Oklahoma County Government

Where There’s A Willa There’s A Way!

Willa Johnson is the clear choice for District 1 Oklahoma County Commissioner in Tuesday’s election.

In her 14 years as an Oklahoma City Councilwoman representing the city’s northeast section, Johnson has demonstrated she can work with a diverse group of people to get things done. She has strong leadership qualities and the ability to understand the “big picture” in terms of developing and maintaining the infrastructure in the OKC area.

She will continue in the reform tradition of Jim Roth, the former District 1 Commissioner who now serves on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Roth redefined “county commissioner” and all that the position signifies in the state’s history. He changed the way many people think about country government. Undoubtedly, Johnson will create her own reformist legacy in the position.

Johnson’s experience with metropolitan issues will allow her to hit the ground running when she takes office. Her opponent, Forrest Claunch, has political experience as a former state legislator, but he lacks the specific experience Johnson can bring to the job. Johnson knows the people that make the metropolitan area work.

Oklahoma County needs someone of Johnson’s caliber in the position. This is an important election, and Johnson deserves your vote.

War Pigs: Imperial President George Bush and Imperial General David Petraeus

(Click here for a short flash movie we put together for you here at Okie Funk. Turn up the speakers. Let's end this botched, senseless Iraq occupation.)

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of deaths construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds . . . —Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”

President George Bush and his lapdog, General David Petraeus, are despicable liars and warmongers who will spin and distort information this week in order to continue the long and gruesome Iraq occupation indefinitely. The blood of thousands of innocent people is on their hands, true, but national Democrats (the fraidycrats) will fail to speak up in enough numbers as well. The Democrats could stop this occupation, but they will refuse to do so because of political expediency, even though a majority of Americans want it to come to an end. Corporate media reporters—the elite, beltway “infotainers"-will let us down again by serving as stenographers for these two morally-challenged liars.

Only rubes will believe what these two men say about the surge and how successful it is. Only rubes will believe what the corporate media outlets report.

Here is how Tom Engelhardt, writing in Salon.com, puts it: "Why anyone in the media or Congress takes this situation seriously as "news," or even something to argue about, is hard to tell. Think of it this way: The most political general in recent memory has been asked to assess his own work (as has our ambassador in Iraq), and then present "recommendations" to the White House in a "report" that is actually being written in the White House. You couldn't call it a political version of "the honor system"; but perhaps the dishonor system would do. Numbers in Iraq are a slippery matter at best, though again, why anyone pays serious attention to U.S. military numbers from that country is a mystery. On countless occasions in the past, these have been ridiculous undercounts of disaster."

Here is the truth: There will never be political reconciliation in Iraq until American troops leave. Never. Why is that obvious and truthful position still marginalized? Why is that so difficult to understand? Why do corporate media outlets not even consider the idea that once we leave Iraq the country’s factions will be forced to come together for basic survival? A new unity government will then shut down the small number of Al Quada operatives who operate in the country. Al Quada is in Iraq only because Bush and his cronies allowed it to happen, intentionally or not. They could stop support for Al Quada in Iraq by simply withdrawing the troops. This idea certainly has more credibility than the idea American troops would be welcomed in Iraq, as Imperial Vice President Dick Cheney said in 2003, as “liberators.” Those of us against the Iraq invasion knew then what a calculated lie that was. Why do the infotainers, the tanned, made-up media stars, not allow the people who were 100 percent correct about the Iraq invasion and ensuing occupation a voice on this issue?

American people bought into the WMD story, which was a lie. Then they accepted to some degree the “democracy in the Mideast” spin for a year or so, which was a lie. And now Bush and Petaeus will argue that peace in Iraq can only come with more bombs, guns and deaths. But none of this “arguing within the error” really matters. What matters is that the Iraq occupation is a debacle, one of the worst, if not the absolute worst, foreign policy blunders in the nation’s history. Bush and his fellow Republicans, including his puppet general, are 100 percent responsible for this mess.

Here is a small part of a talk I gave in Oklahoma City last week about the coming neofascist state in America:

” Let me take you into your very possible future. It’s September 6, 2009. Fred Thompson is president and the House and Senate on both the federal and state level have clear Republican majorities. The Iraq occupation drags on with no end in sight, and now we’re fighting in Iran, too. Every aspect of our private lives—our phone calls, emails, personal conservations—is scrutinized by Republican government operatives. More people are without health insurance than ever. The richest one percent of Americans own even more of the wealth and land in the country. American and foreign prisoners are routinely tortured on the slimmest evidence of wrongdoing. In Oklahoma, government has become completely privatized. Our bridges are collapsing and huge potholes on our highways go unrepaired, causing accidents that kill and injure. Gasoline is $10 a gallon. National Guardsmen patrol state borders and make sure everyone has a long-list of required documents proving they are citizens. If you do not have the required ten documents then it is off to jail with you for some good ol’ American torture complete with sexual humiliation and waterboarding that may or may not result in your death.”

Hyperbole?

Our war pig president and his war pig general are going to lie without any major repercussions this week about the country’s five-year military occupation of another country. A clear majority of American people and a vast majority of world citizens will know they are lying. The corporate media war pigs will not call the liars on their pigshit. Yet you still believe our democratic structures are not in danger? SOOooiee!

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart, who faces felony changes in connection with campaign contributions, should resign his position.

Obviously, Rinehart is presumed innocent, but he has been charged with serious crimes. He faces seven felony counts, including perjury, conspiracy against the state, and money laundering. He has also been charged with three misdemeanor counts of knowingly accepting a contribution to a political candidate through an intermediary with unlawful intent.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson recently charged Rinehart, his former campaign manager Tim Pope, and three donors in an alleged scheme to circumvent the $5,000 limit on 2004 campaign contributions. Edmondson alleges the donors gave the extra money to a political action committee operated by Pope, a former state representative, who then used the money directly in Rinehart’s campaign.

(A company operated by Pope recently paid a $3,000 fine for placing automated phone calls saying Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth was advancing a homosexual agenda.)

Rinehart, who represents District Two, is a Republican, and he claims the charges are politically motivated, according to news reports. Pope is also a Republican. Edmondson is a Democrat who says the charges came after an investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Some people might try to blow this off as typical good ol’ boy politics in Oklahoma. For example, Oklahoma Ethics Commission Director Marilyn Hughes said Edmonson may have violated campaign ethics rules himself when he spent $500 of his campaign money on a golfing fundraiser for Auditor Jeff McMahan, according to news reports. Rinehart and Pope could try to use this information to argue the charges against them are politically motivated. But to argue that Rinehart’s charges and Edmondson’s situation are equivalent is disingenuous.

Here are three reasons why Rinehart should step down:

(1) These are serious felony charges that will shadow Rinehart as he conducts official county business. This is not good for the county, the Oklahoma City area, or the state. Everyone who does business with him—county employees, companies, other county officials—will know he faces charges. How can he conduct daily county business with people who know he might be forced soon to leave office? Will his decisions have meaning or impact?

(2) Rinehart’s decision to stay in office despite the seriousness of the charges could generate national attention and get defined as yet another Okie political scandal. The state has a sordid political history when it comes to its county commissioners. During the early 1980s, more than 200 people were convicted in one of the nation’s worst public corruption scandals. Most of those convicted were county commissioners who took kickbacks.

(3) The charges against Rinehart make the current, stormy political situation in the county government even more volatile and unpredictable. Since taking office, Rinehart has become a somewhat controversial figure in the county. By some accounts, he has hostile relationships with Roth and Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel.

If he’s acquitted or if the charges are dropped, then Rinehart can certainly have the last word and demand redress and official apologies. But, for now, he should make the gracious move of stepping down.

For the good of everyone in Oklahoma County and the state, Rinehart should resign.