Author Archives: Admin

Sen. Coffee praises “historic” week

As the State Senate met its first deadline for passing bills off the floor this week, President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee said today he is proud of the work Senators did for the state of Oklahoma in an unprecedented legislative week for Republicans.

For the first time in state history, Republicans now have control of the State Senate after the 2008 elections gave the GOP a 26-22 lead in the chamber.  All Senate Republican legislative agenda items were passed off the Senate floor and sent over to the House prior to Thursday’s deadline.
“Oklahomans gave us a huge responsibility when they elected a Republican majority last fall,” said Pro Tem Coffee.  “We’ve taken this opportunity to pass the much-needed, quality reforms Republicans have worked hard to accomplish for many years.  Our goal has always been to provide a pro-family, pro-jobs and pro-business agenda that moves our state forward, and I am encouraged to see that goal take shape this week.

“This was a historic week for Republicans and for the state.”
Legislation approved by the State Senate this week includes reform in the areas of government accountability, education, victim protection rights, and the judicial, workers compensation and election systems:

  • Pro Tem Coffee’s State Office of Accountability and Innovation provides a step toward greater efficiency in state government. (Senate Bill 646)
  • Senator Don Barrington expanded his successful Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday to include school supplies and reference materials. (Senate Bill 723)
  • The Educational Accountability Reform Act by Senator Clark Jolley provides more transparency and accountability into Oklahoma’s education system. (Senate Bill 1111)
  • Another reform measure by Pro Tem Coffee creates a Chief Information Officer who would oversee consolidating state information technology services under one roof. (Senate Bill 980)
  • Oklahoma school systems are given more local control through Senator John Ford’s School District Empowerment Program, which also removes many of the unfunded state mandates. (Senate Bill 834)
  • Majority Floor Leader Todd Lamb authored legislation that reforms the workers compensation system in much need of overhaul.  (Senate Bill 609)
  • One piece of Pro Tem Coffee’s legislation revokes state retirement benefits from state or county officers convicted of felonies. (Senate Bill 899)
  • A resolution by Senator Patrick Anderson provides for fair representation on the Judicial Nominating Commission(Senate Joint Resolution 27)
  • Pro Tem Coffee’s domestic violence legislation will allow a rape victim to have immediate access to medical care without first having to pursue legal charges against her attacker. (Senate Bill 894)
  • Voter ID reform by Senator John Ford ensures clean and fair Oklahoma elections.  (Senate Bill 4)
  • Pro-life legislation was approved that provides protections for pregnant women subject to domestic violence abuse, and includes circumstances under which she is justified in using force or deadly force against another to protect her unborn child. (Senate Bill 1103)
  • The Senate took the lead in ending the patronage system for appointing tag agents, and placing the appointment power under the professional supervision of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. (Senate Bill 888)

Senate lowers limit for boating under influence

Legislation that would lower the legal blood alcohol concentration limit for the offense of boating under the influence from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent was approved by the state Senate today.  The measure would also prohibit children under the age of 12 from operating personal watercraft.

Sen. Bill Brown, author of Senate Bill 902, said the Legislature needed to add teeth to the state’s boating laws in order to reduce watercraft-related accidents and deaths. 

“In order to prevent tragedies on our waterways, we need to establish strong deterrents to prevent boating under the influence,” said Brown, R-Broken Arrow. 

“This measure simply brings our limits for boating under the influence in line with our limits for driving under the influence.  Operating watercraft under the influence is just as dangerous as operating a car or truck, and there’s no reason the legal blood alcohol concentration limit should be higher.” 
Brown noted that alcohol use is the leading factor in fatal boating accidents, including several high-profile Oklahoma cases in recent years. 

“Our lakes are beautiful places and important recreational sites that we have a responsibility to preserve,” Brown said.  “We ought to be able to enjoy the natural beauty of our lakes and rivers without having to worry about safety.  I strongly feel that we can minimize risk for children and families by signing this bill into law.  Today’s vote was an important step in that effort.”

Senate Bill 902 now advances to the House for consideration.
Senator Brown of Broken Arrow was elected in 2006 to represent the people of Senate District 36.  He serves as the Chairman of the Retirement and Insurance Committee.
 
Senator Brown was born and raised in Henryetta Oklahoma.  He attended Northeasten State University and received a degree in Education.  Bill taught school for 4 years, before going into the Insurance Business.

