What About the Judges?

One of the more difficult things going through the ballot is going through all the judges. Below are links and info on each of the judges that come up in the Tulsa County ballot.

Oklahoma Supreme Court

Judge	Appointed By	Served Since
Noma Gurich	Brad Henry (D)	2011
Noma Gurich	George Nigh (D)	1986
James Edmondson	Brad Henry (D)	2003
James Edmondson	Brad Henry (D)	2003

Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

Judge	District	Appointed	Governor	Law School	Hometown
Clancy Smith	1st	2010	Brad Henry (D)	University of Tulsa	Tulsa, OK
Arlene Johnson (Vice)	4th	2005	Brad Henry (D)	University of Oklahoma	Oklahoma City, OK
David Lewis	5th	2005	Brad Henry (D)	University of Oklahoma	Ardmore, OK

Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals

Justice	Birthplace	Year Service Began	Appointing Governor	Law School
Thomas Thornbrugh
William Hetherington	Norman, Oklahoma	2009	Brad Henry (D)	Oklahoma City University
Kenneth Buettner	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	1996	Frank Keating (R)	Southern Methodist University
Robert Bell (Chief Judge)	Norman, Oklahoma	2005	Brad Henry (D)	University of Tulsa
E. Bay Mitchell, III	Enid, Oklahoma	2002	Frank Keating (R)	University of Oklahoma

Useful Election Links for Tulsa Election - Nov, 2012

I've put together some useful links for voting in Tulsa County. On the state questions, I tried to find something on each side of the issue, but some just don't have a decent web presence. Anyways, please make an informed vote on each item. Your comments are appreciated as well as your opinions on any of the items below.

Where do I vote?

US House
Jim Bridenstine (R)
John Olson (D)
Craig Allen (I)

Election Resources
Tulsa County Pricinct Map
Tulsa County District Map
Tulsa County State Senate Map
Tulsa County State House Map
Tulsa County Sample Ballots
List of Tulsa County Elected Officials

Vision 2
Vision 2 Summary
Tulsa World Article on Vision 2
Tulsa Beacon Editorial Against Vision 2
Vision 2 Wish List

State Questions
Summary of State Questions
Another Summary
State Question 758 Explanation. (Cap on property taxes)
Article on 758
State Question 759 (Ban on Affirmative Action)
For 762 (Remove governor from parole hearings on non-violent crimes)
Gov. Fallin Against 762
764
For 764
Against 764
765
766 (Intangiable Tax Ban)

Why are gas prices going down?

      As you may have noticed, gas prices have been slowly coming down. Normally, for the Memorial Day weekend and through the summer, gas prices go up due to increased demand and refineries switching over to summer gas. What we are seeing is more oil in the interior of the U.S. due to extra oil production through shale oil and gas production. There is enough production that the Seaway Pipeline flow was reversed. The Seaway pipeline runs from Cushing, OK to Houston, TX. Normally, it takes oil from Houston to refineries in Cushing, OK. Now, since there is actually a glut of oil in the interior of the U.S, the pipeline is taking oil from Cushing, OK to Houston. The extra oil is causing prices to slowly drop.

Seaway pipeline sends oil to Texas in historic reversal

Confessions of a Global Warming Agnostic

Sometimes I wonder. What if Al Gore is right? What if man made global warming is real and those poor polar bears are about to fall into the ocean and drown? Obviously, we should do something about it!

What we should obviously do is encourage forms of energy that don't produce as much carbon dioxide. We obviously should encourage more nuclear and hydroelectric power by removing the barriers that exist in their expansion. Yes, there are safety and environmental issues with both these types of energy, however, these risks can be mitigated through good engineering practices and proper risk analysis.

I believe the free market will push us towards these technologies. The cost per kilowatt hour for nuclear (4 cents/kwh) and hydroelectric(3 cents/kwh) is less then any other form of energy, except for coal (4 cents/kwh). Compare that with the cost of solar (22 cents/kwh), natural gas (10 cents/kwh) and wind (8cents.kwh). (see Comparing Energy Costs of Nuclear, Coal, Gas, Wind and Solar by James Morgan) Of all these energy sources, they are a lot less carbon intensive. Nuclear and hydro-electric lead the way and are on the same level as solar and wind.

