Yes! On State Question 814 because after 20 years it's time to reinvent TSET.

State Question 814 needs to pass!  Twenty years ago voters were asked to approve the creation of a state fund to handle proceeds from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement  between the tobacco companies and 46 states.  Oklahoma was one of the 46 states.  Voters did approve the question and the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) was born.  After 20 years it's time to have another look at TSET.

Why?

Because TSET, which was crafted by the state's political class in 2000, is a Boondoggle, a waste, a Big Smoked Pig!  You have seen TSET's handy work while driving down the highway.  Those billboards telling you that water hydrates!  That's TSET.  When you see or hear those commercials telling you that you should move around more, or that secondhand smoke is awful!  Worse than COVID!   That's TSET.  

A TSET billboard

But that's not all of what TSET does, of its almost 2 Billions in the bank TSET also funds bike paths, it gives monies to municipalities if those municipalities ban tobacco on city properties. TSET has funded programming on the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) public television.  In 2015 TSET even funded a thirty minute documentary which aired on OETA in January about how great TSET is.

So what does TSET not fund?  Healthcare!  Yes, healthcare!  You see, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement was created because 46 states, including Oklahoma, sued the large tobacco companies because the states were taking care of people who had become ill from smoking.  The money generated from that 1998 MSA was supposed to reimburse the states for their costs in caring for people with smoking related illnesses.  TSET should pay for healthcare right now, but it doesn't.  But there's a solution if you vote for State Question 814.

State Question 814 reads:  

This measure seeks to amend Article 10, Section 40 of the Oklahoma Constitution (Section 40), which directs proceeds from the State's settlements with or judgments against tobacco companies. Currently, Section 40 directs 75% of proceeds to the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund (TSET Fund), where earnings may only be used for tobacco prevention programs, cancer research, and other such programs to maintain or improve the health of Oklahomans. Meanwhile, the remaining 25% of proceeds are directed to a separate fund for the Legislature (Legislative Fund). The Legislature can also direct some of that 25% to the Attorney General.

This measure amends Section 40 to reduce the percentage of proceeds that go into the TSET Fund from 75% to 25%. As a result, the remaining 75% will go to the Legislative Fund and the Legislature may continue to direct a portion to the Attorney General. The measure would also restrict the use of the Legislative Fund. Section 40 currently states only that the Legislative Fund is subject to legislative appropriation. If this measure passes, money from the Legislative Fund must be used to get federal matching funds for Oklahoma's Medicaid Program.

Earlier this year, voters approved an expansion of Medicaid.  The state is now on the hook for hundreds of millions because more people will be able to take advantage of Medicaid.  Where are we going to get the funds to pay for it?  One place needs to be TSET.  

Please vote YES on S.Q. 814 because right now TSET pays for this:

                                                        But not this:

The White Guilt of Reverend Rob Lee

At four o'clock on a pleasant Saturday afternoon in January, I visited the beautiful St. John's Episcopal Church in midtown Tulsa to hear Rev. Robert W. Lee IV tell us why he is ashamed to be related to his great uncle Robert E. Lee. Because he's ashamed, why didn't he just stay at home in North Carolina?

His lecture on historical wrongs was delivered in a church which is part of a Church founded by a king who wanted to divorce his wife so that he could marry his mistress, whom he later executed. In so doing, this king seized Church properties and killed priests. I took many notes during his talk so you can know his views, and I shall tell you mine.

He talked about when he was growing up, he was proud of being being a descendant of Robert E. Lee. He had a Confederate battle flag in his room. He also had a religious inclination and decided he wanted to enter the ministry. Along the way, a black woman he knew told him his having a Confederate battle flag was not conducive to the Christian life. "I needed to change so that I could change others." He later became the pastor of a United Church of Christ church in North Carolina. It was after the 2017 events in Charlottesville, Virginia where a riot broke out between white nationalists (neo-Nazis) and ANTIFA (anti-Fascists, who are Communists or anarchists) over a statue of General Robert E. Lee, that Rev. Lee decided to speak out. He was given the opportunity to do so at the MTV (Music Television) awards while wearing his clerical garb. He used the event to denounce "white supremacy and a society built on white supremacy" symbolized by his great uncle. For his appearance on MTV, he was fired by his church, which was remarkable because the United Church of Christ is very liberal in its theological/political leanings. He continued his crusade by going on the televison show The View and later National Public Radio. "The Gospel calls me [because] of my name and my privilege." He compared himself to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nat Turner, the 19th century slave turned pastor in Virginia who led a four-days slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831, killing about 60 white men, women, and children. Rev. Lee did not elaborate about who Nat Turner was or what he did.

