Could you keep your job if 71% of your bosses disapproved of your work?

Governor's Race Closer Than Polls Show

By Michael McNutt/The Oklahoman ~ Oklahoma's gubernatorial race is closer than two recent national polls would indicate, four political consultants said Friday.

Ben Odom

Ben Odom, a former state Democratic Party official, called the race between Democratic Lt. Gov. Jari Askins and U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, a "squeaker." 
"I really do think it's up for grabs," said Odom, a consultant taking part in a "Political Junkies" discussion in Oklahoma City, sponsored by the University of Oklahoma Political Communications Center.
A study released this week by FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times shows Fallin has a 95.9 percent chance of beating Askins and predicts Fallin will win 55.3 percent of the vote. 
A Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of likely voters released Friday shows Fallin picking up 60 percent support while Askins got 34 percent. The Rasmussen poll was conducted Thursday with 500 likely voters; it has a margin of sampling error of 4.5 percent. Fallin led last month's survey, 52 to 37 percent.

Neva Hill

Neva Hill, a political consultant who has mostly Republican clients, said she agreed with Odom's take on the race. She said polling on the gubernatorial race this year in Oklahoma have had some misses — most noticeably polls showing Askins trailing by double digits just days before the Democratic primary election which she won in July. 
"Anyone that would underestimate Jari Askins in this race would be foolish," Hill said. The fact that both gubernatorial candidates are women has attracted a lot of attention, Hill said. The winner will be the state's first female governor. 
"People are paying a lot more attention to the race," she said. "There's a lot more excitement on both sides. 
"At the end of the day I think it will be a very hard fought and probably very negative campaign and who comes out on top depends on who does the best job... of getting out their own vote," Hill said.

Brogdon gives David Tackett the Nod

A campaign mailer delivered to most homes in Wagoner county today has a picture of Republican candidate David Tackett (seeking Wagoner Co. Commissioner office) and former gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon.

Brogdon commends Tackett on his successful campaign to end the Wagoner county sales tax hike to allow Bells Amusement Park to build in Wagoner county. He also praises Tackett  saying, "He's the only candidate who has pledged not to raise sales taxes in Wagoner county."

Tackett faces fellow Republican candidate Jim Henning in a run off on Aug. 24th.

Charles Thompson has Ethical Problems

Click here Charles Thompson via Muskogee Politico

Those Voices Don't Speak For Us - Reagan the Prophet

Calvey Gets Desperate...Shows True Stripes

Ah the plot thickens and now Kevin Calvey has found himself in a dogfight with, no not James Lankford, but with the Edmond Sun.  What's the old saying, "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrell."


Well Mr. Calvey you have done just that - it's one thing to factually quote a news source, but quite another to misquote.  Past history has taught us that this can have consequences.  Hence, the response from the Edmond Sun:

“We as a company do not have a problem when persons pull quotes from articles that we have reported in our newspaper and attribute them to us when they are verbatim. What we report becomes part of the public record,” said Steve Paterson, Edmond Sun publisher. “We as a company do have a problem, when they are used out of context and used to make a point or argument, which is not based on the information reported.

“What Mr. Calvey’s campaign has done is just that in two different incidences. They have structured quotes from our newspaper and interlaced their comments and thoughts then placed it on the postcard in such a way as to purport that this was a report made by The Edmond Sun. One has to just look at the dates the articles were published and review the stories to see that what was printed on the postcards is not what was published in our newspaper,” Paterson said.

“We want to assure our readers who will be voting in the Republican runoff that these were not quotes from this newspaper and do not in anyway reflect the opinion of this newspaper. We encourage our readers who will be participating in the Republican runoff to examine all the facts about the two candidates before they enter the polls,” he said. “One more thing I want to be totally clear on, we have never said in print that James Lankford is not ready to serve in Congress. That decision is made by individuals expressing their freedom to vote at the polls. They will always be the ones who will make that determination.”


So Mr. Calvey seems to very cavalier with the truth.  He claimed not to have had anything to do with the negative push calls - seems doubtful, but, OK I'll buy that one.  I'm curious to see how he tries to wiggle out of this one.  Some poor unpaid volunteer is sure to be the scapegoat.  


This is just my opinion and I do not have a vote in CD-5, but how can anyone even think of sending this guy to DC to represent Oklahoma?  I'm tired of career politicians who think they are above the moral and ethical values the rest of us in Oklahoma try to live by.  Our representatives should mirror the people of Oklahoma; the common everyday man.  It's time to stop sending lawyers to our elected offices (I guess you have to for the judicial offices).  Honest everyday citizens that have an understanding of our principles, morals, and beliefs and who truly want to serve the people.

Pelosi Calls for Mosque Opposition to be Investigated

From the Water Cooler Blog


The debate over the Ground Zero mosque has jumped the shark with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call for an investigation into those who oppose it. For Ms. Pelosi it seems there is nothing the government shouldn’t investigate, control or inject itself into as long as it serves the interests of liberal elites.

Never mind that the overwhelming majority of 9/11 victim families opposes building the mosque so close to such hallowed ground. Ms. Pelosi evidently believes these families have formed some kind of vast right wing conspiracy to inflict sensitivity upon those who would kow-tow to a controversial Muslim cleric.

"There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some,” Ms. Pelosi said in comments captured by Kerry Picket of the Washington Times’ Water Cooler blog. “And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque is being funded."

