The news came suddenly, without even a hint from local police that they were onto something. It hit the net a few hours ago and details are at best minimal.
Two people were busted yesterday and charged with the murder of Kelsey Bransby, who was killed last October in an apartment on the far south side of Oklahoma City. Their names are Cole Dean Hopper and Danielle Marie Cooley. Hopper is listed as 20 years old. Cooley, depending on who you read, is either 19, or 21.
On the local CBS affiliate's site, reporter Adrianna Iwasinski writes that a person who found Bransby that awful day told her Cooley was Bransby's best friend and Hopper was Cooley's boyfriend. KOCO is the ABC affiliate, their site is reporting that Bransby's mother, Sheila Davis told reporter Katy Bakey that both Hopper and Cooley were friends with her daughter. I suppose that revelation should come as no surprise. If you are murdered chances are overwhelming the crime was committed by a relative, friend, or acquaintance. It would seem we prefer to have relationships with our victims before we do them in.
There is, as yet, no word as to why the pair would murder, Kelsey Bransby. The motive will no doubt be revealed once attorneys start trying the case in the media. So will the reason the police came to suspect the pair and what evidence has been amassed against them. At this point no one knows if they've been the prime suspects all along, or if someone ratted them out when they screwed the pooch and blabbed about the murder over too many beers, or hits of meth to a fellow traveler. In this age no one can keep their mouth shut. If you say something, anything, it is immediately public knowledge.
KOCO reports that Bransby's mother is glad this part of the ordeal is over. She tried to put into words what really can't be explained fully by the parent of a dead child. She is emotionally drained, especially after finding out Cooley and Hopper were the ones charged. She says she has no idea why they would have done it. She'll find that out shortly and bets are her current daze will turn into a white hot anger fairly soon.
Three girls perished last autumn in this burg. Suspects in Carina Saunders' gruesome murder currently reside in the Oklahoma County lockup. Now two people have been charged and are being held in the Cleveland County detention center for the slaying of Kelsey Bransby. That leaves the death of Alina Fitzpatrick the only one seemingly without a hope of being solved.
No one has been convicted yet. As the blurb on the TV cop reality show says, "All parties are considered innocent until proven guilty."
It is hard to keep that ideal in mind right now.
Kelsey Bransby is dead and no one outside of police headquarters, or the people who did it knows why.
When the reason is revealed it will be foul and stupid. That we can be assured of. Because, if they did did do it, those two sets of vacant eyes staring out at us from their mug shots guarantee it.
5-31-12
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Money Talks
As an NBC-Marist poll shows the race between Mitt Romney and Barak Obama essentially dead heats in Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada, the spending by conservative super pacs continues to impact the campaign.
According to MSNBC pro Obama forces have spent $38.7 million and pro Romney spending stands at $46.7 million. However breaking it down further there is a glaring discrepancy in who is actually doling out all this cash. According to the report the Obama campaign is directly responsible for $31.4 million of their expenditures. On the other hand the Romney campaign has kicked in only $5.2 million. Everything else has come from right wing super pacs who are promising to spend as much as a billion dollars to unseat the president.
According to the supreme court this is free speech at work. To the average person it looks an awful lot like bribery, but then what do we know? You say tomato etc.
The only significant chunk of cash being spent in anti Romney, ads outside of the Obama campaign itself, comes from Planned Parenthood who has bought $1.2 million in ads. The ads will be appearing in Iowa, Florida, Wisconsin, and Washington D.C. They point out that Mr. Romney wants to gut the organization and roll back Roe V. Wade while he hems and haws about things like women earning the same amount of money as men for doing the same job. In other words, making America great again means getting into a time machine and traveling back to the 1950's. Yes, that was a lovely age. Racial segregation was wide spread, homosexuals were routinely beaten by just about everyone else and women were ordered by the state to carry their rapist's fetus to full term.
The figures do appear to show the Mitt has given up even trying to woo Hispanic voters, hoping instead they'll simply stay home on election day. So far his campaign has spent a whopping $21,000 on ads targeting the Latino population. In the mean time the Obama people have gone all in and have currently run up a tab of $1.4 million playing to that demographic. No wonder the republicans have all ready written off California. Look for every voter even suspected of being Hispanic to be challenged by republican poll watchers come November.
It is unclear as to how we got to this state. It has been a slow creeping process that probably began back when Eisenhower found out people actually watched TV ads. Then Jack Kennedy came along and he played to the camera perfectly, while Nixon came across as a jowly gangster, which, of course, he later proved he was. The television networks had found a new sales windfall and a vast gaggle of media consultants and experts became eminently employable. And it all cost money. More than any single human being could hope to raise no matter how many improbable promises he made.