He said he's ashamed of Robert E. Lee because he chose to fight for slavery by fighting for the South. As for his legacy he said, "The South lost the war but won in the history books." He went on to say, for example, "Texas history books are inherently racist."

As for the 1921 race war in Tulsa, Rev. Lee did not hesitate to lecture, "It's the elephant in the room," saying Tulsans are shying away from what happened. Since he doesn't live in Tulsa, he really knows nothing about what is being done to address the events of 1921 in which white mobs, agitated by the local newspapers' reportage that a black man was accused of assaulting a white woman in an elevator, descended on the black neighborhood leveling several blocks of homes and businesses, killing many. The actual numbers are not known. "We have to seek atonement and amends," he said.

Atonement and amends were the themes of Rev. Lee's talk. White people are bad, and they need to get out their sackcloths and ashes.  He also said we needed to have "dialogue" about these things.

There were questions submitted in writing, some of which were read aloud by the Rev. Samuel Colley-Toothaker of St. John's, who said he didn't want to take questions from the floor due to time....Okay.

One question was about Colin Kapernick, the former San Fransciso 49ers football player who knelt during the singing of the national anthem. "You're telling him to stand is assimilation," said Rev. Lee. He went on to lament that black athletes labor for the benefit of white sports teams' owners.

One of the questions read aloud was would Rev. Lee name any of his sons Robert? He said no. "We value what we name." He said he doesn't value being related to Robert E. Lee.

He admitted that if he could have dinner with one historical figure, it would be his famous uncle, to whom he referred as "a man's man in the 19th century." Perhaps he would have a different prespective had they dined together?

A question came up about the Black Lives Matter movement. Did he believe this to be true or should it be "All Lives Matter?" He said as a Christian, all lives matter, but black people are so put upon by our racist society that they must take precedence.

All things considered, his talk was elitist and condescending. He was saying to those wealthy, white midtowners that they, and they alone, can improve the lives of black people. I saw three black people in the church that day. "To those of us with power and privilege," he said to the august gathering, "I look around and see opulence." He left us with the idea that black people can't do it on their own. They are weak victims of life in America who cannot help themselves and to suggest otherwise is cruel and racist.

After Rev. Lee's lecture in the church there was a reception in the hall next to the sanctuary. Rev. Lee met an older man who mentioned that General Lee had the total loyality of his soldiers. Rev. Lee admitted, "He did command respect, I'll tell you that."

Then I asked him a couple of questions. Because he mentioned being inspired by the women's march which, is an abortion march, I asked him his abortion position. He said, "I'm pro-choice; we shouldn't govern women's bodies." I asked him how he could have that position as a clergyman because science has indisputably established the baby in the womb is a human life. He told me he didn't think the abortion topic was germane to his talk and he didn't want to talk to me about that.

My second question concerned his position on statues and "white supremacy." I mentioned students at Tufts University in Massachusetts are trying to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson for the same reasons as taking down Confederate statues i.e. slavery and "white supremacy." He said, "If Tufts sees it [Thomas Jefferson] as a symbol of white supremacy, then take it down." He then dismissed my argument saying he rejects the slippery slope argument even though he just admitted he would have the Jefferson statue removed. At this point, Rev. Lee was done with me and said he didn't want to talk to me anymore. So much for his call for dialogue.

Reverend Robert W. Lee IV is in my book a bad actor. He's kind of like Joel Osteen in that both are "reverends;" both are good talkers, and both use their positions and abilities to promote their private agendas. Osteen uses flowery inspriational "pep talks" to get money and Rob Lee uses guilt to get notoriety and power for his agenda. And both men do not promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"I'm a Christian," he said many times.

