By GottaLaff
Scam artists impersonating U.S. Census workers are distributing bogus forms seeking Social Security numbers of some Oklahoma residents, the local census office warned Wednesday. [...]
One man said the form was left by a woman wearing a T-shirt with the census logo and driving a car with a census sign on it.
Bunch of frackin' 5 year olds. If I lived in OK, I'd be working on recalls this morning.
The portrait of President Barack Obama that hangs in the House chamber will be secured in its spot, Speaker Chris Benge said Thursday.
The statement came after debate over a health care measure was sidetracked by discussion over the photo’s location.
House Joint Resolution 1054, which would let Oklahomans decide whether to opt out of any proposed federal health care reform plan, overwhelmingly was approved by House members.
During debate on the measure, Rep. Mike Shelton protested that someone had switched the president’s portrait with a picture of Gov. Brad Henry along the back wall of the chamber.
Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, said it was the second time the Democratic president’s picture had been moved.
(snip)
Benge, R-Tulsa, said he thinks the portrait swap was based on differing views on policy. Reforming the national health care system is a key objective of the president.
Sounds reasonable, but....
Another Oklahoma abortion law was ruled Friday to be unconstitutional.The 2009 law was intended to prevent a mother from picking the gender of her child through abortions.
It made it illegal for a doctor to do the procedure if the doctor knew a woman’s sole reason was she wanted a baby of a different sex. Attorneys said worldwide most abortions done for gender reasons involve female fetuses.
Oklahoma County District Judge Dan Owens ruled Friday that legislators put into the law multiple subjects unrelated to its underlying purpose. He ruled the law violated a requirement in the state constitution that legislation cover a single subject.
(snip)
The law also would have required doctors to report detailed information about abortions to the state Health Department, including the age, marital status and education level of patients. An opponent of the law, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said the requirements would have cost more than $250,000 a year to implement.
"The government has no business running a grand inquisition into the private lives of Oklahoma women,” said Jennifer Mondino, an attorney for the center, which filed the legal challenge to the law on behalf of two Oklahoma women.
By GottaLaff
As of November 1, doctors in Oklahoma will be compelled -- under penalty of criminal prosecution -- to post the details of each abortion they perform online. Among the details to be posted for every abortion is the patient's age, marital status and race; her financial condition; her education; and the total number of her previous pregnancies.Race? Not that any of those details are relevant, but ... race?
"A friend said it best: It's like undressing women in public, exposing their most personal issues on the Internet," Lora Joyce Davis, one of the plaintiffs suing to prevent the law from coming into effect, told ABC News.Undressing women? More like rape, if you ask me, I mean, since we're talkin' "invasive".
Davis, along with former state Rep. Wanda Jo Stapleton, filed the lawsuit with the help of the Center for Reproductive Rights. The lawsuit seeks to have the law declared unconstitutional under the Oklahoma Constitution because it covers more than one subject.Chipping away at choice, whether it be through backwards-thinking, privacy-invading laws or Pro-Life Cupcakes, means chipping away at our existing legal rights, and some of these methods threaten our democracy.
According to CCR, nearly one-quarter of women in the United States have to travel more than 50 miles for an abortion.Now that's a crime.
By GottaLaff
Um, illegal or not, maybe he could have worded it differently?
The police officers who stopped Oklahoma City motorist Chip Harrison and confiscated a sign from his car told him he has a right to his beliefs, but the Secret Service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama," according to the incident report released this morning.Good call, bad taste.The sign, which read "Abort Obama Not the Unborn," was returned to Harrison later that day, the report said.
Police spokesman said this morning that the sign was taken in error, and Oklahoma City residents should not be worried that their First Amendment rights will be violated.
Can we re-arrange things so OK joins the deep south where it belongs? Happened in Texas too. h/t Pam.
Some newspaper readers in Sapulpa are upset by what wasn't in the paper.
The Sapulpa Daily Herald did not report that Barack Obama won the Presidential election in its Wednesday edition.
One paragraph on the front page did report the majority of Creek County voted for McCain.
"This is not only national, but it's also local. And this is our President; he's President of Sapulpa also," said Scott Gordon.
By GottaLaff
Coincidentally, I'm listening to Rachel Maddow, and her guest, Congressman Adam Smith (D-Washington), is discussing this very subject as I type. He says Boren's an old fashioned way of thinking, a blast from the past.
On the same day Democratic leaders stressed party unity after the drawn-out primary fight, one congressional Democrat said Tuesday that he will not endorse Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the White House.Rep. Dan Boren, Oklahoma's lone Democrat in Congress, said he has to listen to the wishes of his own constituents.
"We're much more conservative," Boren told The Associated Press.
Obama's not reaching across the aisle enough, he says:
His rural district stretches across the eastern part of the state and borders Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. [..]
Boren also said Obama's record "does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion."
But the Oklahoma Democrat said he would vote for Obama at the party's convention in August because of the serious issues the country faces.
So he doesn't support Obama but he'll vote for him. What do Obama's people have to say about this?
The Obama camp disagreed with Boren's claims.
"Unfortunately, Congressman Boren has his facts wrong," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "Barack Obama has a long history of working across the aisle to get things done and make a difference for working people. He worked with Republicans in the Illinois Senate to provide health care for 150,000 children and parents who didn't have it, and in the U.S. Senate he's worked with some of the most conservative members -- including Congressman Boren's Republican colleague from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn -- to restore accountability and openness to our government and crack down on the special interests.
"Sen. Obama appreciates the support of Dan Boren's father, former Gov. and Sen. David Boren, who is one of Obama's key national security advisors and a model of tireless bipartisan leadership."
So much for Dan and his misplaced logic. Moving on, there's one more party pooper among us:
Boren's comments come a day after Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney also said he has no plans to make a formal endorsement.
The freshman Democrat, who replaced Republican Rep. Mark Foley after a House page scandal, told the Palm Beach Post that he plans to remain an uncommitted superdelegate and may not even attend the convention.
Now there's a decider if I ever saw one.
He also said he thinks that more of his constituents are in line with Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but added, "I'm going to represent my constituents, all of them: Democrats, Republicans and independents."
I'm betting Tim and Joe Lieberman could begin a deep and meaningful friendship.
Mahoney, a former Republican whose district is made up of more Republicans than Democrats, is among the most vulnerable congressional Democrats this election cycle.We have our work cut out for us.
.jpg)