Senator Brown is a civic leader with a passion for service. He was president of the Broken Arrow Rotary Club and is the past president of Gatesway Foundation, an organization that helps the mentally and physically disabled.

Senator Brown is married to Linda Brown, a longtime teacher at Park Lane Elementary School in Broken Arrow. They have four children and eleven grandchildren.  As a Broken Arrow citizen for thirty-three years, Bill has always held fast to his conservative principles.  Faith is of utmost importance to Bill and his family.

Jonas Brothers announce Tulsa tour date

Grammy nominated and platinum-selling recording artists, Jonas Brothers, yesterday announced the dates and cities for “The Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009” including a June 22 date at Tulsa’s BOK Center, the second stop on the tour.

The tour, which will take the band to three continents, will feature new music taken from the June 15 worldwide release of their upcoming Hollywood Records album.  “The Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009,” presented by Burger King®, kicks off in Dallas at New Cowboys Stadium on June 20 and will take the band throughout the United States and Canada.

In addition to their 44-city North American trek, Jonas Brothers will also play three European dates including recently sold-out shows at Paris’ Zenith Arena and London’s Wembley Arena plus a just-added date at Madrid’s Palacio De Deportes.  Additional European shows will be announced soon along with debut tour dates in South America.  “The Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009” is produced by Live Nation. 
On Monday, March 16, Team Jonas fan club members in select cities will have the first opportunity to buy tickets to the summer tour.  A pre-sale for CITI® card holders in select cities will begin on March 18 through CITI’s Private Pass® program, for complete details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.  Tickets for the general public in select cities will be available beginning March 20 (BOK Center goes on sale March 28) and can be purchased at www.livenation.com. Check www.jonasbrothers.com for specific cities and times for pre-sales and public on-sales.

“The Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009” will present the band’s most ambitious production yet and will include a massive 140-foot plus stage centered in the arena that aims to give a larger number of Jonas Brothers fans a closer, more interactive live concert than they’ve ever experienced before.  The show will feature cutting edge technology used in a one-of-a-kind circular water screen, multi-color laser effects, motion automated video screens, a giant crane levitating over the audience plus other surprises that will bring the tour to the next level of concert entertainment. 

“This tour is going to be about really connecting with our fans,” says Joe Jonas.  “We’ve got new music that’s taking us in new directions plus a mind-blowing production that’s going to surprise everyone.  We want to give the audience the summer concert they’re not going to ever forget.”

“The Jonas Brothers are a worldwide phenomenon,” said Jason Garner, Chief Executive Officer of Global Music at Live Nation.  “In 2008 their global tour included 113 concerts and drew nearly 1.2 million fans.  The band is now more popular than ever — with a new movie, album, TV show and book — and we are optimistic that this summer’s tour attendance will reflect that popularity.”

"As presenting sponsor of the Jonas Brothers’ summer tour for the second year in a row, we’re planning a lot of excitement for Jonas Brothers fans beginning with the first tour stop in Dallas on June 20," said Cindy Syracuse, senior director, cultural marketing, Burger King Corp."  We’ll be announcing plans for the ultimate HAVE IT YOUR WAY® Jonas Brothers 2009 experience in support of the tour over the next few months."

Special guests on “The Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009” are American Idol winner and Jive Records’ platinum-selling artist, Jordin Sparks, and rising stars, Honor Society.

Dates, cities and venues for the “The Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009” are below.  Dates and venues are subject to change.

June
June 20                  Dallas, TX                              New Cowboys Stadium
June 22                  Tulsa, OK                               BOK Center
June 24                  Denver, CO                            Pepsi Center
June 26                  Nampa, ID                             Idaho Center
June 27                  Portland, OR                         Rose Garden Arena
June 28                  Tacoma, WA                         Tacoma Dome
June 30                  Vancouver, BC                      General Motors Place

July
July 2                      Edmonton, AB                       Rexall Place
July 4                      Salt Lake City, UT                 Stadium Of Fire (on sale now)
July 5                      Winnipeg, MB                      MTS Centre
July 7                      Omaha, NE                            Qwest Center
July 8                      Minneapolis, MN                Target Center
July 9                      Milwaukee, WI                     Bradley Center
July 10                   Rosemont, IL                         Allstate Arena
July 13                   Washington, DC                   Verizon Center
July 14                   East Rutherford, NJ              IZOD Center
July 17                   Boston, MA                           TD Banknorth Garden
July 20                   Uniondale, NY                      Nassau Coliseum
July 24                   Philadelphia, PA                  Wachovia Center
July 25                   Pittsburgh, PA                      Mellon Arena
July 26                   Detroit, MI                            Palace Of Auburn Hills
July 28                   St. Louis, MO                        Scottrade Center
July 29                   Kansas City, MO                  Sprint Center
              
