is right compared with liberals. After all, a conservative's pitch is either that things are okay, just the way they are, or that we have gone too far in our society and we need go back to the way things used to be. A liberal, on the other hand, has to say that we need to make changes in the way we are living in order to make them better for everyone.

I cannot say that this is true for all issues of contention between liberals and conservatives. As with all blanket statements, it cannot cover all circumstances. However, when we consider the issue of Global Warming, I believe we see this maxim in action.

Consider these responses to a question from the Newsok.com website:

Humans "very likely" are the cause of climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released this morning (Friday). For this group, "very likely" means the scientists have more than 90 percent confidence that human emissions of greenhouse gases have caused observed warming over the past 50 years. Will you change your behavior as a result? Does the responsibility for change fall to individuals or the government?

Here are some of the responses:

I believe volcanos and the heating of the crust of the earth has more to do with the warming of the atmosphere than with manmade activity. Although, regional brown clouds, paving of farm land, artificial irrigation, and other things like eastern red cedar trees cause temprature rise in localized areas. I think it is vain of mankind to think we have a worldwide impact on the weather. The water is warming in the artic causing the ice shelf to break apart. The ambient temp. of the air is way below freezing but has risen from 32 below to 30 below zero, a two degree rise in air temp, won't cause the ice shelf to break apart..
Doug , Madill

Can you say 1500 year cycle?? Man has been using fossil fuels for less than 200 years, and the EU bunch (including Al Gore)want us to believe that we are responsible for the weather? What a sad bunch of egotists. Folks, man doesn't have that much stroke!!!
Don, Oklahoma City

I could limit my trips to Walmart to once per week.
Stan, Guthrie

No one wishes more than I that Global Warming would just GO AWAY! I am a child of the 50's and 60's, and I have a nostalgic wish that we could just go back to the "good old days" of unlimited, cheap gasoline. I miss the muscles cars (giddyup, giddyup, 409, 409). I long for bright, blue, smog free skies. I wish I could make the inside of my house feel like Hawaii during the warmest summers and the coldest winters. And I miss the sight of oil derricks pumping their black gold out of the Oklahoma hills as I cruise along Route 66.

But those days are over. In reality, they never should have been. We cannot continue to live beyond our planetary budget simply because this is what we are used to. Like it or not we must change, or future generations will curse the memory of this generation.

There is no "profit" in being a "prophet". Just ask Amos from the Hebrew scriptures. He was a shepherd to came to the town of Bethel, and did not like what he saw. So he began to tell the people there that if they did not shape up, the Lord was going to ship them out. Finally, a leader of the established church, Amaziah by name, came to tell Amos to shut up and quit stirring up trouble.

We read in the book of Amos:
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: "Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.
For this is what Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land." To Amos, Amaziah said: "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple." Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel. Now hear the word of the LORD!" You say: prophesy not against Israel, preach not against the house of Isaac. Now thus says the LORD: Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city, and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; Your land shall be divided by measuring line, and you yourself shall die in an unclean land; Israel shall be exiled far from its land.

So as Amos was unafraid to speak truth to power, we Liberals should not be afraid to tell the truth to those who counsel ease and comfort while signs and portents of global disaster appear all around us.

People who fortell disaster are often dismissed as "Cassandras", people who make predictions of disasters which no one will believe. The trouble is, we forget that in the Greek stories about her, Cassandra was always right!
Cassandra by Evelyn De Morgan

This is a remarkable web site featuring the names and faces of all those who have been killed in Iraq.

They Are Home Now

My Talented Brother

Rooster Rock

Permit me to brag on my talented brother, Rick who, in my humble opinion, is a terrific cartoonist with a sly wit to boot. I've established a link on this blog to his blog "Organized Doodles."

Scalia on War Powers

deja vu?

The White House has been claiming that the president has absolute command over the Armed Forces and can disregard the will of Congress. They might be surprised to learn that case law may not be on their side:

"[E]xcept for the actual command of military forces, all authorization for their maintenance and all explicit authorization for their use is placed in the control of Congress under Article I, rather than the President under Article II." Anthony Scalia in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507 (2004).

Am I the only one who thinks that the actions of a "decider" seem to be very close to those of a "dictator"?

A Man Who Knows His Clientele

The White House has just hired a new Executive Pastry Chef. He is Bill Yosses the author of:

Stop the Surge!

Hard Times A'Comin'!

My Lawn Before Election Day

What the well dressed Democratic Lawn was wearing last fall!

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney

I love the comic strip. The creator is both an artist and a philosopher.