Killing Me Softly With Islam

Milo Yiannopoulos, the British writer and critic of Islam who thrives on controversy (pronounced CON-Trev-esy in British) is coming to Tulsa!  At least he wants to speak here if he can.  The University of Tulsa, a private school, flat out said NO.  Tulsa Community College (TCC), a public institution, was then approached by Milo but they have set their own conditons.  According to Milo, TCC has set a list of conditions that are impossible to follow.  He told KRMG radio on April 11, 2019 that TCC demands Milo provide them a copy of his speech before the talk, not hire private security for the event, 400 seats in the auditorium could not be sold for the talk, TCC would allow Milo to speak on a Wednesday between 2 and 4 pm.  And TCC could cancel the event at any time prior to the event and keep all the money!  TCC was much more accomidating to a pro-Islamic talk given in November of 2015.  I attended that lecture on a Sunday afternoon.  Below is what I observed.


I heard he sang a good song 

I heard he had a style 

And so I came to see him

 to listen for a while 

- Roberta Flack, 

"Killing Me Softy with His Song," 

as modified by “with Islam” 

by Theodore King
  Sunday, November 15, the Islamic Society of Tulsa, along with the Jewish Federation of Tulsa, Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, Phillips Seminary in Bartlesville and other organizations, sponsored a two-hour event at Tulsa Community College's south Tulsa campus which they billed as an, “Educational Program” and titled: “Should we fear Islam?" Because the Islamic Society was one of the events sponsors' the answer to the question was predetermined. Imagine the Southern Baptist Convention sponsoring a talk titled: "Is Jesus the Messiah?" or Focus on the Family sponsoring one titled: "Is the Nuclear Family Good for Society?" Author and attorney Hannibal B. Johnson was the moderator for the event. He set a condescending tone for the event by quoting from the song “Carefully Taught” from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific:

You've got to be taught To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught From year to year,
It's got to be drummed In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

In Praise of Columbus

by Theodore King 

In Praise of Columbus

For most of my life Columbus Day was a day you couldn't get mail and the banks were closed. I once asked my dad why we have Columbus Day, he said it was an Italian thing. We aren't Italian, we aren't even in the Knights of Columbus. So I was indifferent to Columbus Day.

Four years ago I applied for a job with a pseudo government agency. I was applying for a job for, which I was qualified, and for which my would be employers were desparate. Because this was a pseudo government agency there were many requirements I had to fullfill. I jumped through the hoops. My interview went well with the lady who does the hiring and I was even given the chance to meet some of the people that I would be working with in my new job. Then a fat woman from Human Resources entered the office with some more paperwork for me to sign, this is a pseudo government agency after all. She was dating a form and asked, “What day is it?” I resonded, “It's October 12, Columbus Day.” She looked at me over her reading glasses with a smirk on her face as if I were her next eclair and said, “Don't you mean Indiginous People's Day?”

“No, I mean Columbus Day. Has been Columbus Day for all my life,” I responded. My interview was soon over, I left the office and went home. A week passed and I heard nothing. This seemed odd as they were “desparate” to fill that post. Well, they weren't THAT desparate as it turned out and I did not get that job. I can't prove it, but I think the fat woman from HR held it against me for having the temerity to say the truth, it was Columbus Day!

Christopher Columubs has taken a beating in the past 26 years since the 500^th anniversary of his arrival in 1992. Cities across America, run by liberals, have ditched Columbus Day for “Native American Day” or “Indiginous People's Day.” Two years agp in Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, who comes from one of the city's wealthy, ruling families as a LaFortune, decided to force Columbus to share his seat with the Indians by renaming the holiday - Columbus/Native American Day. And last year the Republican controlled legislature here did the same thing with the new governor's blessing.

I reached out to the Knights of Columbus at their headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut asking that they take a stand against this slow erasure of their namesake from history. I never heard back from them. I also reached out to the local chapter at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa. They don't care and apparently neither does their home office in New Haven. The Knights of Columbus do a lot of good work and are generally a good bunch of guys, but on this pivitol front in the culture war they are USELESS. Glad I'm not a member. They're probably glad they don't have me either.

