OkieBrent's Soapbox

In today’s Oklahoman (11/25/2009) Michael McNutt reports that Republican State Representative Dennis Johnson of Duncan says that one of the first bills to be considered in the next legislative session will be one to increase penalties for gang-related activities.  Senate Bill 826 will make recruiting gang members a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Gangs are bad, but is this really what we need to focus on right now?  The State of Oklahoma is laying off teachers, starving seniors, furloughing employees, reducing the number of law enforcement officials – all because of a lack of MONEY.  Representative Johnson wants the state to spend more money we don’t have.

Keep in mind these numbers are from 2005, but according to the Department of Corrections Oklahoma spends more than $20,000 per year per prisoner.   Sixty percent of those prisoners are non-violent.

Oklahoma spends less than half that amount – only $7,615 – on each student per year.  I guess Oklahomans value prisoners more than they do educating our children.

Maybe if Oklahoma prioritized education and students above prisons and inmates, there would be fewer youth even considering joining a gang, fewer drop-outs, and less crime.

What is a better incentive to attract new businesses and jobs – lots of prisoners or a well educated population?  Of course for most businesses and industries a well educated work force is much more attractive, but maybe legislators like Rep. Johnson are only trying to attract more private prisons.

Lots of pain.  Here is a sampling of what the continuous mantra and action of “cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes” and the worst recession since the Great Depression has lead to:

• state Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services – board met last week and discussed plans to reduce its staff by 100 jobs and cut services and programs. The agency took action to cut $7.3 million from its budget in the wake of declining state revenues. Read the story here.

• Ethics Commmission – The state agency that is charged with policing political campaigns will be furloughing staff members right in the middle of the 2010 election cycle if current budget projections hold up.  Read the story here.  

• Career Tech – The Oklahoma Board of Career and Technology Education approved a voluntary buyout plan Thursday for its employees in the wake of declining state revenue – the board anticipates that 30 employees will take the buyout. Read the story here.  

• Public Schools – If funding cuts get any steeper, the Edmond School District will have to let go of teachers next year, Edmond school officials said this week.  Read the story here.

• Seniors – $7.4 million in funding cuts to senior nutrition programs – many may be forced into nursing homes, 97,744 meals not delivered in Tulsa County, 3 Oklahoma County sites closed, Canadian County $27,364 already cut with sites closing an extra day each week, Cleveland County $36,006 cut with one site closed and another serving meals only 3 days a week, etc. etc. etc.  Read the story here.

• Public Safety – Budget cuts are proving particularly troubling for prosecutors and others who enforce state laws. … Oklahomans also will see fewer Highway Patrol troopers and might have to wait longer to renew a driver’s license, said Kevin Ward, the commissioner for public safety. Read the story here.  

Any Superintendent, Principle or Teacher who does not want this message delivered to their students should be fired.  Any School Board member or any other politician who does not want it shared with students, should be voted out of office.

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009
 

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. 

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.   

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. 

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. 

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. 

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. 

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. 

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. 

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. 

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. 

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. 

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. 

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. 

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. 

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. 

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. 

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. 

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. 

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. 

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. 

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. 

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK.  Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” 

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. 

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. 

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. 

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?  

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

For two things …

Your veto of House Bill 1326

Oklahoma City – Citing misconceptions about pending legislation on stem cell research, Gov. Brad Henry announced late today his plan to veto House Bill 1326, legislation that would have made it a crime for a scientist to perform any form of embryonic stem cell research, the same kind of research supported by such pro-life, conservative leaders as Nancy Reagan and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch.

 

Although proponents billed it as a “pro-life” measure, the governor noted that HB 1326 does not address abortion in any manner or save a life.

 

“There are all kinds of misconceptions and misinformation about this issue, and that’s regrettable,” said Gov. Henry.

 

“It’s important to point out that this legislation does nothing to stop an abortion or save a single life, but it does threaten life-saving research and unjustly criminalizes scientists who perform important work, the very kind of research that is supported by pro-life conservatives like former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

To read the rest, click here.

And for honoring The Flaming Lips and the song chosen by more than ½ of Oklahomans who voted – “Do you realize?” after Legislative Republicans refused to do so.

Oklahoma City — Gov. Brad Henry will sign an executive order Tuesday, April 28, naming the Flaming Lips song, “Do You Realize??,” as the official rock song of Oklahoma.

 

In a statewide Internet vote held late last year, that song was the choice of 51 percent of more than 21,000 votes cast. Senate Joint Resolution 24 sought to codify that vote, but was narrowly defeated.

