So. Richard Dawkins is scheduled to speak at the University of Oklahoma tonight. I'm not going, because I don't really like Richard Dawkins. I've learned to appreciate the work he's doing as kind of an Overton window thing, expanding the range of acceptable discourse toward the left instead of the right. But that doesn't mean I personally enjoy listening to him insult people with religious beliefs.

That said, I'm proud of OU for inviting him. In fact, they've had to move the speech to a different venue because of demand, so I'm proud that so many Oklahomans are open-minded enough to go hear what he has to say.

Our legislature, however, has decided it hasn't been asshatty enough lately. Even though we had the whole Sally Kerns thing last year and the gay prayer protest last month, Oklahoma still hasn't publicly embarrassed itself enough. So Monday Representative Todd Thomsen filed a resolution demanding, among other things, that the invitation to Dawkins be retracted:

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma is a publicly funded institution which should be open to all ideas and should train students in all disciplines of study and research and to use independent thinking and free inquiry; and

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma has planned a year-long celebration of the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s theory of evolution, called the "Darwin 2009 Project", which includes a series of lectures, public speakers, and a course on the history of evolution; and

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma, as a part of the Darwin 2009 Project, has invited as a public speaker on campus, Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published opinions, as represented in his 2006 book "The God Delusion", and public statements on the theory of evolution demonstrate an intolerance for cultural diversity and diversity of thinking and are views that are not shared and are not representative of the thinking of a majority of the citizens of Oklahoma; and

WHEREAS, the invitation for Richard Dawkins to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma on Friday, March 6, 2009, will only serve to present a biased philosophy on the theory of evolution to the exclusion of all other divergent considerations rather than teaching a scientific concept.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:

THAT the Oklahoma House of Representative strongly opposes the invitation to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma to Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published statements on the theory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory are contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma.

THAT the Oklahoma House of Representatives encourages the University of Oklahoma to engage in an open, dignified, and fair discussion of the Darwinian theory of evolution and all other scientific theories which is the approach that a public institution should be engaged in and which represents the desire and interest of the citizens of Oklahoma.

THAT a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the University of Oklahoma, the Dean of the College of Arts and Science at the University of Oklahoma, and the Chair of the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma.

Yep. That should do it. Public embarrassment achieved. Congratulations, Oklahoma, on your latest attempt to stifle dissent and check out of Western Civilisation.

(Via Peace Arena)

I got an email from some Oklahoma Democratic organization. (Yes, there are Democrats here. Just not very many.) Here it is:

Oklahoma County Democratic Party Pancake Breakfast August 23

Hi everybody,

The OCDP's Annual Pancake Breakfast will be Saturday, August 23 at 8:00a.m at the DelCity Community Center, 4505 SE 15th St, Del City.

This annual event allows those to donate to Oklahoma County's effort to elect Democratic Candidates to Office. [...]

And maybe they'll raise enough funds for next year's pancake breakfast!

And now (in celebration of the crappy grammar that you don't even want to get me started on), hard candy for everyone!

The abortion bill passed. Governor Henry vetoed it. My (Democratic) senator voted with the overwhelming majority to override the veto. Sometimes I really hate Oklahoma. Anyway.

Dear Governor Henry,

You are awesome. Really, I didn't expect you to veto it. Thanks, even though it didn't work out. Please don't let the stupidity of the other Democrats in this state keep you from doing the right thing in the future.

Love,
layniek



Dear Senator Asshat,

You suck. I really love it when old white men decide they know best where women's issues are concerned. No, really. That really butters my muffin. You just keep doing that. And please know that when your seat comes up for reelection, if there is any candidate who is even one iota more liberal than you, I will do my absolute best to make sure they defeat you.

Fuck you,
layniek



Dear Oklahoma Democratic congresspeople,

You also suck. Feel free to fuck off and die.

Love and kisses,
layniek

Actual bumper sticker I saw on an actual car on my way home from work today:



The Bible Belt, ladies and gentlemen.