Senator Inhofe and Coburn Vote Against Workers

Inhofe and Coburn: Fat Cats For Fat Cats
Our two Oklahoma senators voted to keep minimum wage workers below the poverty level. The House voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, up from the $5.15 an hour where it has been for the past 9+ years. The Senate voted down a "cloture" motion which would have cut off Senate debate and allowed an up or down vote on the measure known as HR2. While a majority of the Senate voted for the motion (54-43 with 3 not voting), the motion fell short of the 60 vote "super majority" it needs to cut off debate. So much for the Repubs claim that Democratic senators were to be faulted for not allowing up and down votes for their pet project when the Repubs had the majority.

Working people need to be reminded that Senator Inhofe sees them as little more than a business commodity. (George Will in an op-ed piece claimed that working Americans are no more than commodities.) Not only will raising the minimum wage allow millions of Americans to escape poverty, we must recognize that this act is a simple matter of justice. It is patently unjust for Americans to work full time and yet find themselve falling deeper and deeper into the poverty trap.

Senator Inhofe and Coburn, you bring shame to our state.

Repeal the "Military Commissions Act"

Khaled el-Masri
Kaled el-Masri is a German citizen. On December 31, 2003 he was on vacation in Macedonia. When the bus he was traveling on reached the Serbia-Macedonia border, he was detained by Macedonia authorities and turned over to the CIA. They suspected him of being linked with terrorist organizations. Mr. el-Masri was held for 23 days before being beaten, drugged and flown on a plane leased by our government to Afghanistan where he was detained in the notorious "Salt Pit" prison.

The trouble is that by this time, the CIA knew that he was innocent. He was a victim of mistaken identity. Five months after being kidnapped, Mr. el-Masri led out of his cell, blindfolded, handcuffed, chained to the seat of a plane, flown to Albania and--without explanation--abandoned on a hillside at night.

President Bush first denied that the US engaged in rendition, kidnapping another term. He denied we used torture. When cases like Mr. el-Masri's came to light, his lie was exposed. He then successfully got the Republican Congress to pass the Military Commisions act to give him the right to continue the practice of denying basic human rights to anyone he believes to be guilty of terrorism. The law allows among other things to:
1. deny prisoners the right to habeas corpus so that a prisoner can be locked away without charge or without the right to an attorney.
2. use force to gain evidence against prisoners and convict them on the basis of statements made under coercion.
3. keep prisoners locked up indefinitely.

The claim is always made that 9-11 gives us the right to use means above the Constitution to defend ourselves, that we are dealing with very dangerous people. But as Sen. John McCain said in his debate against the use of torture, this is not about who they are, it's about who we are. If we resort to kidnapping, torture, forced confessions, indefinite imprisonment, denial to laws of law, then what have we become? How can we say that we have the moral right to defend freedom around the world, when we can't exercise it at home?

Congress must repeal the Military Commissions Act. Our national soul is at stake here. For how can we ask the brave men and women of our military to sacrifice themselves if America has become little better than the tyrannies we oppose. To paraphrase a famous statement of Abraham Lincoln I assert that as a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except those we declare to be enemy combatants." When if this is allowed to continued, we will say "all men are created equal, except Muslims and others we dislike." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty so that my tyranny can be take pure, and without hypocritical lip-service to the ideal of liberty and justice for all.

Separated at birth?????

Mr. Potter Mr. Dick

Me and a Bust of Will Rogers from our trip to see the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, OK

Oklahoma in January

John Marshall High School, Oklahoma City

This was a very long week at school. Everyone felt that way. The main reason is that we came back after having lost a week to a big ice storm that started on Friday, ended on Sunday, and stayed around till the following Saturday. Basically, we were starting the 2nd semester over again. We had only been in school a week and two days before the ice storm hit. So it's like everything we began was lost on the students. We will have to make it all up at the end of the semester so we'll be in school through the first week of June.



We also lost our school principal who was demoted to an assistant principal. We haven't gotten a replacement for him. Things are rather chaotic in the building. This has been the roughest year I have had as a high school teacher save for the first year I taught. These kids have so little going for them that it's a crime for them to have to go through all they have had to go through this year.

Gonzales says the Constitution doesn't guarantee habeas corpus

More evidence that this is the most dangerous presidencies since the Nixon White House

by Bob Egelko

San Francisco Chronicle

January 24, 2007

One of the Bush administration's most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus -- the right to go to federal court and challenge one's imprisonment -- is not protected by the Constitution. "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas,'' Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 17.

Gonzales acknowledged that the Constitution declares "habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless ... in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.'' But he insisted that "there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.''