Add that to the right turn the republicans made first with Goldwater and then later with Reagan, you know that turn that led them to the path of you're with us, or you're a traitor and things went straight down hill. With the advent of Pacs and superpacs they could suddenly put their money where their mouths were. Their guy could remain above the fray while ads ran that said things like John Kerry didn't deserve his medals and Barak Obama was born somewhere in Africa, or Indonesia, well, anywhere but here. No depth was too great to sink to and no price too high to pay. Screw decency and the truth, we're talking about our boy running the country and keeping the barbarians at bay.
Yes, at some point democracy went by the way side and the oval office became available to the highest bidder.
Unfortunately for millions of Americans and perhaps the very future of the republic, the election of the president has come down to that crass and brutal golden rule.
"He who has the gold rules."
Hey, it isn't class warfare. Class warfare is a liberal myth. It is simply the cost of doing business. Besides, if you can't afford the car you shouldn't be in the showroom.
5-31-12
According to MSNBC pro Obama forces have spent $38.7 million and pro Romney spending stands at $46.7 million. However breaking it down further there is a glaring discrepancy in who is actually doling out all this cash. According to the report the Obama campaign is directly responsible for $31.4 million of their expenditures. On the other hand the Romney campaign has kicked in only $5.2 million. Everything else has come from right wing super pacs who are promising to spend as much as a billion dollars to unseat the president.
According to the supreme court this is free speech at work. To the average person it looks an awful lot like bribery, but then what do we know? You say tomato etc.
The only significant chunk of cash being spent in anti Romney, ads outside of the Obama campaign itself, comes from Planned Parenthood who has bought $1.2 million in ads. The ads will be appearing in Iowa, Florida, Wisconsin, and Washington D.C. They point out that Mr. Romney wants to gut the organization and roll back Roe V. Wade while he hems and haws about things like women earning the same amount of money as men for doing the same job. In other words, making America great again means getting into a time machine and traveling back to the 1950's. Yes, that was a lovely age. Racial segregation was wide spread, homosexuals were routinely beaten by just about everyone else and women were ordered by the state to carry their rapist's fetus to full term.
The figures do appear to show the Mitt has given up even trying to woo Hispanic voters, hoping instead they'll simply stay home on election day. So far his campaign has spent a whopping $21,000 on ads targeting the Latino population. In the mean time the Obama people have gone all in and have currently run up a tab of $1.4 million playing to that demographic. No wonder the republicans have all ready written off California. Look for every voter even suspected of being Hispanic to be challenged by republican poll watchers come November.
It is unclear as to how we got to this state. It has been a slow creeping process that probably began back when Eisenhower found out people actually watched TV ads. Then Jack Kennedy came along and he played to the camera perfectly, while Nixon came across as a jowly gangster, which, of course, he later proved he was. The television networks had found a new sales windfall and a vast gaggle of media consultants and experts became eminently employable. And it all cost money. More than any single human being could hope to raise no matter how many improbable promises he made.
Add that to the right turn the republicans made first with Goldwater and then later with Reagan, you know that turn that led them to the path of you're with us, or you're a traitor and things went straight down hill. With the advent of Pacs and superpacs they could suddenly put their money where their mouths were. Their guy could remain above the fray while ads ran that said things like John Kerry didn't deserve his medals and Barak Obama was born somewhere in Africa, or Indonesia, well, anywhere but here. No depth was too great to sink to and no price too high to pay. Screw decency and the truth, we're talking about our boy running the country and keeping the barbarians at bay.
Yes, at some point democracy went by the way side and the oval office became available to the highest bidder.
Unfortunately for millions of Americans and perhaps the very future of the republic, the election of the president has come down to that crass and brutal golden rule.
"He who has the gold rules."
Hey, it isn't class warfare. Class warfare is a liberal myth. It is simply the cost of doing business. Besides, if you can't afford the car you shouldn't be in the showroom.
5-31-12
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Mitt and Donald: There's No Business Like Show Business
It was all very patriotic yesterday.The President placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns in Washington and later visited the Vietnam War memorial. Yes, it has been fifty years since that deadly mis-adventure began. Mitt Romney was in San Diego delivering a speech to an estimated crowd of 5,000. His people actually had the balls to say the appearance was "...a Memorial Day service paying tribute to the war dead, not a campaign rally."
