I was going to post something about the column Robin Meyers (of Mainstream Baptist) has in the latest issue of the Oklahoma Gazette, entitled “Dead Wrong and Proud of It.”

The world wept for joy; Oklahoma spat defiantly. The glory train of history pulled out of the station; Oklahoma waved goodbye and said “good riddance.” Dr. King’s dream came true; Oklahoma slumbered on, curled up on the hearth of racism and addicted to the mind-numbing power of the word “conservative.”

[...] We are on the wrong side of history again, and we’re damn proud of it.

As you might expect, the comments are pouring in at the Gazette’s site, and more than a few folks are telling him, basically, that if he doesn’t love Oklahoma (the way it is, i.e. reactionary conservative and intellectually impoverished), then he should leave it. Others give their own testimony to Oklahoma’s perpetual brain drain which the conservatives wish to push even faster.

But now, John Aravosis, a prominent lefty blogger, has put an excerpt up at his Americablog — without comment, except for the title: How Oklahoma missed the Obama revolution.

Here are some comments from self-identified Oklahomans in response to the Americablog post.

enpassant

I wish I could understand what’s going on with Oklahoma. A reflection of our education?

The media here is very one-sided and talk radio here makes the Pravda seem fair and balanced, it’s 24/7 one wing nut after the other. Is that it?

tbhull

The problem with Oklahoma is the state has one newspaper owned by a wealthy but completely fucked up nazi cracker KKK republican family know as the Gaylords. Until this family either loses their money or dies one way or another, they control the press in this backward ass state and nothing will change that much.

NiNi

I too am proud to be an Oklahoman that voted for Obama. It was a brutal campaign, and I argued with many of my friends on behalf of Obama… lost a lot of respect for them too, as I realized they INTENTIONALLY kept themselves ignorant… watching the McCain-Palin smears work because these peoeple seemed to WANT those smears to work. Very disheartening and disappointing.

With that said, I was also very surprised at the number of adamantly Republican friends that voted for Obama and not McCain. I’d say at LEAST five of my formerly Republican friends wound up supporting Obama, and that’s actually an amazing number for “these here parts.”

I still drive around town with my Obama-Biden magnet on my car, and feel prouder than ever to be the kind of Oklahoman that the majority of these shit-kickers don’t understand. It was also very, VERY fun gloating after having spent two elections in a row being teased and laughed at when “their guy” won *cough* stole the election.

I am also proud to say that I’m leaving this state in the spring, and heading for greener pastures [Portland, Oregon]. This is a tough, tough place in which to live when you’re not a Jesus freak. But at least while I was here, I remained a very proud, educated, liberal, open-minded “outsider.”

bumpkis

BARTCOP is from Oklahoma…very astute and funny pol blogger…blue all the way.

cheesesauce

I am proud to be an Okie who voted for Obama. I had bet a military person a dollar that Obama would win. He was so seduced by all of the tripe eaters and bullshitters on TV / AM radio that he would giggle every time he saw me so confident was he of a McCain/Palin victory. That being said, he showed himself to be an honorable person and paid up on the bet. I haven’t spent the dollar yet. I’m trying to decide what to do with that kind of prosperity. : )

My friend (and long-time Okie blogger) James of JMBzine shot this with his new mini video camera. Don’t know the woman’s name who is speaking.

Darla managed to catch James Nimmo’s great speech. (She was going to post here about it on Saturday, but things got too crazy.)

At the Peace Fest, James, Darla and John Walters all had these little cameras and I was so envious, I came home and ordered one for myself, getting a great deal on a Flip Ultra at Amazon, which included a free tripod. With free shipping, it won’t arrive until the 24th. I can’t wait!

He’s not called “The Most Feared Man on the Hill” for nothing.

So here’s how, by aggressively pushing back over a $2,500 donation from one franchisee of an international fast food chain, one pissed off gay man got sexual orientation and gender identity added to the entire company’s employment policy. Said company sent a letter to over 30,000 owners in 85 countries explaining the new policy. What’s more, the offending franchisee was chastised for violating policy regarding use of the brand name, and subsequently has requested that the donation be refunded by the Yes on 8 campaign.

Tell us how it’s done, Mike. (So easy you won’t believe it — although it helps to have scary WaPo-generated nickname to throw around.)

I was reading through the Human Rights Campaign’s list of companies that gave to Yes on 8, the California referendum that removed marriage equality from the state’s constitution. When I saw a franchisee of an international company gave $2,500 to opponents of equality, I immediately knew I would require someone at the company’s world HQ to address this. Or, I would.

So, after a few discussions, I informed the company’s spokesperson that they had until today to take the following three actions:

1) Repudiate the franchisee’s gift
2) Make a gift in the same amount to an organization fighting for true equality
3) Immediately add sexual orientation and gender identity to the corporation’s non-discrimination policy.

Some thought this was a misplaced target in the overall campaign. I was one of them. It was one stupid franchisee among 30,000. But Mike is smarter than me, and more motivated to take no prisoners:

Some have asked if I have been too harsh. It’s an easy one to answer. “Harsh?” Are you kidding me? Let me tell you about harsh. This is a civil war waged upon free and just people by those who seek to control them. In 1776 the punishment for such treatment was not a boycott. Those objections came at the end of a bayonet. Thank goodness times have changed.