Re: Senate Bill 1878--Again

The ACLU of Oklahoma is trying to get Governor Henry to veto this bill, but he won't meet with them until they have the votes to sustain a veto. So they need to find seven more votes, in addition to the ten who already voted no. My senator voted yes. *sigh*

Senator [],

I am writing to encourage you to change your vote on Senate Bill 1878, should the governor veto it. This bill would require a woman to have an ultrasound before being allowed to abort a pregnancy. Proponents of the bill claim this measure will ensure that a woman's consent to an abortion is voluntary, presumably by giving her a visual reminder that, should she continue the pregnancy, the fetus she is carrying will one day be a baby.

The decision about what information a patient needs should be left to her and her doctor. More than that, the women of Oklahoma are not children. When we seek abortions, we know what we are doing. Many women who seek abortions are in difficult places in their lives, faced with an even more difficult choice. Perhaps she already has other children and cannot afford to support another. Perhaps she has no medical insurance and cannot afford the pregnancy. Perhaps having a baby at that time in her life will destroy her chances of getting an education or keeping her job. Perhaps the pregnancy is a result of rape, or incest, or an abusive relationship. Women faced with such a difficult choice should not be forced to view an ultrasound in a misplaced attempt to make them feel guilty for seeking an abortion. Doctors and their patients, not politicians, should work together to decide what information and care is best in each situation.

Reducing the number of abortions is a noble goal, but Senate Bill 1878 is not the way to achieve it. Measures such as comprehensive sex education in schools, universal health care, paid leave during pregnancy, affordable child care, and domestic violence prevention/assistance would go a long way toward reducing the need for abortion. Senate Bill 1878 will do nothing but demean women by implying we are too stupid to know what abortion is and by interfering in the sacred relationship between a doctor and his or her adult patient. I ask you to do the right thing for the women of Oklahoma and help Governor Henry sustain a veto.

Thank you for your consideration,

[layniek]

Re: Abortion - Senate Bill 1878

Governor Henry,

As an Oklahoma woman, I want to urge you to veto Senate Bill 1878. This bill would require a woman to have an ultrasound before being allowed to abort a pregnancy. Proponents of the bill claim this measure will ensure that a woman's consent to an abortion is voluntary, presumably by giving her a visual reminder that, should she continue the pregnancy, the fetus she is carrying will one day be a baby.

Governor Henry, the women of Oklahoma are not children. When we seek abortions, we know what we are doing. Many women who seek abortions are in difficult places in their lives, faced with an even more difficult choice. Perhaps she already has other children and cannot afford to support another. Perhaps she has no medical insurance and cannot afford the pregnancy. Perhaps having a baby at that time in her life will destroy her chances of getting an education or keeping her job. Perhaps the pregnancy is a result of rape, or incest, or an abusive relationship. Women faced with such a difficult choice should not be forced to view an ultrasound in a misplaced attempt to make them feel guilty for seeking an abortion.

Reducing the number of abortions is a noble goal, but Senate Bill 1878 is not the way to achieve it. Measures such as comprehensive sex education in schools, universal health care, paid leave during pregnancy, affordable child care, and domestic violence prevention/assistance would go a long way toward reducing the need for abortion. Senate Bill 1878 will do nothing but demean women by implying we are too stupid to know what abortion is. We know. And we know what we need: your support, not your condemnation.

Thank you for your consideration,

[layniek]

I also, um, posted a comment on the Oklahoman article. Yeah, yeah, this is a slippery slope, commenting on articles at newspaper websites. I promise not to get into a flamewar with the stupid trolls who will inevitably show up. Anyway, the article says this:

KEY PROVISIONS
[...]
Ensures mother's consent to an abortion is voluntary.

Provides a woman with an ultrasound of unborn child that she can view before the abortion.

Uh-huh. The first part is so conservatively biased it's ridiculous. The second part is blatantly untrue. So this is my comment (with better formatting, because their comment posting system sucks):

"KEY PROVISIONS
[...]
"Ensures mother's consent to an abortion is voluntary BY TRYING TO GUILT HER OUT OF HAVING THE ABORTION IN THE FIRST PLACE.