Such bald face bull shit should be reserved for children who still believe in Santa Claus. Everything, I mean everything, both Mr. Romney and the President do from now until election day is politically motivated. For the next few months both of them won't even take a leak without getting feed back from some focus group first. We are now witnessing the super bowl of American politics. As Holmes would say "the game is afoot," and every move, every word will be dissected by a blood thirsty press. Every speech, every visit to some blue collar diner is designed to appeal to a bloc of voters. There is no down time in a presidential race.
All of which makes you wonder why Mitt Romney is currently hanging out with Donald Trump. It is an odd, almost surreal, mystery. The obvious answer, of course, is money. Trump has a lot of it and presidential campaigns hemorrhage money in astounding amounts. However there are more than a few people who consider Donald Trump nothing more than an extreme version of a self promoting carnival barker. You know, the guy who waves you over to his tent and tells you all you have to do is knock over those metal replicas of milk bottles and you win the big fuzzy doll for your girl.
Brother Trump still insists that there are doubts as to the birth place of Barak Obama. It is a notion so far out on the fringe that it tends to rival those alien abduction stories you hear every now and then. He also believes that Mr. Romney should dredge up the Jeremiah Wright connection and exploit it. Certainly someone in the Romney camp should understand that playing the Wright card would allow the Obama people to call into question the "Mormon issue." We are talking about a can of worms so ugly on both sides that millions of people might just walk away from the two candidates in utter disgust.
Even the articulate arch conservative reprobate George Will doesn't understand this eerie symbiotic moment. MSNBC quotes him as saying, " I don't understand the cost benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefit--what voter is going to vote for him (Romney) because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious it seems to me."
The wags at MSNBC speculated that by cozying up to Trump now it will be easier for the Romney campaign to deny him speaking time at the convention. In other words, let him "bloviate" now and then shuffle him off to the wings and ignore him. Or, more pragmatically, cash his check as quickly as possible, then don't let him any where near the candidate again.
Actually the very idea that this sort of horrid used car salesman is somehow influencing the campaign for the presidency of the United States of America should frighten the bejeezus out of us all. Have we actually sunk this low? What is left? Asking for the support and input of Vince McMahon and his cast of World Wrestling Entertainment characters.
There used to be some dignity associated with the office of president and those who sought it. Now it seems we've put choosing the next Commander in Chief on a par with deciding who moves into the next round of "Dancing With The Stars."
Things just get weirder and weirder. Politics isn't what it used to be. Neither are we. Entertainment has overtaken responsible decision making.We have entered the People Magazine age. And, as always, money rules.
Just ask Mitt Romney tonight when he is speaking at the Trump International Hotel as the Donald beams vacuously at his side. He will be appearing in the ultimate episode of "Celebrity Apprentice."
I suppose the only thing left to say is, there's no business like show business.
Bring on the dogs and ponies. This garish revue has just begun.
5-29-12
Such bald face bull shit should be reserved for children who still believe in Santa Claus. Everything, I mean everything, both Mr. Romney and the President do from now until election day is politically motivated. For the next few months both of them won't even take a leak without getting feed back from some focus group first. We are now witnessing the super bowl of American politics. As Holmes would say "the game is afoot," and every move, every word will be dissected by a blood thirsty press. Every speech, every visit to some blue collar diner is designed to appeal to a bloc of voters. There is no down time in a presidential race.
All of which makes you wonder why Mitt Romney is currently hanging out with Donald Trump. It is an odd, almost surreal, mystery. The obvious answer, of course, is money. Trump has a lot of it and presidential campaigns hemorrhage money in astounding amounts. However there are more than a few people who consider Donald Trump nothing more than an extreme version of a self promoting carnival barker. You know, the guy who waves you over to his tent and tells you all you have to do is knock over those metal replicas of milk bottles and you win the big fuzzy doll for your girl.
Brother Trump still insists that there are doubts as to the birth place of Barak Obama. It is a notion so far out on the fringe that it tends to rival those alien abduction stories you hear every now and then. He also believes that Mr. Romney should dredge up the Jeremiah Wright connection and exploit it. Certainly someone in the Romney camp should understand that playing the Wright card would allow the Obama people to call into question the "Mormon issue." We are talking about a can of worms so ugly on both sides that millions of people might just walk away from the two candidates in utter disgust.
Even the articulate arch conservative reprobate George Will doesn't understand this eerie symbiotic moment. MSNBC quotes him as saying, " I don't understand the cost benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefit--what voter is going to vote for him (Romney) because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious it seems to me."
