MicroSecession offers steps of value

MicroSecessionCoverBook Review:  Over years of writing on public policy the most frequent question from readers is, “What can we do?”  One answer in a personal way is found in the new book MicroSecession by Tulsa author Jonathan Bartlett.  It speaks to how the individual can add value regardless of what the economy or the government does.  A family answer as Washington becomes more oblivious.

MicroSecession, as the jacket notes, “isn’t about getting rich, overthrowing the government, or abandoning civilization.”  The work focuses on practical ideas for increasing personal value on the ground and, in some cases, from the ground up “giving yourself independence by decreasing your dependence” as Bartlett writes.

Continue reading

Remembering Johnny “JJ” Cale

JJCale1The most significant musical talent in Oklahoma history, JJ Cale died at 8 p.m. Friday July 26, 2013 at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California.  Born in Oklahoma City on Dec. 5, 1938, Cale grew up in Tulsa and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1956.

Johnny Cale saw himself primarily as a guitarist in the beginning. He sat at home listening to records figuring out difficult guitar licks and doing what you have to do to play an instrument – practice.  You play those patterns over and over and over until you’re sick of them and then your fingers start remembering on their own.

Gene Crose is credited with coaxing a reluctant Cale onto a stage. Cale didn’t think he was ready, but Crose had an ear for talent – little did he know what he would set in motion.

Continue reading

How stupid is MSNBC?

MelissaHarrisPerry1As TheBlaze suggests and Tulsa Today agrees Melissa Harris-Perry’s ‘analysis of bankrupt Detroit is stunning.  As a news organization, however, MSNBC is responsible for their content.  Do they not have fact checkers?  Are MSNBC editors, producers, and executive staff this stupid?

Last week, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry presented a theory as to why Detroit inevitably went bankrupt — terminal lack of government.  That is just stupid.  Have they reversed or corrected stupid?  Not at all.

While discussing Detroit’s downfall, Harris-Perry and former-Vermont Gov. Howard “The Scream” Dean agreed that “you’ve got to have a government to run the place.”  Harris-Perry noted Detroit’s declining population, and in turn its tax base. The population of the city has declined dramatically over the last 10 years.

Continue reading

Egyptian Security battles pro-Morsi supporters

EgyptFighting1The Jerusalem Post- Egyptian security forces shot dead dozens of supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday, witnesses said, days after the army chief called for a popular mandate to wipe out “violence and terrorism”.

Men in helmets and black police fatigues fired on crowds gathered before dawn on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in near a mosque in northeast Cairo, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood said.
Continue reading

Sales-Tax Holiday helps small businesses

TulsaSalesTaxJerrod Shouse, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, says next weekend’s sales-tax holiday will be a big help to small businesses struggling amid a wobbly Oklahoma economy.

“The sales-tax holiday is good for stores in general, but it could make a big difference for small businesses,” Shouse said. “The sales-tax holiday puts people in the mood to shop, and we’re hoping they buy at least some of their school clothes and supplies at small, locally-owned businesses, because when you support small business, you support the community.”
Continue reading