"REQUIRES a woman TO HAVE an ultrasound of THE FETUS that she MUST view before the abortion."

There. Fixed that for you.

Since it came to my attention that I could have submitted a design for Oklahoma's state quarter, had picara told me I even known it was going on, I've been working on my own design for a state quarter, in case the U.S. Mint offers us a mulligan. Obviously, my quarter would need to embody what I see as the true essence of Oklahoma. I had to put quite a bit of thought into it. The long, arduous process began with the floating of an initial concept around 9:00 pm local time on January 31, 2008, and ended when the finishing touches were added and the final design was approved around 1:00 pm local time on February 1, 2008.

First, as a reminder, our current, crappy quarter:



And without further ado, my infinitely superior design:



An ice-covered tree, itself doomed by the tornado in the distance, threatens ice-covered power lines. That's Will Rogers in the front. The slogan is "Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!" because we're only saying, you're doing fine, Oklahoma, okay?

Have y'all seen the lameass design they picked for Oklahoma's state quarter?



I hate it. You wanna know why? Because it's boring and obscure. I mean, what's Oklahoma known for? According to whatever the hell committee designed this coin, we're known for a bird (the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and I only know that because I grew up here) and a couple of vaguely represented flowers. Oh yeah, that's totally Oklahoma. Way to go, committee!

In case you care, the flowers, according to the U.S. Mint's helpful page, are Indian Blanket. And now that I read more closely, that's the only specific flower they're actually trying to show. "The bird is soaring over the State wildflower, the Indian Blanket, backed by a field of similar wildflowers." So, well done there. "Similar wildflowers." Maybe the committee was busy ordering lunch, so they had the chairman's wife's manicurist design the coin after huffing nail polish all day.

I'm sure you can tell that I didn't read the whole U.S. Mint page before I started ranting, because I keep learning things that make me more annoyed or invalidate stuff I said earlier. But whatever. This is high quality ranting, people. I'm leaving it like it is! On to the next part! If you read on down the U.S. Mint page, you learn that "citizens submitted more than 1,000 concepts for consideration," and then "a vote by Oklahoma citizens narrowed the field to five." There was a VOTE? WHAT VOTE? I have absolutely no recollection of this vote. Apart from the compellingly named "State bird and wildflower design," the other four that were considered were "Pioneer Woman and Child with Windmill and Oil Derrick," "Pioneer Woman and Child with State Outline and Oil Derrick," and two versions of "Pioneer Woman and Child with State Outline and Calumet." I don't know, that last one sounds pretty cool to me. Yeah, yeah, maybe it was hideous. But since I'm Monday morning quarterbacking here, I blame my fellow Oklahomans, and Governor Brad Henry, whom the U.S. Mint blames for says made the final decision, for our crappy quarter.

Then there's the question of who ended up with the coolest quarter design. Wikipedia has the best picture of all of them at once. So. My nominations for States With Quarters That Are Cooler Than Ours:

ALASKA, with it's very cool bear:



ARIZONA, which has an awesome cactus and picture of the Grand Canyon:



CONNECTICUT, which came out a long time ago, but I always though the tree was really pretty. (It has nothing to do with nutmeg, though. What the hell, man?):



NEW JERSEY, which totally scored Washington Crossing the Delaware for theirs:



NEW MEXICO, which basically just has a picture of the state, but it's totally a cool picture:



TEXAS, which, yes, I know, I hate Texas, but their quarter manages to have a not annoying picture of the state on it with a not annoying star on it, which combine to be actually pretty cool:




And now I have cared about state quarters more than I ever planned to in my entire life.

Holiday Random Ten: Winning the War on Christmas Edition

1. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night
2. Johnny Cash - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
3. Bing Crosby - Jingle Bells
4. Evie - Away In a Manger
5. The Norman Luboff Choir - O Tannenbaum!
6. Elvis Presley - Silver Bells
7. O Holy Night (I have no idea who's singing this, but it's someone who's obviously trying very hard, and yet sucking mightily. As my greatest joy in life comes from mocking other people, it is therefore hilarious.)
8. Frank Sinatra - O Come All Ye Faithful
9. VeggieTales - Can't Believe It's Christmas
10. Mahalia Jackson - O Holy Night

Bonus Track:
11. B.C. Clark Jingle (This song means it's Christmas in Oklahoma. I am not a nut.)