[...] Luckily, we have a weapon far more powerful than the end of a gun. We have a handle, a handle on a spigot of money. Mess with the gays and watch the “pink wrath” slowly twist the spigot until they’re at the table begging for forgiveness. (see: Coors, Ford, Microsoft, et al.)

(emphasis added)

Read the story at Page Q — and patronize your local Subway!

Well, as suspected, the capitulation continues unabated. The Netroots is sick about it, but not really surprised. Hunter at Daily Kos pretty much sums it up in Why it Matters.

As Jane Hamsher states, the real message of today’s vote, from the 32 Democratic Senators who gave Lieberman a pass, and, yes, President-elect Obama, who whipped the vote:

This is about telling you that you mean nothing. That democracy is a nice word, but it should never threaten the entitlement of the most exclusive club in the world.

No matter what Joe Lieberman does, the people who are protecting him hate you much more than they hate him.

We just continue to fight for accountability and progressive values to make their way to the top.

So, we're all disgusted at the Dems caving once again. The diaries and comments on this site will be red hot on the topic for days. But what real action can we take? Preferably something immediate, rather than two or four in the future. One thing I did was unsubscribe from Harry's Reid's "Give 'Em Hell, Harry" list. You can do so here. If enough of us do it today and tomorrow, he might sense some unhappiness in the ranks. Another project I heard about was Laugh at Lieberman. I don't know if I understand the efficacy of this tactic, but it's out there. I report, you decide. What other ideas have you come up with or heard about? I've collected some after the fold. Post yours in comments. Read more...

Oh, the humanity!

• We will give you an ice cream cone. However, no sprinkles. And when you eat your ice cream cone, wishing you had sprinkles for it, maybe you’ll think about what you’ve done.
• You are no longer allowed to hang your coat in the Democratic Caucus cloakroom. You must hang your coat on a hook which we have had installed next to the cloakroom for your convenience.
• Your parking space has been moved two rows back. We think the extra 19 steps each morning will give you a lot of time to reflect on your actions.
• Your committee meetings and hearings will now be aired only on CSPAN3 — the MTV2 of CSPANs.
• The next time you go on Hannity’s show on Fox News and proclaim that President Obama is a terrorist-sympathizing, baby-eating, grandma-raper, we reserve the right to be quoted by the Washington Post saying that although you are a very good guy and a close personal friend, that your comments were probably not fully accurate. So THERE.

Actually, Turncoat Joe’s punishment was not nearly as harsh as that. Seriously.

Update on the Cinemark theater situation. A representative of the company has responded — inadequately. And a website has been created to organize and track the boycott.

Remember: No Milk for Cinemark!

Boycott Cinemark Facebook group

Remember that movie from a few years ago, The Straight Story, about a man who rode a lawnmower across a state to see his estranged brother before he died? It won several awards.

Well I think Mark Ryan of Kingfisher can top that. He road a horse, with mule and dog in tow, from Okahoma to Washington state. Took five months — and  he’s not back yet because after he decided to get a truck to drive back, the truck broke down.

You just can’t count on those new-fangled contraptions.

Long Ride: Oklahoma cowboy rides his horse 2,000 miles to Washington state — Newsday.com.

Just for kicks I did a Google news search on Oklahoma+Obama.

Well, after editing to remove all the sports crap, I got quite the collection. Here’s a sample:

Racists rise. The Oklahoma woman who was killed in Louisiana during a Klan initiation which may be part of a backlash to an Obama presidency. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks the KKK, says that racist incidents are rising. And the Christian Science Monitor reports

Supremacist propaganda is already on the upswing. In Oklahoma, fringe groups have distributed anti-Obama propaganda through newspapers and taped it to home mail boxes. Ugly incidents such as cross-burnings, assassination betting pools, and Obama effigies are also being reported from Maine to Alabama.

Oklahoma: Love it red or leave it. Progressive Obama supporter Robin Meyers wrote a column entitled “Dead wrong and proud of it” for the Oklahoma Gazette, commenting on our state’s election results being out of whack with the prevailing trend. So several commenters misinterpreted what he said and told him to move out of state and take his un-Okie values with him. And so it goes…

Dog gone. A bit less traumatic, but still … a Tulsa blogger went to buy an Obama shirt for her dog at Cafepress, and found “hate rhetoric” even amidst the pet wear.

We got your scalpers, right here. Those more positive about Obama moving into the White House are suggesting that it might be easier to get tickets to the inauguration from an usual source — say Republican legislators in, uh, Oklahoma.

Every member of Congress, Democrat and Republican, gets a certain number of tickets. You know the Democrats are going to maxed out - so try to get them from members of Congress in states that didn’t vote for Obama.

I mean, how many people from Oklahoma think this is the nation’s biggest historical moment?

Win-win. This guy should totally get a ticket and front-row seat:  A 103 year old grandson of slaves who lived to vote for and see a black man elected to the presidency. Robert Jones said he never thought it would happen. “Not in my day. Not in my day,” he said. “I never thought I would see it in my time.”

Robert, this one’s for you.

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