The wags at MSNBC speculated that by cozying up to Trump now it will be easier for the Romney campaign to deny him speaking time at the convention. In other words, let him "bloviate" now and then shuffle him off to the wings and ignore him. Or, more pragmatically, cash his check as quickly as possible, then don't let him any where near the candidate again.
Actually the very idea that this sort of horrid used car salesman is somehow influencing the campaign for the presidency of the United States of America should frighten the bejeezus out of us all. Have we actually sunk this low? What is left? Asking for the support and input of Vince McMahon and his cast of World Wrestling Entertainment characters.
There used to be some dignity associated with the office of president and those who sought it. Now it seems we've put choosing the next Commander in Chief on a par with deciding who moves into the next round of "Dancing With The Stars."
Things just get weirder and weirder. Politics isn't what it used to be. Neither are we. Entertainment has overtaken responsible decision making.We have entered the People Magazine age. And, as always, money rules.
Just ask Mitt Romney tonight when he is speaking at the Trump International Hotel as the Donald beams vacuously at his side. He will be appearing in the ultimate episode of "Celebrity Apprentice."
I suppose the only thing left to say is, there's no business like show business.
Bring on the dogs and ponies. This garish revue has just begun.
5-29-12
Friday, May 25, 2012
Memorial Day: Dead Soldiers and Cold Beer
So here in the states it is Memorial Day Weekend. It is a time when, in order to commemorate our honored dead, we go out to ball games, car races, beaches, and lakes while huge numbers of us guzzle enough beer to keep a dozen breweries profitable.
There will be ceremonies held at different venues. The sad lament of "Taps" will be played on bugles and little American flags will flutter at innumerable grave sites. The attendance at these rites will be sparse compared to the multitudes swilling brewskies in the bleachers, but hey it is a free country, right?
If we know anything about the republic it is that we will never have a shortage of war dead. We don't make a lot of things any more, but we are extremely efficient at rolling out that product. The United States doesn't outsource dead soldiers, sailors, and marines. There will always be some crisis that calls for us to sacrifice our sons and daughters in far away places that shouldn't mean squat to us. We will place our hands over our hearts as the coffins are carried out of planes and tell each other that mangled corpses are the price of freedom.
Other than the bitter divisiveness at the end of the Vietnam conflict and then in the months after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington war has had no daily impact on us for 67 years. Unless you have a child, or spouse serving in the military the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has nothing to do with how you conduct your life. There is no food, water, or gas rationing. There aren't any power outages. There aren't any bombs falling. We might be inconvenienced by a few security checks at airports and stadiums, but we aren't concerned that Iraqi tanks will come rumbling down the street firing indiscriminately. There won't be any Taliban helicopters strafing shopping mall parking lots. War has become such an abstract to the American public that we go along with sending troops anywhere for any reason without blinking an eye or asking the simple question, why. We don't love it, we just don't hate it enough because it doesn't hurt the vast majority of us.
War is sometimes an evil necessity. Sadly, for us, it has become an evil habit. A habit that we simply don't want to kick. Too many of us equate a willingness to go to war with patriotism. Too many of us take pride in a high body count off in some foreign land. Too many of us believe war should be the first option rather than the last.
Yes, some of us will honor the dead this weekend while many won't even give it a second thought. All the weekend means for millions is that there is an extra day off from work and summer has officially begun.
Why dwell on something as grotesque as war and death. After all, it really is far away and right here and now the brats are on the grill, the pool is open, and the party is on.
Or, as the great philosopher, Alfred E. Newman said, "What, me worry?"
5-25-12
There will be ceremonies held at different venues. The sad lament of "Taps" will be played on bugles and little American flags will flutter at innumerable grave sites. The attendance at these rites will be sparse compared to the multitudes swilling brewskies in the bleachers, but hey it is a free country, right?
If we know anything about the republic it is that we will never have a shortage of war dead. We don't make a lot of things any more, but we are extremely efficient at rolling out that product. The United States doesn't outsource dead soldiers, sailors, and marines. There will always be some crisis that calls for us to sacrifice our sons and daughters in far away places that shouldn't mean squat to us. We will place our hands over our hearts as the coffins are carried out of planes and tell each other that mangled corpses are the price of freedom.
Other than the bitter divisiveness at the end of the Vietnam conflict and then in the months after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington war has had no daily impact on us for 67 years. Unless you have a child, or spouse serving in the military the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has nothing to do with how you conduct your life. There is no food, water, or gas rationing. There aren't any power outages. There aren't any bombs falling. We might be inconvenienced by a few security checks at airports and stadiums, but we aren't concerned that Iraqi tanks will come rumbling down the street firing indiscriminately. There won't be any Taliban helicopters strafing shopping mall parking lots. War has become such an abstract to the American public that we go along with sending troops anywhere for any reason without blinking an eye or asking the simple question, why. We don't love it, we just don't hate it enough because it doesn't hurt the vast majority of us.
War is sometimes an evil necessity. Sadly, for us, it has become an evil habit. A habit that we simply don't want to kick. Too many of us equate a willingness to go to war with patriotism. Too many of us take pride in a high body count off in some foreign land. Too many of us believe war should be the first option rather than the last.
Yes, some of us will honor the dead this weekend while many won't even give it a second thought. All the weekend means for millions is that there is an extra day off from work and summer has officially begun.
Why dwell on something as grotesque as war and death. After all, it really is far away and right here and now the brats are on the grill, the pool is open, and the party is on.
Or, as the great philosopher, Alfred E. Newman said, "What, me worry?"
5-25-12
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Guns, Guns and More Guns: Wyatt Where Are You When We Need You?
In today's Oklahoman an article by Megan Rolland deals with the aftermath of the shooting of eight people following the OKC-LA Lakers basketball game the other night. One Miles Hall, the owner of a local gun range, believes, according to the article, that since hand guns are not allowed in the Chesapeake Energy Arena and most, if not all, the Bricktown restaurants and bars, it has created a "victim rich" environment.
Hall is quoted as saying, "I'm not looking for a Wild West shoot out in the street, but chances are pretty good the bad guys know the victims are not carrying." Later in the story he is also quoted as saying, "I think responsible, educated, gun owners are the solution to an awful lot of crime woes because the bad guys don't want to get hurt doing what they are doing. They tend not to be that stupid."
Sorry, Miles, but yes they do tend to be that stupid. The specific crime we are talking about involved a teenager and a fight over what one attorney describes as "stupid high school stuff--boys, girls, telephones--stupid little high school issues." Trust me Mr. Hall, the last thing on that toad's mind was whether anyone else was carrying a weapon, or not. When you are sixteen and want to be a tough guy, analytic thinking is really not part of the equation.
I've said it before and I will say it again here. I've been hunting twice in my life. I have no problem with people who do, so long as they have the decency to eat what they've shot. The problem is that Glock 9 millimeter semi automatics and even that little five shot Rossi .38 tucked away in my night stand are not designed to bring down a deer, or a covey of quail. They are designed for one purpose and one purpose only. That is to kill another human being.
If everyone out there has one, no matter how "responsible" they might seem when they buy it, no matter how "educated" they might pretend to be, somewhere down the line a pecentage of them are going to use it at the wrong time in the wrong place for the wrong reason.
Yes, I can just imagine the family friendly environment at the arena. You get some Johnny Ringo wanna be all beered up and then when Metta World Peace throws that elbow into the side of James Harden's skull, he saves the commissioner the problem of deciding how long the suspension should be. Or, more realistic, there won't be any need to call in an usher to deal with that asshole in front of you who won't sit down.
It is unclear if Miles Hall advocates the use of gasoline to put out raging fires, but considering his logic in this instance it isn't that far fetched to believe so.
Back during the real Wild West, when places like Dodge were out of control, the first move by guys like Wyatt Earp was to halt everyone from bringing a weapon into town. This is known as gun control. It was strictly enforced and the murder rate plummeted. The streets became safe.
But that is okay. Hand gun advocates have never worried about history or logic. They just want to have that warm fuzzy feeling of manhood strapped to their hip. They want that sexual rush of knowing they are the ones who decide who lives and who dies.
I have a gun and I am dangerous, therefore I am. Wanna' see my erection?
Wyatt, where are you when we need you?
5-24-12
Hall is quoted as saying, "I'm not looking for a Wild West shoot out in the street, but chances are pretty good the bad guys know the victims are not carrying." Later in the story he is also quoted as saying, "I think responsible, educated, gun owners are the solution to an awful lot of crime woes because the bad guys don't want to get hurt doing what they are doing. They tend not to be that stupid."
Sorry, Miles, but yes they do tend to be that stupid. The specific crime we are talking about involved a teenager and a fight over what one attorney describes as "stupid high school stuff--boys, girls, telephones--stupid little high school issues." Trust me Mr. Hall, the last thing on that toad's mind was whether anyone else was carrying a weapon, or not. When you are sixteen and want to be a tough guy, analytic thinking is really not part of the equation.
I've said it before and I will say it again here. I've been hunting twice in my life. I have no problem with people who do, so long as they have the decency to eat what they've shot. The problem is that Glock 9 millimeter semi automatics and even that little five shot Rossi .38 tucked away in my night stand are not designed to bring down a deer, or a covey of quail. They are designed for one purpose and one purpose only. That is to kill another human being.
If everyone out there has one, no matter how "responsible" they might seem when they buy it, no matter how "educated" they might pretend to be, somewhere down the line a pecentage of them are going to use it at the wrong time in the wrong place for the wrong reason.
Yes, I can just imagine the family friendly environment at the arena. You get some Johnny Ringo wanna be all beered up and then when Metta World Peace throws that elbow into the side of James Harden's skull, he saves the commissioner the problem of deciding how long the suspension should be. Or, more realistic, there won't be any need to call in an usher to deal with that asshole in front of you who won't sit down.
It is unclear if Miles Hall advocates the use of gasoline to put out raging fires, but considering his logic in this instance it isn't that far fetched to believe so.
Back during the real Wild West, when places like Dodge were out of control, the first move by guys like Wyatt Earp was to halt everyone from bringing a weapon into town. This is known as gun control. It was strictly enforced and the murder rate plummeted. The streets became safe.
But that is okay. Hand gun advocates have never worried about history or logic. They just want to have that warm fuzzy feeling of manhood strapped to their hip. They want that sexual rush of knowing they are the ones who decide who lives and who dies.
I have a gun and I am dangerous, therefore I am. Wanna' see my erection?
Wyatt, where are you when we need you?
5-24-12
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Obama Si, Romney No
According to a report by MSNBC, Mitt Romney is in trouble with Latino voters. In fact it could be said he is in real trouble. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll of Latinos indicates that Barak Obama holds a 61 to 27 point lead over the former governor. Those are numbers that could be described by some as a landslide.
When broken down further the numbers don't get any better. Only 26% percent of those polled view the Mittster in a positive light, while 35% consider him negatively. Conversely Obama's favorable rating is 58% while only 23% rate him as a negative. When it comes to handling the economy 61% of those polled say they approve of the president's policies.
Actually this isn't a new trend. Four years ago Obama ran 67 percent to John McCain's 31% among these very same voters.
No wonder Mitt's people are vetting Florida senator Marco Rubio as I type. The good news for Romney is that Rubio is of Hispanic descent, the son of Cuban immigrants. The not so good news is that Rubio is considered in some quarters as the crown prince of the Tea Party. Shifting further to the right is probably not the direction Mitt wants to take. He maybe many things, but he isn't dumb. He knows how well the far right ideologues fared in the primaries outside of the deep south and places like Oklahoma. They were so distasteful to the electorate that people actually voted for him.
And of course the Cubans are only one part of the Latino community which cannot be looked at as a monolith. Many, if not all of them, fled a communist dictatorship. The very mention of the name Kennedy still throws huge numbers of them into fits of frothing anger. This isn't true of the rest of the Latino community.
So how is it that Mitt doesn't play well in a socially conservative, heavily catholic voter block? Well, the elephant in his living room is named immigration. He has had to pander to the far right and they want fences built, troops deployed, and live ammunition distributed to stem the tide of illegal immigration. They aren't subtle about it either.
The Latino community is fully aware of where these yahoos stand. You're a tough sell to someone who knows you have scads of supporters who would prefer to shoot a cousin out in the Arizona desert rather than let him roof a house in Flagstaff.
No, it looks like Mitt is going to have to write this minority off as a lost cause. His only hope is that they stay home on election day. Unfortunately for Obama there is some indication they might. The only inkling of trouble for the president in this poll is that only 68% of those responding say they are highly interested in the election. That number is 81% for everyone else.
There is a long way to go before November, but with the race too close to call, Romney is going to have to make up for these votes some how. The question is where and with whom?
5-23-12
When broken down further the numbers don't get any better. Only 26% percent of those polled view the Mittster in a positive light, while 35% consider him negatively. Conversely Obama's favorable rating is 58% while only 23% rate him as a negative. When it comes to handling the economy 61% of those polled say they approve of the president's policies.
Actually this isn't a new trend. Four years ago Obama ran 67 percent to John McCain's 31% among these very same voters.
No wonder Mitt's people are vetting Florida senator Marco Rubio as I type. The good news for Romney is that Rubio is of Hispanic descent, the son of Cuban immigrants. The not so good news is that Rubio is considered in some quarters as the crown prince of the Tea Party. Shifting further to the right is probably not the direction Mitt wants to take. He maybe many things, but he isn't dumb. He knows how well the far right ideologues fared in the primaries outside of the deep south and places like Oklahoma. They were so distasteful to the electorate that people actually voted for him.