And here's Zoe! Zoe loves Christmas, except for the part where there's a vacuum cleaner stationed next to the Christmas tree to keep her away from it.

( the traditional killing of the reindeer )

( ...and of Santa )

Last night was cool. picara and I went to the City to meet acostilow and see Brokeback Mountain again. We got to Quail Springs Mall about 5:30 and kind of wandered around a bit. I got some chicken nuggets at Chick Fil A and we picked up the tickets. acostilow got off work at 6, then we went to the Gap for awhile before the movie started.

I was so excited that Brokeback Mountain was actually showing anywhere in Oklahoma, let alone a major theater like the AMC at the biggest mall in Oklahoma City. And it was on two screens! The theater was packed--I'm pretty sure it sold out. We sat around and made comments about other people in the theater. We busted out the sodas we'd smuggled in before the lights even went out, because everybody else was waltzing in with outside food in front of god and everybody. picara made a list of the food she wants to eat when her jaw isn't wired shut anymore. We saw a preview for Thank You For Smoking, which looks like it will be hysterically funny and has Rob Lowe, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliot, William H. Macy, and Adam Brody in it.

I love this movie so much! It was even sadder the second time through, because I knew what was going to happen. Um. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are really pretty. The audience was really weird; they kept laughing at inappropriate times. Like when Geary sees Jack and Ennis rolling around together on the mountain, I was all "Oh shit," and most of the audience burst out laughing. I mean, WTF?

All in all, it was a pretty good night. I enjoyed getting to finally meet acostilow, and I fell even more in love with the poor doomed gay cowboys. The end.

Evie - Come on Ring Those Bells -- This is my favorite Christmas song ever. My parents had it on LP, which they dubbed onto cassette before the record got scratched, fortunately. Then I stumbled across an Evie CD in the bargain bin at Living Word, and now I have my own copy! Yay!

Bing Crosby - White Christmas -- The original. I love his voice.

Rosemary Clooney - Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep -- Anyone who hasn't seen White Christmas has been seriously deprived. Seriously. I just bought the DVD, and it has a commentary track by Rosemary Clooney. Weird. I can't wait to find out if it's any good.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 -- You've probably heard this, even if you don't realize it. It's a wonderfully energetic instrumental version of Carol of the Bells, with electric guitars.

VeggieTales - Can't Believe It's Christmas -- This gets stuck in my head so easily. It makes me happy, though.

Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas -- Another voice I love. This is one of the most beautiful versions of this song I've heard.

B.C. Clark jingle -- The song that means Christmas in Oklahoma. Come on, you know you like it.

Let me know if any of the links expire and I'll redo them. Enjoy!

Inhofe has decided to forbid evangelical groups from caring about the environment, because it's not in line with the conservative agenda. This is so wrong I don't even know where to begin. I wonder if I should write to him so he can tell me I've been brainwashed by the liberal media.

(LJ's spellchecker has these suggestions for "Inhofe": Inhale, Unhinge, Unsafe, Unholier. Heheheheheh.)

I already knew Coburn and I disagreed on pretty much everything. And I already thought he was insane, what with the comments about lesbians taking over bathrooms in Oklahoma schools and the crying about partisanship in the Senate. (And apparently, because he's a doctor, he can tell when someone's lying just by looking at them.) But now I find out he's actively working against Oklahoma's best interests in other areas. He's just introduced a plan to pay for Katrina spending that would eliminate $24 billion in special project spending in the recently passed highway bill--spending he has classified as pork. Oklahoma was supposed to get $130 million of that for emergency improvement of Oklahoma City's Crosstown, something that is a very real need and not in any way pork. He's OUR senator. I don't think it's too much to ask for him to spend his time in Washington actually helping US. I realize he's making cutting pork barrel spending his pet issue. I know this because everytime I write to him, no matter what the issue, his answer somehow manages to relate the issue to pork barrel spending. But if that's going to be his issue, he could at least try to find some ACTUAL pork to cut, instead of cutting money Oklahoma needs and that he should be trying to keep for us. See Okie Funk for more info on why Coburn is bad for Oklahoma.