Energy Source	Greenhous Gasses*
Coal	900
Oil	850
Gas combined-cycle	400
Biomass	45
Multi-crystaline silicon (solar)	37
Cadmium teruride (solar)	18
Nuclear	24
Wind	11
*(grams/kwh of Co2 equivalent)

From How Free is Solar? by Sandra Upson

My view is that we should just allow nuclear and hydroelectric to be further developed. We don't even need to subsidize them. We just need to stay out of their way. We obviously should not remove any safety or environmental requirements, but we should remove those that are simply put in place to prevent their development.

I do realize that I am blaspheming against the Holy Order of Mother Earth Fanatics. Nuclear and hydro-electric (aka damn power) are cardinals sins. I know that now I must ask forgiveness of the high priest and prophet himself, Al Gore. But then again, I am just a global warming agnostic. I neither believe nor do I disbelieve. I am just saying, that if it's really as bad Al Gore says it is, we should move our energy production  to ways that are less carbon intensive.

The technology for nuclear and hydro-electric is here now. We don't have to wait for someone to invent the perpetual motion machine, or for wind, solar, hydrogen, switch-grass or whatever else to become more commercially viable.

Worst Cartoons Ever

Since I did a post for world's greatest cartoons, I thought I would tell you about the worst cartoons ever. I am only going to include cartoons that I've seen. These are ones that cause me serious pain to watch, kind of like watching Jersey Shores. I can feel brain cell die when I watch these. I am sure there are many more hideous cartoons out there and I would sure like to know if I have left any off.

Pokemon - I never watched this as a kid. My youngest son loves this show and it makes me hurl every time I see it.



Battle of the Plannets - This is one that I only watched a few times as a kid. This one was so bad that it left me scarred for life. I blame all my problems in life on this cartoon. This is a bad Japanese mix of Star Wars and the X-Men. The problem back then is we did not have 10 different 24-7 cartoon networks that we could just change to, so I would just sit and watch it. Of course it wouldn't occur to me to turn off the TV and do something better. I still have nightmares about  the R2-D2 knockoff, 7-Zark-7, coming to torment me.



Johnny Bravo - A big dumb guy who talks like an Elvis impersonator and his "crazy" stalker type antics to try to pick up "the honeys". Seriously painful to watch.


Any cartoon that featured Scrappy Doo - I love Scooby Doo. I just hate Scrappy Doo. I think everyone hates Scrappy Doo which is why he ended up being the bad guy in that Scooby Doo movie. I also really hated his cousin Scooby Dum.



The Wonder Twins, Zan and Zayna - It was these two that made the SuperFriends suck more than most other cartoons. When I was a kid, I loved Superman, Batman, pretty much all the SuperFriends. Whenever they had those stupid wonder dummies go on, I really felt robbed. They are, essentially, the Scrappy Doo of DC Comics. And if those two weren't dumb enough, they had to add that stupid monkey.




ThunderCats - What was bad about this show is that not only did I hate it, but it was my friend's favorite show, so I ended up watching this show a lot. It had such clever names for characters, like Lion-o, Panthro, Tygra, WilyKit and WilyKat, and Snarf. The show was just incredibly stupid.



She-ra - If He-Man and the Masters of the Universe weren't bad enough, they had to go do a girl version of He-Man.

Proposed Soundtrack for The Hunger Games

I just saw the move "The Hunger Games" and loved it. I've read all the books in the series and I thought that the movie did the book justice. This is very rare for a movie that is derived from a book. However, when I was watching this film, I had some songs go through my head that I felt would be more appropriate for the film, and here they are.

First off, when you see the screaming fans in the Arena, they should be playing AC/DC's classic "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)"

When we first see Cinna and that he is being played by Lenny Kravitz, I think that they should have played his song "Fly Away". I think that it would have been very appropriate for the movie as well.

I personally thought the phrase that President Snow used in his speech to kick off the Hunger Games, "May the odds be ever in your favor" is kind of silly, since he kind of set the odds to begin with. He should have said something more appropriate like "For those about to die, we salute you". I think it would have been more historically ironic. Anyways, that brings us to another AC/DC song, "For Those About to Rock".