Specter was incredulous, asking how the Constitution could bar the suspension of a right that didn't exist -- a right, he noted, that was first recognized in medieval England as a shield against the king's power to dispatch troublesome subjects to royal dungeons

Bush Tragedy: Act V

I watched Pres. Bush's "State of the Union" address. I am reminded of a story about a young preacher who delivered his first sermon. The young man was very full of himself and it showed in the manner in which he ascended to the pulpit. However, his sermon was very poorly delivered. One could tell that even he knew this by the humbled way he descended from the pulpit. An older minister who had been the young man's mentor came to him at the end of the service and said, "If ye had gone up the way ye had come down, ye woulda gone down the way ye had come up." Bush has been humbled by the events in Iraq and in the Fall elections. Had he approached his presidency in the spirit he displayed last night, he would have the unity he absolutely needs now. But, it is too late for that. The Bank of Political Capital is bankrupt. We are seeing the last act of the Bush tragedy."

More Die in Mr. Bush's War

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military helicopter crashed Saturday northeast of Baghdad, killing all 13 people on board, a new blow to American efforts in Iraq. The military said the crash was under investigation. The brief U.S. statement lacked the customary comment that the aircraft was not shot down, indicating it may have come under fire by insurgents.
The helicopter was carrying 13 passengers and crew members and all were killed, it said.

I'm not sure how valid this is, but here is a link to a group that claims private citizens can initiate impeachment proceeding against Bush. I'll let you decide.
http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html

"FIVE YEARS LATER: The Courage to Love"

This is a condensed version of The Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers sermon on Sept. 10, a reflection on the five years that have passed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

The scripture reading was Mark 2: 1-16

The day after September 11, an American businessman trying to get back home found himself in a cafe in Athens, Greece. When the cafe's customers discovered his nationality, they rose up together and offered him this toast, "As one, shoulder to shoulder till Justice is done." The French periodical Le Mond had as its headline "We all Americans." Now 5 years later, all of those sentiments have disappeared. This is partly due to the fact what we are unable as humans to sustain such sentiments. But mostly this is due to what we did with all those sentiments follwing 9-11.

What we did was 1) Declare war on a people who had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks and 2) Declare that the Constitution was an impediment to our need for security. Civil liberties were declared to be Civil Weaknesses.

Franklin Roosevelt, facing the twin threats of civil unrest due to the Great Depression and worldwide destruction due to the threat of Fascism declared, "All we have to fear is fear itself." In our time the sentiment is, "All we have is fear."
In 1993, the first attempt to bring down the World Trade Towers occured. Our response at the time was to track down those responsible for the attacks without involving those innocent of the attacks by resorting to war.

What we failed to recognize in our rush strike back at someone, anyone in order to appease our need for revenge is the true source of terrorism. Terrorism is the result of arrogance. Terrorism is hatred due to arrogance. Hatred is the enemy, and hatred cannot be overcome by force. Fear and intimidation never wins hearts and minds. The chief result of our violence is to turn Osama Bin Laden into a "rock star" and give him an unending supply of suicide bombers to carry out his missions.

Our need for security always outstrips our ability to provide it. Sadness and grief should not provide us with an occasion for creating more sadness and grief. We must recognize living in fear means we must live outside of love since it is fear, not hatred, that is the opposite of love. We should say, "We have sinned and come short of God's will for us." We need to heed the prophetic voice and quit our national denial. We owe that much to those who died both in the 9-11 attack and in our response to those attacks. We owe them the courage to love.

"Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?"

By Keith Olbermann
MSNBC Countdown

Tuesday 05 September 2006

It is to our deep national shame-and ultimately it will be to the President's deep personal regret - that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies - or even question their effectiveness or execution - to the Nazis of the past, and the al Qaeda of the present.

Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11 - without ever actually saying so - the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, "a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government."

Make no mistake here - the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the "media."

The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.

Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle:

The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word - "media" - the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.

That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American.

Mr. Bush and his colleagues have led us before to such waters.

We will not drink again.

And the President's re-writing and sanitizing of history, so it fits the expediencies of domestic politics, is just as false, and just as scurrilous.

"In the 1920's a failed Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany and take revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews," President Bush said today, "the world ignored Hitler's words, and paid a terrible price."

Whatever the true nature of al Qaeda and other international terrorist threats, to ceaselessly compare them to the Nazi State of Germany serves only to embolden them.

More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek - a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.

It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration's recent Nazi "kick" is an awful and cynical thing.

And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush:

"Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Happy Labor Day!

A little poetry from my union brother, Bob Bearden, a retired Letter Carrier (NALC 458)
Unions
by Bob Bearden
Unions have helped bring us overtime,
Family medical, sick and annual leave,
And they have made the workplace safer,
One of many benefits they did perceive.

Retiring has been made much easier,
Because of what the Unions have done,
Just another of the many innovations,
That because of Unions we have won.

Seniors would not have medicare,
And Social Security would not be,
Without the work of Labor Unions,
Who helped give them to you and me.

Labor Unions gave us Labor Day,
We celebrate it each and every year,
So stand up and holler for the Union,
Let's give the brotherhood a cheer.