Nobody is "funding" Bonnie McEneaney’s opposition. Her husband Eamon worked for the firm Cantor Fitzgerald, the name that brings back haunting memories of people plunging to their deaths from the inferno that was the World Trade Center on September 11. That firm was on the 105th floor of a building that once dominated the New York skyline.

Mrs. McEneaney told New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica: “Nobody disputes the principle of freedom of religion. Of course Muslims should have the same spiritual rights the rest of us have. The question isn't about that. The question is about sensitivity. To me, this is solely about sensitivity, the feelings of the friends and relatives who lost loved ones on 9/11."

Contrast her words with Pelosi’s during an event in the Speaker’s home town of San Francisco:One can feel the painful honesty of those words; as well as an earnest desire to be respectful, yet direct. 

“How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we've been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we go forward to an election about the future of our country and two of the first three questions are about a zoning issue in New York City.”

Nobody “ginned up” Bonnie McEneaney and to even suggest so is repulsive. Ms. Pelosi’s tin ear – heretofore only understood to be a problem for her on domestic and economic issues such as jobs, taxes and health care – now puts her in the same extreme, delusional camp as those who suggest the 9/11 attacks were an inside job.

If anyone’s funding should be investigated it is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the controversial cleric heading up the mosque project. His comments about the United States being an accessory to 9/11 mock the tragic death of Mrs. McEneaney’s husband and 3000 others.

The imam claims the mosque is part of his “bridge building” efforts. Many of us would like to know just who is funding the efforts of a man who refuses to admit Hamas is a terrorist organization. Is it just a coincidence that the leader of Hamas recently came out with a public statement in support of building the mosque at Ground Zero?

And now, today, In a moment of revealing, surreal clarity, the third most powerful officeholder in the country would prefer to investigate those who oppose the mosque instead of those who are behind it.

But perhaps we shouldn’t be so shocked, since it was Ms. Pelosi, after all, who infamously told us Congress had to pass the massive health care bill in order for Americans to see what was in it. 

In both cases, such inarguable logic helps clarify why the Speaker's approval rating is fast approaching single digits and why she may be ex-Speaker Pelosi come January.

If you don't think the repeal of Real ID was a big deal...think again.

Almost everyone’s either seen or heard about the 2002 film “Minority Report” with its scene of Tom Cruise walking past digital advertising signs that call out to him by name and deliver sales pitches for such things as Guinness beer, Lexus, and a trip to an island paradise.  And almost everyone’s read or knows about “1984,” George Orwell’s novel of a dystopian future that spawned the iconic phrase, “Big Brother is Watching You.”  Now, thanks to tiny chips embedded in millions of credit cards and cell phones, those sci-fi fantasies may soon become a reality.

Being developed by IBM engineers, digital billboards that use RFID, or radio frequency identification, will be able to read the information contained in the chips, such as a person’s name, age, gender, address, and purchasing history, and then deliver a personalized advertisement as that person walks past or stops to look at a billboard.  The chips are currently used in “contact free” credit cards that can be waved instead of being slid through a scanner, and in cell phones that allow users to access bank accounts and make online purchases.

According to IBM, this technology will protect consumers from being subjected to irritating or irrelevant advertising by showing ads designed to appeal to individuals based on who they actually are and what they might want to buy.   This, of course, has great appeal to advertisers and manufacturers of products and services, but has alarmed a number of privacy advocates.  Appropriately, perhaps, the RFID technology derives from covert listening devices developed during the cold war era in the former U.S.S.R

Billboards employing this technology would be a major step forward from signs now being tested in the Tokyo subway that employ cameras to scan passersby who stop or turn their heads to look at the signs.  These images are stored and analyzed to determine age and gender, information that will be used to tailor advertisements to specific demographic groups at different times of day and night.

The RFID chips can now be read through a wallet or purse at a limited distance that may make it difficult  for most digital billboards on city streets to employ the technology.  However, engineers are working to increase that distance, and if the “Minority Report” signs at pedestrian level become reality, billboards that can look into your pocket or purse as you wait in your car at a traffic light may not be that far behind.

Beyond that, the next step must surely be devices that can detect consumers’ thoughts.  Are they hungry?  Show the McDonald’s ad.  Are they thinking about money?  Show the Chase bank ad.  Are they thirsty?  Show the Absolut vodka ad.  And so on, into the glorious future vividly depicted sixty-one years ago in “1984.”  Just substitute the words Toyota or Coke or Apple or any other corporate product or service for “Big Brother” and Orwell’s vision will have finally arrived here in the 21st century.

Gambling Monies touted by Meacham

Oklahoma Indian tribes paid $118.2 million in gaming fees to the state, helping to ease budget cuts at some state agencies.

Office of State Finance records show the state received $33.3 million from the Chickasaw Nation; $22.7 million from the Choctaw Nation and $12.2 million from the Cherokee Nation. Twenty-seven other tribes paid the state about $50 million.

State Treasurer Scott Meacham says with traditional tax revenues declining, officials used Indian gaming money to stave off some cuts.

He says 88 percent of Indian gaming revenue is earmarked for common education, and the remaining 12 percent goes to the state's general fund.

A report says Oklahoma tribes generated about $2.9 billion in gaming revenues in 2008.