Christopher Columbus was probably not the first person to discover the new world, but he was the first person to take back news to a European power (Spain) that he had found new real estate. It is believed Ireland's Saint Brendan in the sixth century made the first discovery. In 1976 and 77 a group of explorers proved that Brendan may have made it to Iceland from Ireland and then on to Nova Scotia, Canada. They used a replica of the leather bound sail boat used by St. Brendan and his monks in the sixth century. This proves an old line about the Irish. God gave them drink to slow them down so they wouldn't conquer the world. The Irish are a clever lot. The Vikings likely discovered America after the Irish had beat them to it.

Three years ago, on Columbus Day, a local radio talk show host in Tulsa had an interview with a local writer about a recent news story unrelated to Columbus Day. At the end of the interview the host asked his guest, who is very liberal, if he was celebrating Columbus Day or Native American Day. The writer predictably responded, “As for me and my house, it's Native American Day.” It was appropriate for this liberal writer to paraphrase the Book of Joshua, he is also Jewish. Because Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world in 1492 and successfully brough back to the old world of Europe news of his real estate discovery, the ancestors of that writer were able to leave Europe and find safety in the new world. His immediate family was able to avoid numerous pogroms against his people and the final solution of the Third Reich. This historical perspective has likely elluded that writer but he's a fool anyway.

This leads to a broader point, because of Columbus millions from around the world were able to make a new life here in the Americas. Our ancestors were able to make a fresh start in a new land and avoid the horrors of poverty and persecution in the old. My own ancestors in Ireland had the option of coming to America after the British government allowed the systematic starvation of the Irish people when the potato crops failed in the 1840s. Today, the ignorantly educated talk of “white supremacy, patricary” and “white privelage.” Columbus is to those people the devil. And yet many of these ignorantly, educated are whites who come from the safety and security of America that their forefathers established. Self-loathing is a psycological disorder and should be recognized as such.

What about the American Indians? How did they fare after the arrival of the white man? Not well, this is a fact of history and not something to be proud. This clash of civilizations was going to happen at some point. Whether anyone wants to admidt it or not, Europeans came from an advanced civilization and they were going to prevail because of their use of technology. The other factor was the disunity between native tribes. In other words, divide and conquer. With this conquest came a new Christian civilization. When Spain's Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico some 27 years after Columbus' discovery, he found a well developed civilization that practiced human sacrifice on a daily basis. A practice that he and his men, known as Conquistadors, put to an end.

The vilification of Columbus has a sinister motive. He was the man who made European immigration to the new world possible; discredit him and you can discredit all white people living in the Americas. Make them out to be interlopers. Frequently, we read or hear commentators disparagingly refer to "white men" and "old white guys" as if some sort of cancer. Desparaging comments that would not be allowed for any other ethnic group.

There is also the agenda by cultural Marxists to discredit the American founding. Recently, at my father's alma mater Notre Dame a tapestry of Christopher Columbus was covered up because the school administration decided he had to be hidden from history. Take one string on a tapestry and pull on it the rest will come apart. At Tufts Universtiy in Massachusetts there is a movement underway to remove a statue to Thomas Jefferson because he owned slaves.  The real reason for wanting him removed was his work creating the Consttitution of the United States.  Cultural Marxists are working within our institutions to undermine our nation. Marxism will never succeed in this country as long as we have our Constitution. Get rid of that and you've created a void, a void to be filled by evil men and women.

Cultural Marxists operating in our universities and in institutions are a greater long-term threat to our way of life than Al Queda or members of The Islamic State. Their tactics are different, but their goal is the same, destroy America.

In his landmark 1969 documentary on western art titled Civilization Lord Kenneth Clark ended his 13 part series with a warning: "It is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilization. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and dissolution just as effectively as by bombs."

Christopher Columbus is a part of our heritage and we must honor him. As for his detractors it is important to note that history is almost never prestine because it deals with complex beings called humans. The world is a better place because Columbus made his succesful voyage.