Bush Nixes Public Access to EPA Libraries!

Is Ray Bradbury's Vision Coming True in Our Time

by Frank J. Ranelli

What has been termed, "positively Orwellian", by PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, is indeed frightening. It seems that the self-appointed "Decider", George W. Bush, has decided to "end public access to research materials" at EPA Regional libraries without Congressional consent. In an all out effort to impede research and public access, Bush has implemented a loosely covert operation to close down 26 technical libraries under the guise of a budgetary constraint move. Scientists are protesting, but at least 15 of the libraries will be closed by Sept. 30, 2006.

"Public access to EPA libraries and collections will end as soon as possible", according to a report found online at PEER, an acronym for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. All total, nearly 80,000 documents, not in digital format, are being boxed up and placed in infinite limbo status by the Bush Administration. The scene from the Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the Ark of the Covenant was wheeled into a massive sea of identical box crates, inside an enormous warehouse, comes vividly to mind.

The suppression of information to the public and efforts to control the flow of information of the sciences has reached critical mass. Shades of the once science fictional book, Fahrenheit 451, are dangerously close to reality and the banning and burning of books looms all to surreal, but are more fact than science fiction now. Who could have ever envisioned that Ray Bradbury's vicious, futuristic, dystopian society would ever come to fruition; but it may indeed have done just that!
Read Complete Article Here

You should write your congressman about this.

Some Facts to Ponder on Labor Day

In 1980, when Ronald Reagan was elected president, 84% of American workers in large to medium sized corporations had retirement pension plans. Today, just over 25 years later, only 33% due. It is estimated that 40% of those who are working today will not have enough through either savings, retirement, or Social Security to live above the poverty line.

The Federal Minimum Wage has not been raised since 1997. Despite this fact, and despite the fact that we have record budget deficits, Congress this year voted to give itself a $3,3100 raise. The new pay raise for Congress means the salaries of senators and representatives have gone up by $31,600 since 1997, while minimum wage workers still earn only $10,700 a year.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, seven of every 10 workers who would benefit from a $2.10 increase in the minimum wage are adults.

At the current federal minimum wage rate of $5.15, a minimum wage worker has to work 11.2 hours to pay for one tank of gas.

In 2003, workers paid an average of $2,283 for employment-based family health insurance. That's 20 percent of a minimum wage worker's $10,712 full-time, full-year earnings.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the percentage of businesses offering health insurance to their employees has declined from 69% in 2000 to 60% in 2005. Among those firms still offering health insurance, 20% offer "high-deductible" health plans. Since 2000, health insurance premiums have increased 73% while overall inflation increased 14% and wages increase only 15%.

Some Thoughts From Sunday Services

Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers

I have been neglecting my blog lately. The beginning of school seems to absorb all my time and energy. I thought, however, that I would post some exerpts from my pastor's, Robin Meyers, sermons. I like to take notes when Robin preaches. I find it keeps me focused, and I come away with some good ideas such as these:

"In Christian Art, before Jesus was depicted as being crucified, he was shown feeding the multitudes."

"Jesus is Lord of Culture, not subject to it."

"If Jesus is everything we want him to be, then he is nothing."

"Last year in America, only one person burned a flag. However, 1 out of 5 Americans live in poverty. How come no one is talking about passing a Constitutional Amendment banning poverty?"

"The Church is using the Politics of Purity to shelter its members from the Politics of Compassion."

"Jesus was crucified for the company he kept."

"In the purity system of Israel, shepherds were considered the lowest of the low. However, they were the first ones to get the news of Jesus' birth."

"Religious observance must not interfer with work of the heart."

"Ministers can't stay out of politics as long as politics affects people for whom Christ died."

"It is in service to humanity that service to Christ is proved."

The People of Oklahoma County Need a New DA

We need a change of leadership in the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office. Actually, what we have in our DA’s office is a nearly total lack of leadership. In his tenure as DA, Wes Lane is frequently absent from duty and provides little direction to the assistant prosecutors who have the responsibility of representing the people of Oklahoma County in criminal cases. Due to the rudderless direction in the DA’s office, Oklahoma County has in the last year seen over 50 prosecutors leave the office, many out of sheer frustration. Lane’s predecessor, Bob Macy, never experienced anything near the current attrition rate during his tenure in office. This means that taxpayers have had to pay for the retraining of new prosecutors who lack the experience of those they replace. These new prosecutors receive only the briefest of orientations, and no mentoring, before they are thrown into their important tasks. This often has led to new resignations and the cycle of retraining new prosecutors begins anew.



