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Bubble Trouble • An Independent JournAl of CommentAry • AUGUST 2013 • VOLUME 45 NUMBER 8 • $2.50 BUBBLE TROUBLE Test Mania Is Crippling Public Education. Two Of Oklahoma’s Best Teachers Explain How We Can Turn Things Around. ANNUAL EDUCATION ISSUE/Pages 22-30 Observations www.okobserver.net Google-Eyed VOLUME 45, NO. 8 Why is the world’s best-known on-line search engine all Google-eyed PUBLISHER Beverly Hamilton over Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator? Google, you may have heard, hosted a fund-raising luncheon in Wash- EDITOR Arnold Hamilton ington last month for the Senate’s most strident climate change denier, Sen. Jim Inhofe. FOUNDING EDITOR Frosty Troy Yes, the same Google known for the slogan A better web. Better for ADVISORY BOARD the environment. The same Google known for its investments in climate Marvin Chiles, Andrew Hamilton, research and renewable energy, including an Oklahoma wind-farm that Matthew Hamilton, Scott J. Hamilton, powers Google’s data center in Pryor. Trevor James, Ryan Kiesel, George Krumme, Robert D. Lemon, And the same Inhofe who, the day before fund-raising luncheon, took Robyn Lemon Sellers, Gayla Machell, to the Senate floor to assert – presumably with a straight face – that Bruce Prescott, Kyle Williams President Obama’s climate plan is designed “not to protect the Ameri- can people” but rather to “control them.” OUR MOTTO To Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the There are strange political bedfellows. And then there is Google and Comfortable. Inhofe. “It’s embarrassing that a company that prides itself on innovation and OUR CREDO technology is associating itself with the extreme views of Sen. Inhofe, So then to all their chance, to all their shining golden opportunity. To all the who is unabashedly dismissive of climate science,” the League of Con- right to love, to live, to work, to be servation Voters’ Jeff Gohringer told the Washington Post. themselves, and to become whatever The fund-raiser – contribution levels ranged between $250 and $2,500 thing their vision and humanity can – attracted media coverage worldwide, but scant attention in Oklahoma. combine to make them. This seeker, is the promise of America. If you read the Washington Post, the UK Guardian or the Nation, how- - Adapted from Thomas Wolfe ever, you’d have learned that Google is just like so many other corpora- tions – it’s pro-environment sloganeering notwithstanding: It plays both FOUNDING PUBLISHER Helen B. Troy sides of the political aisle and works studiously to influence public pol- 1932-2007 icy, greasing the skids with big money. [ISSN 0030-1795] According to a written response from a Google spokesperson, reprint- The Oklahoma Observer [USPS 865-720] is ed in various media: “We regularly host fundraisers for candidates, on published monthly by AHB Enterprises LLC, both sides of the aisle, but that doesn’t mean we endorse all of their 13912 Plymouth Crossing, P.O. Box 14275, positions. And while we disagree on climate change policy, we share an Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, OK 73125. CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. SUBSCRIPTIONS 1-Year [12 issues] $40. Send check to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Online: Visit www.okobserver.net to use a credit card. UPDATE ADDRESSES Yes! Please send me a one-year subscription for only $40. Please notify us at least two weeks before This special offer includes my certificate for a free book courtesy your move to ensure uninterrupted service. of Full Circle Bookstore [a $20 value]. See page 41 for details. E-mail address changes to subscriptions@ okobserver.net or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. LETTERS TO EDITOR E-mail to [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113- 0275. 2 • AUGUST 2013 Observerscope Laurel: To state Rep. Seneca Scott, D-Tulsa, appointed to serve on two key panels: the White House State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Change and the National Conference of State Legislature’s Natural Resources and Infrastructure Standing Com- mittee. We grieve the passing of our dear friend Bob Gresham, a tireless ad- vocate for peace and justice, gone at the much-too-young age of 59. Dart: To State Superintendent Ja- net Barresi, celebrating a $1.2 mil- lion settlement with embattled test vendor CTB/McGraw-Hill. Celebrat- ing what? Nearly three-fourths of the penalty is to be paid via in-kind Hell hath no fury like state Rep. Laurel: To state Finance Director donations, only $376,205 in cash. Mike Reynolds scorned. Check out Preston Doerflinger, urging law- If divided equally the settlement his on-line hit job on Speaker T.W. makers to seriously review drilling would amount to a measly $700 Shannon