And finally, when Katnis and Peeta are talking about death and trying to make it through the games, the main song that kept going through my head was Iron Maiden's "Die With Your Boots On".

World's Greatest Cartoons

Today I thought I would talk about something that is near and dear to all of us. Cartoons!! We've all watched them and there are still a few that we love. These are cartoons that I will sit down and watch with my kids and even watch again on Netflix. Here now are my favorites.

The Simpsons - I started watching this in 1989 with the pilot during Christmas.


Star Wars: The Clone Wars - I am very addicted to this one. Yes, I am very much a Star Wars geek.




Bugs Bunny - I like the earlier cartoons best.

The Tick (Freaking hillareous cartoon that never caught on big)



Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids - Bill Cosby shows his comedic genius and actually gives worthwhile lessons as well.

Daria - She started out as a character in Beavis and Butthead, but eventually got her own show.


South Park - I am so offended by this show but I still love it.


The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show - Not only were Rocky and Bullwinkle great, but so were Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody and the Fractured Fairy Tales.


X-Men - This is my favorite soap opera!


The Fairly OddParents - True silliness at its best.


Batman (1992-1995) - This is the Dark Night at his best, bordering on the edge of sanity.


Scooby Doo - I love all of the iterations except for those with Scrappy Doo.

Truth in the Media?

I have this radical idea. I know most people will call me an extremist for saying this,but here it goes. I think a news agency should report the news as honestly as they can, allow people to make their own decisions and let the political chips fall where they may.


When this Trayvon Martin story hit, NBC News released the 911 call from that night. The text that was originally released was

"This guy looks like he's up to no good … he looks black."
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/03/nbc-issues-apology-edited-zimmerman-11-call/#ixzz1r2QPkr2Y

A transcript of the complete 911 call shows that Zimmerman said, "This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about."

The 911 officer responded saying, "OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?"

"He looks black," Zimmerman said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/03/nbc-issues-apology-edited-zimmerman-11-call/#ixzz1r2Qv7HgS


I don't really want to pass judgement on whether or not George Zimmerman is guilty or if Treyvon Martin was up to no good or just innocently walk along in the rain. What I would like to pass judgement on is the media that covered this story.


I believe that NBC news and all those that followed behind them are guilty of media mal-practice. Why would they edit this transcript in such a way so that it inspired so much racial anger? Was it for ratings? Are they unwilling to let facts get in the way of a good story? Or is this another example of how their bias runs so deep that they cannot even recognize they have done wrong.  They may have apologized but they are only sorry they got caught. How many times have they done this where they have not been caught?


This reminds of the time when CBS News tried to bring down George W. Bush by faking documents and claiming he did not do his service in the National Guard. The ruse was pretty obvious when it was pointed out, but what other times have they faked news stories and got away with it?


Let's look at another case that was tried in the media. Remember the girl, Chandra Levy who was the aide to Congressman Gary Condit? The media told us that it must have been the congressman who murdered her because he was having an affair with her. I even thought Congressman Condit was somehow guilty. Turns out it was some guy nobody heard of named Ingmar Guandique. Congressman Condit was even able to sue many news agencies for libel. The news that Congressman Condit possibly killed his aide Chandra Levy and hid her body was a lot more interesting than some unknown criminal named Ingmar Guandique killed her. The truth be damned. Also, let's constantly mention how conservative the congressman is and not mention that he is a Democrat.


What about the Duke Lacrosse case. The whole Duke Lacrosse team was found guilty in the media of raping a poor innocent black girl. When the truth finally came out, we found that Mike Nifong, the former prosecutor, was just trying to advance his political career by stoking racial hatred. The girl was apparently only after fame and money.


The press has a history of bias and sensationalism. They don't want to allow facts to get in the way of a good story. They should not be trusted, particularly when a sensational story is being reported.

Please allow due process to prevail

A lot has been written about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. People of demanded the arrest of George Zimmerman. Many in the media have already tried and convicted George Zimmerman. I know this is a lot to ask for but, can we just let the rule of law and due process prevail? Many of those who are calling for George Zimmerman's arrest and conviction are the same ones who tried and convicted the whole Duke LaCross team. Later it came out that the accusations against the Duke lacrosse team were completely over-blown and the accuser was just simply after money and fame. Many of the race racketeers who supported the accuser were not interested in truth. They were only interested in manufacturing outrage and advancing their own agenda.