This has had a detrimental effect on criminal prosecutions in the county. Current, there is a backlog of approximately 14,000 unprosecuted felony cases in Oklahoma County. Cases are taking well over two years to get to trial. This means that criminals able to make bail are out on the street committing new crimes while their trial is repeatedly postponed. Those accused who are unable to make bail remain in the county jail, at taxpayer’s expense, awaiting trial. Imagine if you have been arrested for a crime you did not commit and having to wait 2 years before you have a chance to establish your innocence. Imagine being the victim of a crime and having to go through the trauma of reliving molestation or assault and then finding out that the prosecutor has had to file yet another continuance because a new attorney has had to replace the one who quit. During this time victims are revictimized, memories fade, and errors creep in to the prosecution. All too often the solution to this is for the prosecutor to plea bargain for lesser sentence. Truly justice delayed is justice denied.



Clearly we need a change in District Attorney. David Prater, a former police officer and prosecutor, has promised Access, Accountability, and Action when he becomes our new District Attorney. He will be accessible to his employers, the citizens of Oklahoma County. He believes that the one in charge of the office should accept accountability for the production of that office. He will take action to fix problems rather than just let them slide. Pious platitudes sounded when election time comes are no substitute action and accountability. I urge my fellow citizens of Oklahoma County to vote for David Prater as our new District Attorney so that the people can finally obtain adequate counsel in our criminal courts.

The Oklahoma History Center

Entrance to the Oklahoma History Center

Replica of Wiley Post's famous plane The Winnie Mae

Cat and I visited the new Oklahoma History Center on the State Capitol grounds. They did a very good job with the Center. It's a place that all Oklahoman's can take pride it. Cat and I spent 3 hours there and still didn't see everything we wanted to. I expect we will be coming back soon.

A Campaign Without Conscience, A Betrayal of

Andrew Rice with his wife, Apple, and their son, Noah

A Campaign Without Conscience, A Betrayal of Faith

I saw my friend, Andrew Rice, in church at Mayflower last Sunday. Andrew is running for the Oklahoma State Senate in his district in central OKC. He told me of a campaign tactic being used, in nearly all certainty, by the Republican Party which reveals a party operating without a regard for morality in its grab for power.

Several of the voters in Andrew's district, Oklahoma Senate District 46, have been getting phone calls whose callers claim that Andrew favors terrorism. First, you have to understand that Andrew and his family are one of the victims of the worst terrorist attack in American history. On September 11 2001, investment banker David Rice was killed when the World Trade Centre collapsed. Later, a group called Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation were contacted by the mother of the alleged 20th hijacker, Zacharias Moussaoui. She had a unique request. She wanted to meet some of the families of the victims and ask for their forgiveness. Andrew, along with several other victims' families, met with, this grieving Madame al-Wafi, who begged their forgiveness for her son's hatred. Andrew forgave her because he felt that to return hate for hate dishonored his brother's "spirit", and I feel Andrew knew he was following the commandment of the man from Nazareth who comanded us to forgive though we are wrong 70 times 7 times and who forgave those who were responsible for his execution.

This act, done in the spirit of Christ, is the very deed this smear campaign is trying to use against Andrew Rice. This damning abuse of our political process is being carried out by some group called RDI, headquartered in Cincinatti, Ohio, because they were paid $300,000 by a shadowy Republican organization. The cry that Robert Welch uttered against Joesph McCarthy echoes down to our time, "Have you no sense of decency?" You claim to be the party that defends the practice of Christianity in the public arena, the party of values, the party of morality. Where are your morals now? In Oklahoma, we have seen candidate after candidate in their political ads extol their Christianity, their time spent teaching Sunday School, their donations of land to build churches. I have no doubt of their personal sincerity, but I demand in the name of the one whom they claim to serve that they denounce this discipable act in no uncertain terms, that they honor this most Christian act of Andrew's, or all their claims of faith ring hollow to me.

Jesus once said, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul." I believe that this applies to this heinous political tactic. Those who have committed it have sold their soul to try to amass power. Shortly before his death from a brain tumor Lee Atwater, who employed these type of tactics to help elect Republicans like Ronald Reagan in an act of repentance, issued a number of public and written apologies to individuals whom he had attacked during his political career, including Michael Dukakis who was a target of several vicious, unwarranted attacks. Of course, by that time, the damage had already been done and it was too late to erase the stain he had foisted on the body politic. Whoever is responsible for this act needs to seek forgiveness and offer restitution before he or she meets a similar fate.

If you wish to read about Andrew's act of forgiveness, you can go to this link to read his remarkable testimony:The Forgivenss Project-Andrew Rice

My Prayer This Sunday

Mayflower Church

To Learn More About Mayflower Congregational,UCC Church

Note: I was the worship leader this Sunday at Mayflower Church. Our pastor is away for his annual vacation, which this year includes a book tour promoting his new book. Former Oklahoma Governor David Walters was our guest speaker. This was the congregational prayer I gave.

God of all Creation, God of Many Names Honored in Many Ways

We pray first for your blessings on our pastor, his wife and child while they are absent from us. Grant them your protection during this time of rest and renewal. May we ever be mindful of the stresses that are a constant factor in the lives of those called to minister to our needs. May we seek to “Bear … one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

We pray also for our wounded and bleeding world. We have grown too fond of war so much so that we have become numb to its terrible consequences. We have even invoked the name of the Prince of Peace to justify our indulgence in our belligerent nature. We ask for your healing touch on those whom we have called upon to fight our wars. God, forgive those leaders who fight wars with other people’s children and try pay for their wars from the resources of future generations.

We pray for our state, this land of rolling hills, vast plains, woods and rivers. In the coming elections in our state, give us the wisdom as we chose among those participating in our democracy in a personal way by becoming candidates. We honor their sense of devotion, their sacrifice, their labor, and their commitment to service. May we reject all appeals to our prejudices and make our choices based on the demands of justice.

We pray for our church that has become a beacon of hope in our community. We truly are as city set upon a hill. The eyes of all have been set upon us. May we provide a model for what a spiritual community ought to be. May we enjoy each other’s fellowship; make each others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our community in your work, as members of the same body. May our unity be symbolized by our praying together the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, Amen.

Don't Box Me In!

Dead Big Box Store

I got this from my friend, Anne Feeney, the Union Maid. She wrote it for a group fellow union maids attending the Midwest School for Union Women in Chicago:

I want to roam 'round a town where varieties abound

DON'T BOX ME IN!

Buy something chic and unique at a neighborhood boutique

DON'T BOX ME IN!

I like to have lots of options - merchants galore

I get Mallzheimer's in a big box store
Here in the Windy City we need more --

DON'T BOX ME IN

Don't want to cry when I buy those sweatshop goods from China

DON'T BOX ME IN

Don't want to shop where workers labor til they drop

DON'T BOX ME IN I want a living wage, and did I mention

A union, health care and a decent pension

City Hall - give me your attention and DON'T BOX ME IN!!!

Do you want fries with your season ticket?

There is a report out that the Seattle Supersonics have been purchased by a group of Oklahoma City investors who could move the team to our fair city as early as the 2007-2008 season.

If they do, I already have an idea for the team.

Change the name from the "Supersonics" to the "Sonic" in honor of one of the best know businesses in OKC.

Make the team mascot a large Cherry Limeade.

Have all the cheerleaders dressed as car hops and have them do their routines on rollerskates.

Oh the possibilities are endless!

Sonics' future in Seattle in doubt after sale

Impressions of Orlando, Florida

The View from Our Hotel
At the Kennedy Space Center
In the Gulf of Mexico
John's Pass Where We Had Some Terrific Seafood

Cat and I got back to Oklahoma on Saturday following our five day stay in Orlando for the High Schools that Work conference. I post my impression about the conference, which was very good, later. But first, my impressions of Orlando.

The people we met were very friendly. Most were not native to Florida. We met waiters from Cuba, hell staff from Brooklyn, toll booth operators from the Dominican Republic and tour bus drivers from Iowa. However, I believe the motto of the Central Florida area should be "You Wanted to Come here, and You're Gonna Pay for It!" It's nearly impossible to get anywhere in central Florida that doesn't involve toll roads. If you don't have some sort of turnpike pass, you have to stop every mile or so and pony up. Not only is it annoying, but it really slows down your time. Nothing in central Florida is very far away from Orlando, but you have to add 50% more time to your drive time than you normally would estimate in Oklahoma.

Another reason for this is that most of the drivers I noticed tend to drive much more slowly than we do in Oklahoma. It seemed that nearly everyone drove about 5 miles an hour below the posted speeds. Some of the drivers were senior citizens, but even the younger drivers seemed also to drive more slowly. I'm not complaining, but it's somewhat hard to adjust to this when I have been used to being the one everyone else passes on the Interstates.

Orlando seems rather artificial. I guess that's to be expected when pratically everything revolves around Walt Disney World. Everywhere there are amusement parks, "Halls of Fame", phoney pirate ships (pirates are really big now) Much of the time, I wondered if the palm trees were real. When we toured the Kennedy Space Center, I felt like I was in some type of grand commercial because most of the displays hammered home the need and importance of, well, the Kennedy Space Center.

The best part of our time there was when Cat and I snuck off for a little personal time on the Gulf Coast. We found a nice little motel on the beach and deal some swimming and body surfing in the gulf. The water was warm. We were even joined by two dolphins. Later at a restaurant called "The Friendly Fisherman" we had some fantastic seafood served by a great waitress named Lori who was from Maine.