at www.shannonforcon- incentives that annually cost the for each district. Chump change. gress.com. A damning dossier. state treasury hundreds of mil- lions of dollars. Oil and gas execs We’re No. 42! Thirty-three per- Laurel: To outgoing Corrections fainted statewide. cent of working-age Oklahoma Director Justin Jones, a truly nice adults ages 25-64 held two- or guy and a pro, driven from office by Term-limited state Rep. Joe Dor- four-year degrees in 2011, up one the state’s private-prison-backed man, D-Rush Springs, is eyeing a spot from 2010. National average elected elite. He will be sorely new office: Grady County Commis- is 38.7 percent. – Lumina Founda- missed. sioner. Donna Bebo, who mounted tion a valiant but unsuccessful bid to Heartbreaking: Out of 11,000 an- unseat GOP U.S. Rep. Tom Cole Laurel: To state Rep. Richard imals that entered Tulsa’s Animal in 2012, hopes to keep the HD 65 Morrissette, and Sen. Al McAffrey, Welfare Shelter last year, 7,000 seat in Democratic hands. both D-OKC, honored by AARP were euthanized. Believe it or not, for their work on the Josephine that’s a lower percentage than five Dart: To Speaker T.W. Shannon, Meade Anti-Hunger Act of 2013. years ago. who wouldn’t know a good idea if The bill was named for the grand- it bit him in the … well, you know mother of Morrissette’s excellent Dart: To new Tulsa World Pub- where. He rejected Rep. David Per- administrative assistant, Jacklyn lisher Bill Masterson, caving to ryman’s sensible request for an Brink-Rosen. noisy rightwingers who claim the interim study on passenger rail opinion section was too liberal. along the I-44 corridor. Former Secretary of State Glenn He’s killing Oklahoma’s most bal- Coffee and State Chamber Chief anced, thoughtful daily newspaper Alarming: As much as 80% of Ca- Fred Morgan remain attached at editorial page. ribbean coral is believed to have the hip. Morgan worked for Cof- been lost in recent years because fee when he was Senate president. Congratulations to Stephanie of climate change, pollution, over- Now Coffee works for Morgan as and Bruce Fraker, honored as 2013 fishing and degradation. A new the Chamber’s new general coun- Canadian County Democrats of the Catlin scientific survey will at- sel. Gov. Mary Fallin reports to Year at the recent BS & Beans din- tempt to quantify the damage. – UK both. ner in El Reno. Bravo! Guardian CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 THE OKLAHOMA OBSERVER • 3 Letters visit a sex therapist, undergo a cardiac stress test, and get their sexual partner to sign a notarized affidavit confirming impotency to get a prescription for Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs? The law should also require men who take the drugs to be continu- ally tested for heart problems, re- ceive counseling about possible side effects and receive informa- tion about pursuing celibacy as a viable lifestyle choice. In conclusion, wouldn’t it be great to legislate both women’s health and men’s health? I would call that “equal justice under the law.” Wanda Jo Stapleton Oklahoma City Editor’s Note: Wanda Jo Staple- ton represented south Oklahoma City as a Democrat in the state House from 1986-96. Editor, The Observer: Editor, The Observer: nois, states who supported Abra- Sen. Harry Coates’ incredible ex- States where residents have filed ham Lincoln and the Union. pose [July, Observer] about Okla- secession petitions include Ala- Recognize the blessing! homa’s corrupt, mismanaged, bama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Frank Silovsky un-Christian and beastly prison Louisiana, Mississippi, North Car- Oklahoma City system tops the explosive news olina, South Carolina, Tennessee, articles Frosty Troy wrote in the Texas, Virginia, Kentucky, Mis- Editor, The Observer: Tulsa Tribune and that the late Bill souri, and Oklahoma. Isn’t it “special” that Oklahoma Duncan and I wrote in the Oklaho- The first 11 states comprised legislators, mainly Republicans, ma Journal 47 years ago. the Confederate States of America. voted to protect us women from The two fire-brand newspapers Slave states, Missouri and Ken- having to make those tough deci- that employed Frosty and me are tucky, remained loyal to the Union. sions about our bodies. These Re- long dead but their courage is Indian Territory [later Oklahoma] publicans have, thankfully, made worth remembrance. The only way supported the Rebels. these decisions for us and have the Journal’s coverage trumped Let them all go! They’ve been a written them into law. Frosty’s relentless prose was that pain ever since the Civil War end- For example, two such Oklaho- the late John Gumm, a fearless ed. ma laws are now before the U.S. world-class photographer, snapped Every one of these states pres- Supreme Court.
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