 

“For more than 20 years ago, Oklahoma’s own Flaming Lips have produced creative, fun and provocative rock music,” Gov. Henry said.

 

“The music of the Flaming Lips has earned Grammys, glowing critical acclaim and fans all over the world. A truly iconic rock ‘n’ roll band, they are proud ambassadors of their home state.

 

“They were clearly the people’s choice, and I intend to honor that vote.”

 

The signing of the executive order will held at 2 p.m. April 28 at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.

From the Governor’s website

According to pollster Mark Penn, there are now more professional bloggers than bartenders.  Although, Columbia Journalism Review takes Penn and his numbers to task.

Although they are all as good or better than any professional, I wouldn’t categorize any of the following Oklahoma bloggers as “professional” – as in blogging being their full-time job and how they pay their bills .  They do have some very timely and important information worth reading. 

Over at the Oklahoma Observer, Arnold Hamilton takes the Legislature to task for trying their damnedest to destroy public education.

Dr. Kurt Hochenauer at OkieFunk has two recent posts that you should read.  Misdirected Anger is an excellent piece on the teabaggers and The OKC Bombing and Right-Wing Extremism takes on Inhofe and Coburn for their whining about the recent report by the Dept of Homeland Security.

I love reading The Lost Ogle, and today Clark Matthews has a brilliant posting on HB1326 which passed by the Legislature would criminalize Stem Cell Research in Oklahoma.  Governor Henry has until midnight tonight to sign or veto the bill.  Please read Mike Reynolds Loves Embryos, Hates Sick People.

Yesterday the Oklahoma Legislature passed a resolution declaring our state’s sovereignty and telling the Feds to stay out of our business [see my post on it below - Why does the Oklahoma Legislature Hate our Government?]. 

Also, yesterday the Governor of Texas raises the issue of his state seceding from the United States.  This is from Politicalwire.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said that his state could secede from the United States because “the federal government has strayed somewhat from what our founders wanted and is choking Americans with excessive spending and taxation,” reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

 

Said Perry: “Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that. My hope is that America, and Washington in particular, pays attention. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot, to boot.”

 

First Read: “Perry is definitely ambitious — is he prepping himself for more than a GOP primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison? — but this secession talk is pretty amazing coming from the governor of the country’s second-largest state.”

Oklahoma and Texas have always competed in football, but this competition over who can appeal to the right-wingers the most is getting ridulus.

UPDATE 4/17/09: Rachel Maddow covered this issue last night on her MSNBC show.  I haven’t yet installed a video embeding program that will allow me to post MSNBC videos here, but click here and then click on the video “If at first you don’t secede…” to watch it on Rachel’s site.

I’ve been battling the flu for two weeks now.  I hope I’m finally over it.  For two weeks I haven’t been able to write, because I haven’t been able to think.   I’m still not back to 100%, but I’m improving every day.

This coming Saturday our Democratic Party County Conventions are scheduled to elect new officers and delegates to the District and State Conventions.  My county, Grady, has had a very active Party and our officers have done a superb job.  None of the current officers are running for another term, and we’re having a very hard time finding anyone willing to run.  Right now, I only know of one person willing to run for County Vice Chair. 

I’ve been encouraged to run, but during election season, I spend more time in Oklahoma County than I do Grady County, and I take sides in Primary Elections.  It wouldn’t be fair to Grady County or to Democratic candidates that I do not support in the Primary.

Tom Cole announced this week he would not run for Governor, something I predicted the day he was appointed to the powerful Appropriations Committee. 

Democrats in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives have started a new website to help get their message out to the public.  This is excellent news…now how about it Senate Democrats, will you follow suit? Please!

American Journalism Review just completed a new survey of reporters covering state government.  The news is not good.  There has been a dramatic decrease since their last survey in 2003.

This is the outcome for Oklahoma:

OKLAHOMA–Down
Paper / FT/ Session help?/ Status
Oklahoman (Okla. City) / 2 / N / Down
Tulsa World / 1 / N / Down
CNHI Newspapers CNHI / 0 / N / Down
Journal Record (Oklahoma City) / 1 / Y / Down

Not good – all were down and only the Journal Record adds more staff during the legislative session.

There seems to be nothing but bad news when it comes to newspapers.  But some good news comes from the Huffington Post.  Recognizing the importance of good investigative journalism, especially in times with numerous crises, they announced the establishment of a non-profit Investigative Fund.