Then we decided to drive up the coast a bit on state highway 699. Not a good idea. The coast in Florida is so heavily commercialized that you can't see a thing but hotel after hotel. The whole thing made me long for the Oregon Pacific coast where all of the beach is public property, and you can see everything.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable time in Florida. It's always nice to get away, but if I had my choice, I'd get away some place where that everyone else isn't there before me.

Maybe that's why I love Oklahoma as much as I do. I can still find places in this state where beauty can be enjoyed in isolation.

My Favorite Symbol

ORGANIZE

This is my favorite symbol. I have two T-Shirts that display this. The meaning of this symbol is readily apparent. If the little fish encountered the big fish individually, each would be lunch. Not one of them is strong enough alone to oppose the big fish. However, working together in solidarity, they are strong enough to put the big fish to flight.

Too many times I have heard people say, "Unions were okay in their day, but we don't need them any more. I wonder what these folks are thinking when they say this. Unions have never been popular with those in power. Organizing has always been an uphill battle. Workers who wish to organize face losing their jobs on some trumped up pretext. Companies claim threaten to close worksites where an organizing effort is taking place. Even when workers organize, companies try to ignore their union, do bad faith bargaining, or bring in scab workers to try to bust unions.

Is it worth it? You bet it is. I've worked non-union and I now work union. I'm never going back! A worker in a union has dignity and worth. A worker in the union has left the plantation and joined the human race!

So my sisters and brothers, don't just sit around and bitch.

ORGANIZE!

In Solidarity,

Lynn Green
Oklahoma City-American Federation of Teachers, Local 2309

Son of a Preacher and His Wife

I grew up in a pastor's home, a preacher's kid. My father was always a full-time minister, my mother a full-time mother. Our church, The Church of the Nazarene, was and still is a rather small denomination, a little under 1 1/2 million members now, less than a million when I was a part of it. Then the Nazarene Church was quite conservative: no smoking, no alcohol, no movie theatres, and no social dancing.

Despite this, perhaps because of it, I feel privileged to have grown up in my environment. Even though I no longer observe most of the prohibitions of my former church, I like the fact that I escaped most of the problems many of those in my age group fell victim to during the 60's and 70's. Later, as I grew into maturity, I was better able to choose how I would live my life, and which habits I would adopt or refuse to adopt. I am a social drinker. I enjoy the movies. I have done a little dancing, but don't now due to some arthritic knees. I don't smoke, and glad I never started.

Growing up a minister's son had many other advantages. I grew up in an environment that took faith and spirituality very seriously. Though I am no longer an evangelical Christian, I still am a follower of the Nazarene. I no longer believe that salvation is a through the Christian faith alone, I believe that grace is real. I no longer believe that Jesus was God, but I believe that in Jesus we see what God is like, and that his life is a model for our own.

In my family, learning and study were important. My father and mother were constant readers. They encouraged my own love of literature. TV viewing was limited. Trips to the library were frequent. As a child, my mother subscribed to children's magazines. Once she signed us up for a children's book club. (I still remember three titles from that time: "Elephant for Rent", "On to Oregon!” and "The Perils of Pacifico".) Later as I grew up, my father shared with me books he enjoyed. He introduced me to C. S. Lewis who later became the topic for my M.A. thesis.

Of course, the study of the Bible was paramount. I took part if Bible contests coming in 2nd place in an international competition. The Bible is foundational to Western literature and thought. When I was in graduate school, my professors looked to me to make literary and theological allusions clear to them.

Growing up a preacher's kid encouraged my leadership skills. I was expected to take the lead in Sunday Schools, youth groups, and later denominational functions. I trace my political work to the fact that I was expected to organize programs for the various church functions such as our Sunday night youth program called the NYPS, Nazarene Young People's Society. Presenting Sunday School lessons, providing devotions, offering public prayers, honed my speaking skills.

There were downsides to parsonage living. We moved quite a bit, 6 times in a 9 year span. I had trouble forming fast friendships, and came back to Oklahoma to go to college feeling a bit rootless. I have lived here ever since, a total of 45 out of 54 years of my life. So I can say that I am a "Sooner born, Sooner bred, and (most likely) when I die, I'll be a Sooner dead"(lyrics from the Oklahoma University fight song).

At times, growing up in the church did feel like living in a fishbowl. To his credit, my father and mother never once said to me, "Son, your behavior is making us look bad to the church." This is not because I was a perfect angel. (I once got caught taking a swim in the church baptistery.) The effect came more from the fact that we felt the need to be the example for the rest of the church membership. Typically, we were the first to arrive at all services. I am astounded that mom accomplished this feat with 6 children whose ages covered an 11 year span. I felt I had to be willing to volunteer for any duty. My wife says I've carried this over into my adult years. (I am the recording secretary for 5 different organizations.)