And of course the Cubans are only one part of the Latino community which cannot be looked at as a monolith. Many, if not all of them, fled a communist dictatorship. The very mention of the name Kennedy still throws huge numbers of them into fits of frothing anger. This isn't true of the rest of the Latino community.
So how is it that Mitt doesn't play well in a socially conservative, heavily catholic voter block? Well, the elephant in his living room is named immigration. He has had to pander to the far right and they want fences built, troops deployed, and live ammunition distributed to stem the tide of illegal immigration. They aren't subtle about it either.
The Latino community is fully aware of where these yahoos stand. You're a tough sell to someone who knows you have scads of supporters who would prefer to shoot a cousin out in the Arizona desert rather than let him roof a house in Flagstaff.
No, it looks like Mitt is going to have to write this minority off as a lost cause. His only hope is that they stay home on election day. Unfortunately for Obama there is some indication they might. The only inkling of trouble for the president in this poll is that only 68% of those responding say they are highly interested in the election. That number is 81% for everyone else.
There is a long way to go before November, but with the race too close to call, Romney is going to have to make up for these votes some how. The question is where and with whom?
5-23-12
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Oklahoma City Goes Big League: Eight Shot
When I moved to Oklahoma City in 1959 I was told there were 325,000 people here. No one ever mentioned the term metropolitan area. A place like Edmond, which is just north of the city limits might have had 5,000. Moore, which is just south probably had fewer than that. Norman, which is south of Moore and the home of the University of Oklahoma might have had 12,000 permanent residents.
Although the city did have a history of minor league baseball and surprisingly, minor league hockey, when my family hit town there wasn't a pro team to be had in any sport. If you wanted to go to a sporting event you went to see high school football, high school basketball, or wrestling. The only thing even approaching big time was OU football during the fall down in Norman. The stadium held a little over sixty thousand and every now and then it sold out.
Things, as they say, have evolved. The metro is now hovering around 1.2 million. A few years ago some giddy dreamers began talking about trying to land a major league franchise. The NFL and MLB seemed a bit far fetched, but the NHL actually did seem doable.
The NHL did toy with the city a couple of times. They were never truly serious though. The league was using OKC as a threat to wring concessions out of other cities, bigger markets because the market is everything.
To make a long story short, Seattle had a basketball team called the Super Sonics. They were playing in a dump called Key Arena. They were owned by a guy named Schultz who was far better at brewing coffee than he was running a NBA franchise. The people of Seattle having tired of paying for pro sports franchise stadiums refused to ante up for a new arena. Schultz sold to a whiz bang Oklahoma group headed by Clay Bennett who had married into the Gaylord family and was fabulously well to do. After only a year in Seattle he moved the team to Oklahoma City and renamed them The Thunder.
People in Seattle went ballistic and still do even a few years after the fact, although hardly any of them went to Sonic games in the first place. Everyone else just sort of groaned. Down in Dallas, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban mumbled some things about creating a "Dust Bowl Division" in the league. Eyes rolled in places like Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and New York. The daily paper, "The Oklahoman" which was then owned by, you guessed it, the Gaylord family ran a head line that went something like this, "BIG LEAGUE!" You could almost hear the disgusted whispers. It was as if the Clampetts had just crashed the country club dinner.
Seattle continued to boil and OKC got a chip on its shoulder. The team also started to win during the second year here. Last year The Thunder went to the Western Conference finals by thumping Denver and edging out Memphis. It didn't take long for Cuban's Mavs to end that dream, but the seeds were sewn.
This year every game was a sell out and large numbers of people could be found standing outside the arena watching the game on a big screen video screen. In the first round of the playoffs OKC blew out the defending NBA champs, Dallas in four games. In the second round, the storied LA Lakers came to town.
Unless you are from this burg you really cannot grasp what that means to a life long, or nearly life long OKC resident. A couple of years ago the Lakers knocked the Thunder out in the first round in six games. Still the idea of Oklahoma City taking on Los Angeles as an equal in anything, anything at all, just takes the average Oklahoman's breath away.
Last night, in game five The Thunder beat the Lakers 106-90 to win the series four games to one. Inside the downtown arena there were 18,203 screaming fans. Outside it, depending on which estimate you believe there were somewhere between 6,000 and 7,500 more. They witnessed what even ten years ago was a fantasy so ridiculous that if spoken aloud it would have gotten you laughed out of any bar in town. The party was ON!