The Fund is ready to interview potential editors and reporters and also to start receiving proposals for investigative projects. The focus at the beginning is going to be on investigating aspects of the economic crisis. So please email resumes and pitches — as well any ideas and tips you may have about what should be investigated — to HuffPostFund@gmail.com.

In my last posting, I asked Tom Cole, Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe where their outrage was about AIG.  Well, Jim Inhofe showed his outrage and his hypocrisy.  This from ThinkProgress.org

Inhofe said, “The AIG situation is clear evidence of what happens when you shovel money out the door with no strings attached and no transparency.”  While Inhofe today demands that federal bailouts come with “strings attached,” he expressed the opposite view in February when he asked, “[I]s this still America? Do we really tell people how to run [a business], and who to pay and how much to pay?”

I’ve been gone to Sequin, Texas this past week.  My mother’s oldest brother passed away.  I went down with my mom, two sisters and a brother-in-law.  I thought that I’d be able to organize many of my thoughts on many timely issues on the long drive down and back and over the few nights in the hotel room.  But it didn’t happen.  As it should have been, most of my time was spent with family members, some of which I hadn’t seen in years.

My uncle, Garland Cummins, had one of the best senses of humor of anyone I’ve ever met.  He was an electrician who had been a plant manager for a gypsum plant, he was a Korean War veteran, and he was a Jehovah’s Witness.  Since returning, I’ve thought about family and how short life truly is.  We really don’t have much time to waste, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the bills that our state legislators are passing.

Our country is in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  However, the issues being addressed by the State House and State Senate will do little or nothing to help average Oklahomans.  While the crisis is not as bad in Oklahoma as in many other areas of the country, it will certainly hit us harder soon enough.  Yet, instead of addressing the economic woes, our legislators are wasting time debating and passing senseless bills to allow a Ten Commandments monument at the State Capitol, to make English the official language, and to require photo IDs for voters.

While Oklahoma’s legislators are wasting time on bullshit, California’s legislators are trying to come up with real solutions to their state’s economic woes.  California is considering legalizing marijuana and taxing it just like alcohol and tobacco.  They estimate it would bring in more than $1 Billion extra per year.  Makes sense to me.

When I was in college I wrote a 20 page report on marijuana laws in the United States.  Oklahoma had the strictest laws of all 50 states, perhaps that is why Oklahoma taxpayers spend more than $1.3 million per day on corrections [see this post for more on that issue].   At the time I wrote that paper, marijuana was also Oklahoma’s largest cash crop.  My research showed that most of the confiscated weeds were actually wild stuff growing naturally on its own – not some high-grade herb cultivated and harvested by Oklahomans.

What is even more ridiculous about our marijuana laws is the part that also outlaws growing hemp, marijuana’s cousin that has no mind-altering effects.  Bible-believing Oklahomans should believe that hemp and marijuana are creations of God.  They truly are miracle-like plants, having hundreds of practical uses.

The original Constitution of the United States is written on hemp paper.  Our soldiers’ uniforms of the past were made of hemp cloth.  Our Navy’s rope and sails were also made of hemp.  Diesel and oil can be derived from hemp.  It will grow anywhere, from Alaska to Florida.  And unlike wheat or cotton, both of which deplete the soil of nutrients, hemp replenishes nutrients to the soil.

But what am I thinking?  That makes common sense, something our legislators are lacking.

That is how much Oklahoma taxpayers spend every day on criminal corrections.  Yesterday the Pew Center on the States released a report showing that spending on criminal corrections by the states is outpacing everything with the exception of Medicaid.

From the New York Times today:

“One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation,” a new Pew Center on the States study reports. State spending on prisons quadrupled over the last 20 years, despite the fact that crime dropped 25 percent during that time. “Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance. … Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending.”

Something has to change, especially now that we find ourselves in this economic downward spiral. 

In 1982, Oklahoma corrections controlled 1 in 90 adults, today it is 1 in 42 adults.  Do we really have that many more criminals, or have our state and nation just made more things unlawful with mandated prison time?  Zero tolerance is an expensive position which Oklahoma and the United States can no longer afford.

“Most states are facing serious budget deficits,”said Susan Urahn, managing director of The Pew Center on the States. ”Every single one of them should be making smart investments in community corrections that will help them cut costs and improve outcomes.”

Oklahoma Correctional Population, Year End 2007

Rate of Correctional Control:     1 in 42 adults

Total Correctional Population:     65,720

Probation:     26,038

Parole:     2,349

Jail:     9,748

Prison:     23,957

Federal Prisoners:     3,628

For the full report, click here:

For one-page summary on Oklahoma, click here: