December 7, 1941, was indeed a day “which will live in infamy.” At least, it has always been so for one who was a lad of fifteen at the time in a small town in eastern Oklahoma. It has always been one of those few highlights in a life about [...]
Politicians, pundits, and demagogues in our country today are prone to the over-use and incorrect use of terms like “socialist” as an attack adjective or name-calling noun. Their followers can be worse. Some know better and don’t care. Others are just ignorant. Politicians and pundits use that term to score [...]
Several times I have been subjected to a currently running television commercial which tells me to call Senator Coburn and Senator Inhofe and thank them for their good work protecting seniors in Washington. It tells me how they are looking after my interests, and they are preventing harmful cuts in [...]
There is too much hate, vitriol, and outright hostility in political discourse in America today. Also, there are too many lies and too much deceit. There is too much hyperbole in the rhetoric coming from the right. There are too many signs with hate slogans. There are too many ignorant, [...]
While undertaking the physically challenging task of pushing a shopping cart through the lengths, depths, and widths of the vast domain of our local Walmart store, this writer sought to separate himself momentarily from his shopper-in-chief and to pause in the relative comfort of a two-person bench.
There was a shockingly strange and simple statement made this past week by a leading professional in the health care field. The president of the California Nurses Association said plainly and clearly: “Everybody on Capitol Hill knows what the solution to health care reform is!” That got the attention of [...]
Some of those who are the most prolific advice-givers are the least qualified to be dispensing guidance. So it is with this writer, whose credentials in press relations could be called into question.
This writer recalls that sometime early in his 25 year tenure as a college president, [...]
Please allow this writer to be one of the many voices in Oklahoma, and others across the nation, to declare imperatively: “FREE BOBBI PARKER! Stop the incessant, harsh, continuing persecution (prosecution)!”
For those to whom the name may not be familiar, Bobbi Parker is the wife of the [...]
As an octogenarian, this writer does not follow all the current slang employed by the younger set in describing the conduct of others. Back in the olden years, we had a saying about people whose behavior clashed with our commonly held code of social acceptability. We would say, “He has [...]
This writer once gave a lecture to about 200 college freshmen entitled: “Things You Are Against.” As an introduction to that talk, he said something like this: “We have heard many times how our lives are defined by the things which we are for. I will tell you today that [...]
In the recent past we have been an outspoken advocate of health care reform. We agree that the present situation is abominable – overly expensive, insufficiently accessible to all citizens, and full of greed and corruption. We agree with most of the ideas of the president for remediation of these [...]
“I want my country back.” This plaintive outburst of a woman at one of those rowdy town hall meetings in August still concerns this writer. She seemed quite emotional. It was puzzling.
The logic of this woman’s self-proclaimed misery may be difficult to discern. From time to time [...]
This writer was never a fan of Viet Nam era war movies. Perhaps that is because he was never a fan of the Viet Nam war. That whole period seems to have been a sordid, ugly time in our lives and in the life of our nation. Young men were [...]
Recently a very nice column appeared in the Enid News, written by a talented staff columnist. It recognized the passing of Senator Kennedy in a warm, yet analytical fashion, remarking about the civility of the Senate in which those from opposing parties had historically functioned in the conduct of national [...]
Mr. Obama, just get us out! Get us out of Iraq! Get us out of Afghanistan!
There is little being accomplished by keeping over 100,000 troops and a large corps of civilians in Iraq. Those people really do not want us there. Their legislature is referring the matter to [...]
Having just seen and heard a promo from an Oklahoma City television station for its news anchor saying that he was “born and bred” in Oklahoma, one pauses to ponder just what that means.
The first reaction, even from an Oklahoma native, might be: “Oh, my gosh, I [...]
Sometimes one has cause to wonder if all the civil disorder, going under the pseudo title of town meetings, is really about health care at all. Some of the anger demonstrated by rowdies uses references to health care, mostly gained from lies and disinformation spread by republican and right wing [...]
The last contribution of the Militant Moderate was entitled “Unruly Mobs Chill Democracy.” The truth of that one has been borne out in the days since it appeared. Disruptive mobs have continued to silence attempts at town meeting discussions scheduled by democratic congresspersons.