I currently can't say whether or not George Zimmerman is guilty or innocent. I also don't think those in the media nor the president can or should say whether or not he's guilty or innocent. I would prefer to allow the rule of law to prevail rather than mob justice.

Crazy Immigration Ideas

Since nobody is talking about illegal immigration today, I thought I would talk about it.Millions flow through our borders illegally and all that we seem to do is show a token resistance.

At the root of this problem is basically the minimum wage law. If any citizen agrees to take any job with any company that pays less than minimum wage, that citizen can essentially go and tell on that company and get all back wages and that company would be fined. It does not matter the reason, even if working at less than minimum wage would mean having a job or not having a job.

However, if a company hires an illegal alien, that company may pay that illegal alien without worry that the illegal employee will eventually go tell on them. The illegal alien has no rights under the minimum wage law. If that employee rats out his company, he will be deported. However, the illegal alien benefits because he still makes more money here in the U.S. that he would have in his home country.

When it is said that illegal aliens come to this country and do the work that Americans won't do, it's not quite true. Americans just won't do the work at the price that illegal aliens will. Americans generally won't work for less that minimum wage while illegal aliens can and do. Unfortunately, this puts a huge burden on our society.

We could do something crazy like enforce our immigration laws to a greater extent, but that could get costly, and what enforcement we do, does not seem that effective. We could just let everyone in that wanted to come in and give them legal status. We would thus solve illegal immigration by simply making it all legal. This however could have some dire societal consequences.

What I believe we should do is allow more folks to come in legally. Those that are allowed to come it would then be subject to an immigrant tax. Yes, we should just tax them. We should also force immigrants to participate in Obama-care. They should provide proof that they have at least a high deductible insurance plan, much like the one I have,  or be taxed in the amount it would cost for an insurance plan. We should then use the revenues generated from those taxes to better combat illegal immigration, drug trafficking along the border and crack down on the companies that violate immigration laws. Companies should be required to pay these immigrant workers at least the minimum wage. We should also have some kind of verification system that the Senate wanted to pass during the Bush era as part of their immigration package.

Therefore, I would propose a more tax and regulate kind of immigration plan and less of a prohibition type of plan. I understand this plan would be generally hated by all, but I think it would work much better than our current system, which only benefits the companies that break the law.

Give smokers a medal

Recently the state of California has been having budgetary issues because a tax they levied on cigarettes is falling short of its expected revenue. What happened is because of the tax and because of stop smoking campaigns, people smoked less and they got less revenue from the cigarette tax. This tax was to go to pay for health care programs for children in California. What the state of California needs to do is encourage more people to smoke so they can get more revenue from the cigarette tax. They should start handing out medals to people who smoke since they are depending on smokers to pay for so many health programs for children.

You must pay!

So this girl, Sandra Fluke at Georgetown, has been in the news about how she has to spend tons of money on birth control. I know this has been hashed to death by the media, but I do have some questions that I wished the media elite would have asked.

1. Are all students at Georgetown provided health insurance at the clinic as part of their tuition?
2. If the students at Georgetown are provided free access to the clinic, does their health plan cover pregnancy?
3. If the students at Georgetown are not provided free access to the clinic, are they required to purchase some kind of qualifying plan?

I would be willing to bet that the clinic health plan costs extra. This means that Sandra Fluke probably could opt for some other health plan that does cover her birth control pills. She probably has lots of other choices, if she did not want to follow the Jesuit teachings of the folks who run Georgetown. I am sure they are not putting a gun to her head and forcing her to pay $3,000 a year for birth control. She could have even gone down to the Planned Parenthood clinic and got her pills for free.

All this is manufactured outrage by the left to make it look like those mean religious people wanted deny her birth control and drain her bank account. They want to make it appear that Republicans want to ban birth control. It may be somewhat successful. Yesterday, my daughter even asked me which candidate it was that wanted to ban birth control. None of them do, but Rick Santorum was dumb enough to give an answer that made it look like he wanted to ban it.