August
August 1                Las Vegas, NV                       Mandalay Bay Events Center
August 3                San Jose, CA                          HP Pavilion at San Jose
August 4                Sacramento, CA                    ARCO Arena
August 5                Fresno, CA                             Save Mart Center
August 7                Los Angeles, CA                    Staples Center
August 11              Phoenix, AZ                           Jobing.com Arena
August 13              San Antonio, TX                    AT&T Center
August 14              Houston, TX                          Toyota Center
August 15              New Orleans, LA                   New Orleans Arena
August 16              Birmingham, AL                    BJCC
August 18              Tampa, FL                              St. Pete Times Forum
August 19              Ft. Lauderdale, FL                 Bank Atlantic Center
August 21              Jacksonville, FL                    Jacksonville Veterans’ Memorial
August 22              Atlanta, GA                            Philips Arena
August 23              Lexington, KY                        Rupp Arena
August 25              Nashville, TN                        Sommet Center
August 26              Columbus, OH                      Nationwide Arena
August 27              Cleveland, OH                      Quicken Loans Arena
August 29              Montreal, QC                        Bell Centre
August 30              Toronto, ON                          Rogers Centre
August 31              Ottawa, ON                           Scotiabank Place

The Jonas Brothers became a pop music phenomenon in 2008 with the release of their platinum-selling album, A Little Bit Longer, and two tours that earned the band a spot among the top selling tours of the year.  They also won an American Music Award for Breakthrough Artist and were recently nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Artist Category.

Further information and all the latest tour developments, please visit the following websites: www.jonasbrothers.com or http://www.livenation.com/.

 

OK Senate approves upgrade for jobs program

Legislation using targeted incentives to attract top-paying jobs to Oklahoma has won approval in the State Senate.  Senator Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa, is the author of Senate Bill 938 which creates the “21st Century Quality Jobs” program.  The measure was approved unanimously on Tuesday.

The original Quality Jobs program approved in 1993 has created more than 400,000 new jobs in Oklahoma with an average wage of more than $31,000 a year.  Mazzei said that program will remain unchanged, explaining that the 21st Century Quality Jobs program targets knowledge-based employment opportunities.

“21st Century Quality Jobs focuses on areas such as scientific and technical services, finance and insurance, as well as health care and alternative energy,” Mazzei said.  “These are jobs that have an average salary of more than $100,000 a year.  This would not only increase per capita income in our state, but it would also diversify Oklahoma’s economy.”
Under Mazzei’s legislation, companies creating the jobs specified in SB 938 would be eligible to receive a quarterly cash rebate of up to 10 percent of new taxable payroll if they achieve wage and performance job creation targets.  According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the incentive program would be revenue neutral.

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

Obama’s Toxic Brew

Analysis: It’s not witches, but the three warlocks of the new administration – President Obama, his chief Chicago-Machine-henchman Rahm Emanuel, and his tax-cheating Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner – who are boiling the American people in a cauldron of their own, not with poisoned entrails, eye of newt, or toe of frog, but with a fatal mixture of a trillion-dollars of so-called “stimulus” dollars, draconian tax hikes, doomed-to-fail bailouts, and additional healthcare and other expenditures that are, above all, designed to bankrupt the United States of America.

As people helplessly watch their life savings, 401ks, real estate assets, children’s college funds, financial viability, and everything that affects their jobs, security and investments vanish as the Stock Market hurtles downward toward its crashing point, they hear unmistakably gleeful cackles emanating from the leftist radicals who now occupy the Oval Office and the Congress.

Why are they cackling? Why are they gleeful? Because they have finally been catapulted into power and are now able to translate their deep loathing of everything that has made America great – free-market capitalism, the U.S. Constitution, small government, low taxes – into their own Socialist-cum-Marxist-cum-Communist vision.