Orchestrated unruly mobs of misinformed, angry, right wing republicans are successfully frustrating efforts of members of Congress to hold informative town hall public meetings with constituents. Armed with pamphlets and talking points printed off republican web sites, these sign-carrying, shouting barbarians come to public meetings to disrupt and not to [...]
Dark, slimy creatures on occasion creep from the toxic political swamp pits to prey upon the unsuspecting, innocent turnip patch kids. This is such a time.
A colorful phrase has been attributed to those who are gullible, naïve, unsophisticated, or just plain stupid. Usually it is used in [...]
We are frequently advised by issue advertisers to write our congressman or senator about such and such a point. The newsletters we receive, both welcomed and unwelcomed, urge us to write our representative or senator. We have become accustomed to this sort of thing nationally.
Spokespersons for the Republican Party, aided by their media pundits, have made great efforts to make Americans think that the Obama stimulus plan has failed. Is this true? If so, then what is the republican alternative plan for the solution of the economic recession that has gripped this nation? [...]
No matter what your political views, it is difficult not to feel a little bit sorry for Sarah Palin. She has been in over her head, and she has not handled it well. She is not fully coherent in her speech and sounds confused.
Headlines in the newspapers this week read: “California Issues IOU’s.” We are told that in meeting its obligations in salaries and other bills, California is issuing IOU’s because they do not have the money in the treasury to pay checks. Since that cannot be done in state government in Oklahoma [...]
Both Judge Sotomayor of the appellate court and the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court may be right, or at least partially so, in their rulings on the New Haven firefighters case. Each was working within a different legal context.
Readers will recall that the case involved eight [...]
Perhaps a better title for this piece would be: “Health Care as Interpreted by One Dummy to Another.” Unlike many of our republican friends who are already opposed to a new health care program without knowing its form or substance, we are trying to sort out the facts of the [...]
The murder of Dr. Tiller, gunned down in his own church by a religious fanatic, has brought the touchy political issue of abortion back to people’s attention. Perhaps assisting this focus of attention is the appointment and probable confirmation of a new Supreme Court judge who just might support the [...]
Hate speech consumes much of the time on our airwaves and electronic media. Well, maybe it’s not all hate speech, just constant inflammatory rhetoric. We have seen again recently the violent results of such a constant barrage of inflammatory words.
The Darth Vader of the Empire of the American Galactic Era (otherwise known as the Bush Imperial Administration) has returned. Banished into outer oblivion in the last clash of titans (known as an election), Darth has returned with vengeance. It is almost as if he were Satan arising from the [...]
This writer had the pleasure of attending the NOC Alumni Banquet last week. The pleasure was principally that of seeing three of his former “NOC kids” honored as Distinguished Alums. All three were students during my era as president. They were outstanding students, and they have proven themselves to be [...]
More than 50 years ago, H. L. Mencken wrote: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people.” Mencken also wrote: “No one in this world has ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” [...]
In the land of political punditry, the Republican Party could well be labeled as the Incredible Shrinking Party. Democratic pundits delight in making this observation or pronouncement of the demise of the Republican Party as the viable organization it has been in the past. Reluctantly, the republican pundits admit that [...]
Many years ago we visited in my mother’s church back in the home country in eastern Oklahoma. We were relative strangers there, of course. Across the front bench in their customary position sat a row of 6 or 8 mentally challenged youth of some 10 to 20 years of age. [...]
There are times when one feels he is being mentally “water-boarded.” One feels the utter torture of strangling and drowning in too much babble applied too fast by the mentally cruel. The tea-bag day, sponsored by the republican party right and promoted by right wing media such as Fox News [...]
The question of making English the official language for the State of Oklahoma has been around for a long time. This writer recalls sitting in the gallery in the House of Representatives thirty years ago, waiting for the chamber to take up a piece of higher education legislation. During this [...]
Not all terrorists are trained by Al Qaeda. This should not be a startling revelation, but somehow it is an epiphany for a lot of people when they stop to think about that statement.
Of all people, we in Oklahoma should know the truth about the existence of [...]
The television cable channel which goes by the title of “Fox News” is popular in our city. It must be. Everywhere one goes in public places, one must endure the diatribe that channel calls “News.”
If one goes to the fitness center, sure enough somebody has turned to [...]
The American people are sometimes confusing with their ideas, opinions, and actions. But Oklahoma people are more frequently confusing in their notions of good and bad government, as well as good and bad persons. The Militant Moderate often feels like a stranger in the world that surrounds him.
