Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Oklahoma's Failed Priorities: Oil and Earthquakes, Budget holes, and Abortion

Oklahoma is apparently a state broadly populated with fools and extremists, crazies and "fundies" (evangelical Christian fundamentalists), incapable of EFFECTIVE self-government, and inhabited by haters of the United States Constitution and of true liberty.  (By true liberty, I mean ACTUAL individual freedom, not merely the illusory freedom to conform to unscientific conservative Christianity.)

Last Friday, OK Governor Mary Fallin vetoed legislation that would have made it a criminal offense to perform a constitutionally legal abortion. 

Gov. Mary Fallin has been widely discussed as a potential running mate for Donald Trump.

There is talk of an attempt to override that veto, a vote which would have to occur by 5 p.m. this coming Friday when the lege in OK adjourns.

From the AP:
"I have not made a decision," Sen. Nathan Dahm, of Broken Arrow, told The Associated Press. "That's what we're pursuing, what we'd like to see accomplished."
He said he'll decide during the coming week whether to pursue an attempt — the same week that the Legislature faces a deadline to adjourn while grappling with a $1.3 billion budget hole that could lead to cuts to public schools, health care and the state's overcrowded prison system. They've yet to be presented with a proposed state budget.

Given that Oklahoma has a Grand Canyon sized budget hole, it is grossly irresponsible to waste ANY time on abortion legislation rather than focusing on the state budget.  But of course, that is what the crazies, and the extremists, and the religious fanatics and the science deniers do, instead of doing their jobs.

It's not like OK doesn't have more than their fair share of other problems far more serious than a useless piece of liberty-denying abortion legislation that isn't worth a role of toilet paper in the legislative bathroom, much less the paper on which it is printed.  As states go "OK" is pretty far from being 'okay'.

The state is literally shaking apart due to earthquakes from the pursuit of fossil fuel drilling, with another earthquake earlier today within 30 miles of the state Capitol.

Perhaps the failed prioritizing of the legislature can best be explained by the educational failings of the state.  Oklahoma is ranked among the lowest for education spending at 47th, both for K-12 and post-secondary education.  Those 'Sooners' have been ranked down near the lower half for number of adults with high school diplomas (36th in 2004).  And per Wikipedia:
In the 2007–2008 school year, there were 181,973 undergraduate students, 20,014 graduate students, and 4,395 first-professional degree students enrolled in Oklahoma colleges. Of these students, 18,892 received a bachelor's degree, 5,386 received a master's degree, and 462 received a first professional degree. This means the state of Oklahoma produces an average of 38,278 degree-holders per completions component (i.e. July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008). National average is 68,322 total degrees awarded per completions component.
Clearly, knowledge, and thinking, are not the priorities of the voters of Oklahoma.  They're more obsessed with interference in the reproductive choices of women and their medical providers.  Because apparently both voters and legislators fail to grasp that there are other things more appropriate and more important requiring their attention.

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