Obama’s oft-stated “share-the-wealth” philosophy was just the starting point. He’s in a good mood and serving $100-dollar-per-pound steaks in the White House precisely because the Dow Jones average is tanking. This is because he believes, perversely, that punishing the majority of Americans is a way to redress the “sins” he so often attributes to America, and to avenge the have-not career victims who have convinced themselves – and been convinced by liberals and leftists – that the world owes them a living.

As one blogger has documented, since Obama has taken office – and in the face of a devastating recession – he has:
·   Raised taxes on small businesses, the engines of entrepreneurship and job growth.
·    Raised the capital gains tax.
·    Lied about "tax cuts for 95% of Americans," offering instead 13-dollars a week, achieved not through tax cuts but by changing the federal withholding tables!
·    Destroyed charitable giving by axing the tax breaks for 26 percent of all giving (or $81 billion in 2006) because charities reduce the role of Big Government.
·   Proposed a carbon cap-and-trade scheme designed to punish oil companies and further tax consumers.

But the above laundry list doesn’t include the president’s stated intention to inflict Americans with the debt of even more trillions of their hard-earned money by granting amnesty to multimillions of illegal aliens; changing the Mortgage Interest Deduction, which will result in further erosion of home prices and values and lead to a second energy crisis; bankrupting the coal industry with punitive demands on emissions and huge government fees; bestowing $20 million for Palestinians (read Hamas terrorists) to migrate to the U.S.; cutting defense spending, which Oliver North has said is “tantamount to unilateral disarmament”; and, again, in the middle of a devastating recession, funding abortions for women outside of the U.S.! You get the picture!

But in case “the picture” is not clear, Obama’s intention is to cause such devastating losses to all Americans that they will welcome government intervention – and the nationalizing of all major institutions – as their last best hope for survival.  Sound familiar?  It should.  This is exactly the plan that all megalomaniacs, like Marx and Lenin and Mussolini and Hitler and Mao and Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro and Osama bin Laden and the president’s other guiding lights – radicals Saul Alinsky, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rev. Louis Farrakhan, Father Michael Phleger, terrorist Bill Ayers, et al – have spoken and written about in their toxic philosophies of Black Liberation theology, Marxism, Communism, Socialism, and Terrorism.

What do all of them have in common?  A deep envy and hatred of America, and a desire to destroy the freest, most benevolent, and, yes, most powerful and rich and militarily strong country in the history of the world!

WHY? 

The short answer is that they consider “the masses” stupid, indeed too abysmally ignorant to conduct their own lives.  Of course, the corollary to this arrogance is that they consider themselves far better equipped, by dint of their superior intelligence, to orchestrate and choreograph – through Big Government – the lives of the stupid masses from cradle to grave. And who should lead this government? Why of course an oligarchic elite which decides, ala Karl Marx, “from each according to his ability; to each according to his need.”

To that end, for decades on end, the leftists among us have systematically engineered:
·   Cruel welfare systems that suffocate ambition, destroy families, deprive people of good educations and the acquisition of marketable skills, and create life-long dependency;
·   Dumbed-down school systems that discourage independent thought, foster feelings-driven curricula, elevate union demands over education, and discourage parental school choice, as the Obama administration is now doing by eliminating school vouchers (while he sends his daughters to a $55,000-a year private school). 
·   The colossal hoax known as man-made global warming which imposes punishingly harsh environmental strictures not only on the stupid masses but also on any exploration of the vast oil resources extant in this country, as well as the building of nuclear facilities, both of which promise total energy independence, possibly in less than a decade.
·   The subprime-mortgage crisis on both our country and the world, which forced banks to follow our government’s “fair”-lending edicts in order to be – what else? – “fair” to people who couldn’t afford homes, never mind that the 92 percent of Americans who pay their mortgages faithfully now have to pay for the eight percent who don’t.
·   Courts with liberal judges who routinely flout the U.S. Constitution to bring about laws that trample on religion and sanction the wholesale killing of unborn babies, among other violations.
·   A media that mindlessly echoes their dogma.

Neat trick, isn’t it? Create a dependent class of “victims,” make sure they stay needy and ignorant, guarantee that we spend billions annually for foreign energy sources when we already have in abundance in America, push the entitlement concept of “fairness” to its inevitable breaking point of massive bankruptcies, seat judges who violate their oaths to uphold the Constitution, and gain control of a media that perpetuates a hate-America ethos.

It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that Obama and his acolytes simply don’t like America. That’s right – the country that gave them everything, made them who they are, blessed them with a bounty of freedoms and unlimited opportunity – this is the country they are now trying to destroy.