In other news, sugar is sweet and water is wet.

So, I'm sure you've all heard about how horrified! and outraged! Republicans are (on behalf of our troops, natch) that Senator Durbin compared American mistreatment of prisoners at Gitmo to Nazi war crimes. I in fact wrote to my congressman and senators about Karl Rove's statement: "Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals." I mean, come on! He actually SAID that liberals WANT OUR TROOPS TO DIE. Add that to the bit about how liberals wanted to send the 9/11 terrorists to therapy, and, you know, Karl Rove starts to look like a real asshat. Now, Senator Durbin probably shouldn't have made the Nazi comparison. After all, it's kind of understood, on the Internet, anyway, that once you invoke Hitler or Nazis, no matter how valid the comparison, the discussion's over and you've lost. HOWEVER, Senator Durbin's speck of Nazi dust is being poked at by Republicans with giant Nazi PLANKS in their own eyes. Issues on which Republicans have invoked the Nazis:

++Stem Cell Research: Speaking in opposition to stem cell research, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said, "We certainly have all seen the rejections of Nazi Germany's abuses of science. As a society and a nation, there ought to be some limit on what we can allow or should allow." October 11, 2004

++2004 Presidential Election: Oklahoma's own Representative Tom Cole was reported by KTOK on March 2, 2004, to have said that a vote against the re-election of Dubya was like supporting Adolf Hitler during World War II. God. Shut up, Tom Cole. You make me (even more) ashamed to be an Oklahoman.

++Abortion: Speaking in opposition to a legal ruling on abortion, Representative Peter King (R-NY) said, "That, Mr. Speaker, is a modern-day equivalent of the Nazi prison guard saying 'I was just following orders.' It was all legal in Nazi Germany at the time." September 8, 2004

++Taxes: Speaking in opposition to a Democratic tax plan, Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) said, "Now, forgive me, but that is right out of Nazi Germany. I don't understand ... why all of a sudden we are passing laws that sound as if they are right out of Nazi Germany." September 5, 2002 Um, no. I don't think I WILL forgive him. He needs to shut up.

++Estate Tax: During an October 2, 2003 interview on NPR, White House insider Grover Norquist said, "The argument that some who play to the politics of hate and envy and class division will say is, 'Well, that's only 2 percent -- or, as people get richer, 5 percent, in the near future -- of Americans likely to have to pay [the estate tax].' I mean, that's the morality of the Holocaust: 'Oh, it's only a small percentage. It's not you; it's somebody else.'" Good fucking god. And it gets better. Given an opportunity to retract his comments, Norquist said, "The Nazis were for gun control, the Nazis were for high marginal tax rates.... Do you want to talk about who's closer politically to national socialism, the Right or the Left?" and added that he would not hesitate to use Holocaust comparisons in the future.

++Kyoto Protocol: Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) quoted a Russian official who said the treaty "would deal a powerful blow on the whole humanity [sic] similar to the one humanity experienced when Nazism and communism flourished." Inhofe himself then said, "The world has certainly turned on its head that we Americans must look to Russians for speaking out strongly against irrational authoritarian ideologies." Yes, the Kyoto Protocol is an authoritarian ideology. Kind of nixes the idea that Inhofe might be in any way sympathetic to the letter I sent him about Rove. Maybe he'll at least listen to the part where I said he should speak out to prove Rove doesn't speak for him. Right. And then maybe we'll have world peace. I'd like to buy the world a coke; how 'bout you?

++Professional day care: Dr. Laura, in a broadcast on January 2, 2004, read a letter from a listener who criticized the lack of one-on-one attention in some day care centers. Dr. Laura then commented that "it sounds like something out of Nazi Germany."

In conclusion, SHUT. UP. REPUBLICANS. GOD.