If this writer could deliver only one message to our new president, he would pose tall in his most Reaganesque stance, muster his most authoritative, actor’s voice with a tone of gravitas, and declare, “Mr. Obama: Get us out -- now!”
There is a great deal of confusion among the public regarding the various spending measures which have passed or have been proposed to Congress. To some, Washington has been cursed as a modern Tower of Babel.
Of course, one reason for this is that there have been so [...]
Does anybody recall the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog? More specifically: Has anyone in the Republican Party congressional leadership ever heard of that story? Has Rush Limbaugh or the people at Fox News heard of it?
“Aarrrgh!” This is the sound that comes from a thoroughly disgusted person who has just witnessed something nauseous. It is the sound of someone who just got a big taste of something sour after having a scrumptious dessert. It is the sound made by an intelligent person who has just [...]
Much of his life, the Militant Moderate has considered himself a populist. Maybe he never was. This situation is worth some further thought and analysis.
What is a populist? A populist is supposed to be somebody whose thoughts and ideas are aligned with the best interests of the [...]
Barack Obama was swept into the presidency on the audacious platform of change, including change from the old partisanship of Washington and the gridlock in Congress in particular. Strangely enough, in this same election the republican candidate was nominated under a party banner which read “Country First,” interpreted to mean [...]
All of us surely recall the children’s story of the ugly duckling. The theme, of course, is that things that start out ugly may end up beautiful as they grow and mature. The ugly duckling turned out to be the beautiful swan over which everyone swooned.
The enrolled Senate version of the Economic Stimulus Plan is 731 pages long. This writer has seen it, but he has not read it. While the expression may be an oxymoron, it would be good to read an authenticated summary version of the details.
After considerable gnashing of teeth and threshing around since November, could it be that the republican party has found its new leader? No, we are not talking about the election of its first black RNC chairman, Michael Steele, we are talking about its real leader.
This writer was seventeen, going on eighteen, years of age when he first heard the word “pusillanimous.” This was as an apprentice seaman in a sea of white uniforms, thirty thousand strong, standing at parade rest on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Training Station in San Diego. It was [...]
Oh, what a beautiful day! What an inspirational day! An unbelievable two million people with shining faces and teary eyes gathered for a history altering occasion. They experienced the charisma and the eloquence of a new leader holding sway over the minds and hearts of a diverse body of believers [...]
There is an increasing vocal demand for the Obama people to go after Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others for civil liberties offenses against the American people and for war crimes in violation of law and the Geneva Convention rules (incorporated into law) for treatment of prisoners.
When this was mentioned initially, it was supposed to be a personal security issue. It seems clear to all those among us who watch NCIS, CSI, and similar (fictional scientific and technical) programs that with the right technology interlopers could trace [...]
By the time this appears, perhaps several of these recommended actions may have occurred, or maybe some alternative actions will have happened. But it is time for certain of those in our government who are empowered to act to do so.
The report of a national commission studying the condition and needs of America’s highway and bridge system was released this week. The findings were fairly simple. America’s roads and bridges are in a poorly maintained condition, and a 50% increase in the highway fuel tax is needed to pay for [...]
Since we are going to have a new president in less than a month, and since even the “stay the course” president has signed an agreement to be out of urban Iraq in six months and the rest in another year, is it too soon to be planning on just [...]
George W. Bush, a most unlikely statesman, may well have shown himself to be just that entering the final month of his presidency.
No, we are not pointing toward his revision of standards for protection of the natural environment, nor are we discussing his allowing drilling in the [...]
This writer finds himself reluctantly drawn into this thing we have going again about “Christmas.” Unfortunately, for too many this has become an emotional controversy about nomenclature, “Holiday” versus “Christmas,” for naming the season.
While many of us think that this is a tempest in a teapot, a [...]
Justice is an interesting concept. Most of us would prefer mercy to justice for ourselves. However, most of us think that others, particularly strangers who are different from us, should have justice tempered with little mercy. Mercy tempering thoughts about justice, or lack thereof, seem ironically to be more related [...]
On wings as hawks they came, As dawn broke forth that holy day, That lives in infamy and shame, That years have failed to wash away. For immortality and for fame, They came as birds of prey; Laden with fire and flame, Over the hills [...]