However, I feel the benefits I have gained from being a minister's son are such that if I were given the option of repeating my experience, I would not hesitate to do so. Above all, I grew up in a home where I enjoyed parents of the highest character, who demonstrated genuine love for each other and for us. I grew up in a world where service to others was valued more than material gain, where we loved people and used things as opposed to the vice versa situation I see in so much of our world.

I am proud to say that I was the son of a minister and his wife, an equal partner in their ministry. I am thankful for the lessons they gave me and feel that most of the best part of me is a result of their nurture.

W Pays the Price for Going It Alone

Bush is seeking a unified response from the rest of the world community to North Korea's nuclear program and missile testing. Well, George, it's too bad you have destroyed any credibility you might have had after you cried wolf on Iraq and by passed all diplomatic challenges to play world cowboy.

"You know, the problem with diplomacy is it takes a while to get something done" while "acting alone, you can move quickly," Bush said. Yes, and the problem with "going alone" is that you are, well, alone. Right now the US is hard pressed to keep the tattered remains of the "coalition of the willing" together. Britain is the only ally that has troops of any substance in Iraq, and their withdrawal is simple a matter of time, months in all probablity.

Meanwhile, George appears hat in hand on the world stage pleading for any cooperation whatsover. George probably did not learn this while in the schools where he partied: Mendācī hominī nē vērum quidem dīcentī crēdimus. We do not believe a liar, though he speaks the truth.

A Midsummer Bummer

Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Well, the 4th has come and gone. We had some family and friends over to burn some weenies that day. We enjoyed our "Celebration Without Fireworks."

The day after the 4th is always the worst day of summer for me because it marks the mid-point of the summer vacation. That means that a teacher's mind inevitably turns towards the coming school year. Bummer.

Next week Cat and I will be flown to Orlando, Florida for a "High Schools that Work Conference" with about 50 other high school teachers from the Oklahoma City Public Schools. The conference will take up an entire week of summer vacation. I hope that this conference doesn't turn out to be as "Mickey Mouse" as Orlando's most famous occupant. Some others who have gone report that they got a lot of good from the workshops.

The main thing I have to fight when I go to these professional development activities is an inherent defensiveness. I will hear people get up and proclaim how much success they have had with one technique or another with their "at risk" students. I wish I had similar success stories to report, but I don't. Teaching in an urban school is tough going. I hear them talk about how they have triumphed in the classroom. I feel as if I am not measuring up.

So I want to find reasons to desparage their success and undercut their advice. I think things like, "it won't work with my students"; "their school is not like mine"; "if I had the resources and support they enjoyed"; "if they had to deal with our administration." Excuses are very easy to discover; however, this defensive has the unfortunate effect of blocking the good that I can gain out of their instruction.

One of the best pieces of advice my father gave me was to maintain what he called "a teachable spirit." Be open, he told me, to the ideas of others. Remember you are always in need of learning and capable of growth. Whenever I keep his advice in mind, I find that I do develop and grow.

There is a reason why a doctor says that she "practices medicine." I guess I need to realize that I am a practicing teacher.

A Tribute to Clara Luper

On this 4th of July celebration where we laud those who have given us our freedom, we need to remember that not all fights for freedom are fought on the battlefield. Many are fought by those who take courageous stands in our communities, schools and businesses. Meet one such person, one of my heroes, Mrs. Clara Luper

During 41 years as an award winning Oklahoma educator, Mrs. Clara Luper taught history and made history. Born in 1923, Mrs. Luper grew up near Hoffman, Oklahoma. She graduated from Grayson High School and matriculated to Langston University where she earned a B.A. degree. Mrs. Luper received her M. A. degree from the University of Oklahoma and taught school at Taft, Pawnee, Spencer and Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Many know Mrs. Luper as the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. She began the Oklahoma Sit-In Movement, August 19, 1958 when she led a group of students in a sit-in at an Oklahoma City lunch counter. This effort and continuing efforts resulted in restaurants in Oklahoma City and across the state opening their doors to African Americans. This was the first publicized sit-in in the nation. Mrs. Luper led the Oklahoma City Public School integration fight, participated in the historic March on Washington, D.C., Selma, Alabama and every major march in America. She was arrested 26 times in Civil Rights activities. She led with courage and persistence and taught that non-violence activism was the way to freedom.

Mrs. Luper also participated in the first teachers' strike in Oklahoma when she participated in the teachers' strike for a true contract in 1979. She is one of those who "Walked the Line in '79' that gave birth to the American Federation of Teachers union which remains the collective bargaining agent for the teachers of the Oklahoma City Public Schools. I have the honor of teaching at John Marshall High School where she taught for many years.