Then of course some stupid troll opened fire. It happened about three blocks east of the arena. Details are fuzzy, something about an argument between a group of guys and a group of women. Police don't think it had anything to do with the game, or at least they aren't admitting to it. Eight people were wounded, one seriously. A couple of arrests were made.
Yes, welcome to the big leagues, Oklahoma City and all that comes with it. It has become painfully obvious that we have more in common with Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and LA than just a NBA team. We have arrived in more ways than one.
For decades we wanted to be counted with the big boys. I guess we will be now. The city was never that innocent to begin with, but this was stunning. That small town glow was happily and finally sacrificed for the bright lights. Today we understand the bright lights cast very dark shadows. And, it only takes a single step to go from one to the other.
We won last night and then we lost. Unfortunately we should probably get used to that symbiosis. It comes with the territory.
5-22-12
Although the city did have a history of minor league baseball and surprisingly, minor league hockey, when my family hit town there wasn't a pro team to be had in any sport. If you wanted to go to a sporting event you went to see high school football, high school basketball, or wrestling. The only thing even approaching big time was OU football during the fall down in Norman. The stadium held a little over sixty thousand and every now and then it sold out.
Things, as they say, have evolved. The metro is now hovering around 1.2 million. A few years ago some giddy dreamers began talking about trying to land a major league franchise. The NFL and MLB seemed a bit far fetched, but the NHL actually did seem doable.
The NHL did toy with the city a couple of times. They were never truly serious though. The league was using OKC as a threat to wring concessions out of other cities, bigger markets because the market is everything.
To make a long story short, Seattle had a basketball team called the Super Sonics. They were playing in a dump called Key Arena. They were owned by a guy named Schultz who was far better at brewing coffee than he was running a NBA franchise. The people of Seattle having tired of paying for pro sports franchise stadiums refused to ante up for a new arena. Schultz sold to a whiz bang Oklahoma group headed by Clay Bennett who had married into the Gaylord family and was fabulously well to do. After only a year in Seattle he moved the team to Oklahoma City and renamed them The Thunder.
People in Seattle went ballistic and still do even a few years after the fact, although hardly any of them went to Sonic games in the first place. Everyone else just sort of groaned. Down in Dallas, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban mumbled some things about creating a "Dust Bowl Division" in the league. Eyes rolled in places like Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and New York. The daily paper, "The Oklahoman" which was then owned by, you guessed it, the Gaylord family ran a head line that went something like this, "BIG LEAGUE!" You could almost hear the disgusted whispers. It was as if the Clampetts had just crashed the country club dinner.
Seattle continued to boil and OKC got a chip on its shoulder. The team also started to win during the second year here. Last year The Thunder went to the Western Conference finals by thumping Denver and edging out Memphis. It didn't take long for Cuban's Mavs to end that dream, but the seeds were sewn.
This year every game was a sell out and large numbers of people could be found standing outside the arena watching the game on a big screen video screen. In the first round of the playoffs OKC blew out the defending NBA champs, Dallas in four games. In the second round, the storied LA Lakers came to town.
Unless you are from this burg you really cannot grasp what that means to a life long, or nearly life long OKC resident. A couple of years ago the Lakers knocked the Thunder out in the first round in six games. Still the idea of Oklahoma City taking on Los Angeles as an equal in anything, anything at all, just takes the average Oklahoman's breath away.
Last night, in game five The Thunder beat the Lakers 106-90 to win the series four games to one. Inside the downtown arena there were 18,203 screaming fans. Outside it, depending on which estimate you believe there were somewhere between 6,000 and 7,500 more. They witnessed what even ten years ago was a fantasy so ridiculous that if spoken aloud it would have gotten you laughed out of any bar in town. The party was ON!
Then of course some stupid troll opened fire. It happened about three blocks east of the arena. Details are fuzzy, something about an argument between a group of guys and a group of women. Police don't think it had anything to do with the game, or at least they aren't admitting to it. Eight people were wounded, one seriously. A couple of arrests were made.
Yes, welcome to the big leagues, Oklahoma City and all that comes with it. It has become painfully obvious that we have more in common with Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and LA than just a NBA team. We have arrived in more ways than one.
For decades we wanted to be counted with the big boys. I guess we will be now. The city was never that innocent to begin with, but this was stunning. That small town glow was happily and finally sacrificed for the bright lights. Today we understand the bright lights cast very dark shadows. And, it only takes a single step to go from one to the other.
We won last night and then we lost. Unfortunately we should probably get used to that symbiosis. It comes with the territory.
5-22-12
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