WARLOCKS ON THE WARPATH

Like all radicals, President Obama and his minions are following the tried-and-true path to a revolutionary takeover. That path usually starts with a charismatic figure – either a puppet or the real thing – who is good at hiding his real agenda and equally facile at capitalizing on a crisis. As Obama’s alter-ego Rahm Emanuel stated when the stock market began to tank – with suspicious timing, just weeks before the election – "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before."

The crisis-du-jour is followed by the puppet-in-question (or the real thing) reassuring the nervous masses that he can make things better, “change” the situation and provide “hope” for a better tomorrow. And like clockwork, the nervous masses heave a collective sigh of relief. This is followed by the puppet-real thing offering even more assurances, which he backs up by citing the experts he will call upon to help him – in the case of Obama, the same experts who failed to predict or solve the problem in the first place!

Once the puppet-real thing takes power, his tone immediately changes. Rather than reassurances, he reverts to doomsday predictions, pronouncing that the crisis is even worse than it appeared – a potential “catastrophe.” And he tells the nervous masses that the only way to solve the crisis is to spend their money – not thousands, not millions, not multimillions, not billions, but trillions!

Working at fever pitch – the better to actualize his takeover agenda before the nervous masses catch on to his malevolent intent – the puppet-real thing then launches into a multi-prong assault on all aspects of the society the majority of the nervous masses still love and cherish, its flaws notwithstanding: the banks, the auto industry, the healthcare system, the education system, the environment, the credit system, philanthropy, religious institutions, any dissenting media, et al.
And to deflect attention away from the machete he is taking to the body politic of America, the puppet-real thing creates multiple diversions – photo-ops and interviews with Oprah and People magazine; a media-titillating conflict with the president’s arch nemesis and greatest threat, Rush Limbaugh; and the purchase of a puppy for the first daughters.

And to bolster his agenda, the puppet-real thing takes to telling big fat whoppers that he trusts the stupid masses will believe.  He says his will be the “most transparent” administration in American history but, oops, it’s the least transparent, in fact it is smothered in secrecy.  He says the American people will have five days to read on the Internet any bill he submits but, oops, never happens!  He says that no bill he submits to the Congress will have earmarks but, oops, the last bill had 8,500 slabs of pork.  He says he will not pay for weapons systems “we don’t use” but, oops, fails to tell the American people that he is abandoning the Ballistic-Missile Defense and not upgrading nuclear weapons, submarines, and other vital weapons imperative for our defense – in essence making sure that the superb, heroic and second-to-none U.S. Military will be unable to defend our country from the many enemies that have vowed to annihilate us.  That, and a concerted effort to quash gun ownership right here at home, which will further insure a defenseless America.  Have I mentioned just how much the radical left loathes our country?

The next step for the puppet-real thing is to address the nation, as Obama did in his State of the Union message.  “So I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves “necessary.”  Necessary, that is, to create a Socialist America, or, in my opinion, to skip Socialism and go straight to Communism!

As American war veteran Oliver North has written, “Those unfamiliar with history may not recall that this is exactly what Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler asked their legislatures to do in creating National Socialism.  In the midst of rising unemployment and economic crisis, both men asked for, and got, legislation to do what was `necessary’ and promised new private-sector jobs would be generated by government-funded programs, new tax laws, and novel `lending rules.’  It worked.  Private companies did hire workers to build rail systems, highways and autobahns, invigorated auto industries, and in Germany, the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world.  The rest is history we all know.”

Yes, the most gruesome “history we all know.”

At this point, only halfway through the president’s first-hundred days, a slumbering public – including former cheerleaders from the left – is beginning to wake up and, with growing alarm, question everything about Obama’s toxic brew, from his bizarre overtures to the leaders of terrorist  regimes to his profligate out-of-control spending, to what blogger Dinocrat has described as the Obama administration’s “galactic incompetence.”

But questions are not enough. Now is the time for equally alarmed Americans to put their representatives’ phone numbers on speed-dial, to write them daily e-mails, to join the tea parties that are proliferating throughout the nation, and to work as never before to wrest the Congress from Democrat control in 2010. If not, we’ll have to choke on Obama’s toxic brew for generations to come.


About the author:
Joan Swirsky (http://www.joanswirsky.com/) is a New York-based writer and author who can be reached at joansharon@aol.com.