Considerable caution should be exercised, and some trepidation felt, as this delicate topic is approached by any writer who is not already an ideologue on the subject. Most people in our country are separated into different camps on this. It seems now that this separation is into two militant, armed [...]
Several television republican political pundits have said boldly, “If the Congress lets the American auto companies go broke, it is end of the republican party.”
As much as some would like to see the demise of the grand obstructionist party, the ruin of American manufacturing is too big [...]
The republican party appears to be in disarray. They do not recognize any single leader or leadership set, nor do they now subscribe to any common ideology or set of interests. It is doubtful that their last platform represents any unanimity of thinking.
As Benjamin Franklin said in Poor Richard’s Almanac, one can be penny wise and pound foolish. Such has been the case with the republican-led Oklahoma legislature these past few sessions.
The legislature has ignored and postponed obvious fiscal problems as they have gone merrily along the path of [...]
That vision must capture the American dream, And in the teary eyes of its people gleam. EEV – 1996
Oh, the audacity of hope! Hope swells eternal within the human breast, and it impels us onward toward our vision of destiny. So has it happened in these United [...]
Unfortunately the current election is not being approached with proper respect for either democratic principles or the ideals which should govern the manner in which election campaigns are conducted. Nationally, the candidate of the party in power has waged his entire election battle by attacking and trying to denigrate his [...]
Is there no class anymore? This query came from a lady who has been showing class for 61 years to the personal knowledge of this writer. It reflects a question now raised by many in our common generation. It does appear that there is little or no class to be [...]
When it is all said and done, this presidential campaign will likely go down as one of the dirtiest and most negative in history. As any U. S. history scholar will confirm, there have been a lot of dirty campaigns in our past.
As a real debate, the vice-presidential confrontation was little more than a farce, as judged by most competent observers.
It was like amateur night for the winking Hockey Mom and former beauty contestant turned (repeatedly) self-proclaimed maverick. She had been well coached as to how to deliver her [...]
Among all the points and counterpoints, often brilliantly done, in the presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi, one poignant moment stands out in the mind of this observer.
It was Barrack Obama’s line in response to a human emotion anecdote of some length by John McCain. He told of [...]
Too many in the media, in their efforts to appear unbiased, like to paint candidates in both parties with the same tar brush. They like to criticize both campaigns of going negative. Some may deserve this criticism more than others. Some may deserve little of it.
This writer is not a teller of tales – claiming no talent in composing fictional plots and stories. But sometimes he demonstrates an unusual gift in foretelling alternative futures from present day events and circumstances. This writer has undertaken to exercise this gift in looking toward one of those alternative [...]
The McCain camp very wisely kept the ever talkative Sarah Palin under his watchful eye during the ten days following the republican convention. She only spoke her scripted stump speech, an abbreviated version of her convention appearance. Reporters were not allowed near the vice president nominee.
While democrats keep trying to make the campaign and the election about issues, the republicans keep trying to make it about personalities. Republicans are now trying to cast themselves as change agents, ignoring the fact that they have already been in power.
It is difficult for the Militant Moderate to be objective in his opinions and observations of the Republican convention. That party tends to be extremely militant, and not at all moderate, in the rhetoric of its speakers and in its platform.
Thank heaven for remote controls! The Militant Moderate was kept busy during some evenings trying to keep a source whose coverage stayed on the convention rostrum. OETA (PBS) came nearer to complete rostrum coverage than did any of the cable news channels, but others did well.
The announcement has been made that candidate Obama has chosen Senator Joe Biden as his running mate, and the two have just appeared on stage together in Springfield, Illinois. They made a highly inspirational tandem in front of an enthusiastic crowd gathered in the candidate’s home state. Biden brought tears [...]
For a number of years now, we have been on a “globalization” kick. Of course, this has primarily been felt in such realms as commerce, education, scientific exchange, and cultural exchange.
But we citizens have been encouraged to think internationally. This is clear in our country’s diplomacy, our [...]
While candidate John McCain is ranting and raving about drilling “right here, right now,” some responsible persons are making what appear to be solid, reasonable proposals for long-range solutions to our dependence on foreign oil. One of these who knows what he is talking about is T. Boone Pickens. [...]
What is a proletarian? If we don’t know, then citizens of this country need to be finding out. There are more proletarians among us every day, and the percentage in our population is rising.
A proletarian is a member of the lower economic class. Typically the proletarian has [...]
It is shameful when a political party must rely on voter ignorance in order to gain or stay in power. Yet we can see this demonstrated at the state and national levels almost every day.
Perhaps it is even more shameful when politicians must rely on appeal to [...]
Perhaps it has been the malaise of the recovery period from heart surgery, but the Militant Moderate is lacking in a real spark of enthusiasm for politics these days. Speaking with friends, however, this appears to be a common malady.
Having had more than ample opportunities and time [...]
Out! Out! Out damned light! Depart thee thence from my inner sight. Go back now to the one who sent you, Whose vengeance has drawn its due. Take along thy load of woe and go, With burdensome gift that troubles so.
There has long been a myth about government and private enterprise. This myth no doubt originated with private businesses which wanted to do work then done by government employees. These business firms needed a leg up from the media and the public, because their argument was weak.
The failure of the Oklahoma state legislature to adequately fund government services has resulted in some bizarre happenings. We have a state staff person about to be sentenced to jail because he did not do what a judge ordered, even though he could not do it because of the failure [...]
It was in the old Laurel and Hardy series of 1930’s era movies that the phrase was often muttered at the end of some misadventure, “A fine mess you got us into, Ollie.” Of course, most of the bad stuff had happened to Oliver Hardy, while the divine klutz, Stan [...]
According to the latest polls, 68% of Americans disapprove of the job that President Bush is doing, while 28% approve. Considering the mess we are in at home and abroad, I just don’t understand why 28% would approve of the president’s performance. And, what about that dinky 4% who don’t [...]
Remember the movie of a decade or two ago entitled something like “Broadcast News?” At one point the lead character becomes so fed up with the injustices and the inanities of that business in America that he put his head out the window and yelled, “I’m mad as hell, and [...]
In the year 1854 Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote an epic poem called “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Many of us studied this in school, and some of us have reviewed it from time to time, enjoying the words, rhyme, and meter, while pondering the bittersweet tragedy of misdirected valor. [...]
Evaluating the political scene at this time, the Militant Moderate is ready to project the winner. Meet your new president – John McCain.
Mind you, conditions do change, and with those the predictions also change. Nevertheless, at this point in time (as we pundits are prone to say), [...]
Hope is indeed an audacious attribute in the American society, especially in these times. Perhaps hope has always been an audacious spirit in any and all ages.
Surely there are rarely ever periods which tend to generate hope, although some may be more conducive to the emergence of [...]
Bringing down Eliot Spitzer was quite an accomplishment for the feds in the Bush administration. Let us overlook for a moment the fact that it was indeed Mr. Spitzer himself who was caught arranging a meeting with a prostitute, and the negatives that entails. Let us look for a moment [...]
Mr. Bush and Candidate McCain appearing together on the portico at the White House was enough to make a body ill. The mere possibility of another four years of a Bush-lite in the White House is enough to strike fear in the hearts of even the braver among us. [...]
It is not all that difficult to be a moderate. However, it is tough being an activist moderate, such as the Militant Moderate claims to be. It is important to remember that there are moderates to the left, the right, and in the center.
The week after Super Tuesday has been a strange but interesting one. One of our presidential races is clarifying, and the other may be even more muddled.
John McCain, whom we normally label as the nice guy, has emerged as the presumptive candidate on the Republican ticket. He [...]
It is the day after President Bush’s last state of the union message to Congress. Even though we should be glad that this is his last, some of us are not feeling so well.
Some of us still feel a little nauseous. We find his smirks repugnant. We [...]
Maybe President Jimmy Carter was right when he made the famous “malaise” speech in the late 1970’s during a period of energy crisis and problems with OPEC. Some of us still remember the lines at gas stations and the limits on purchases during those years.
One might think that the specter of Senator Joe McCarthy had long departed the political and social scene in America. Not so.
The memory of the marauding scion of the reactionary right, whose sword of righteousness dripped “red” with the blood of suspected communist sympathizers in the early [...]
As if we had not all had enough of pundits giving their opinions about candidates, the Militant Moderate is about to add his current impressions in brief about the major candidates contending for the right to serve as our president.
This writer thinks that the presidency is such [...]
