How did Oklahoma ever manage to survive without the state licensing professionals to administer music as therapy?

• Have you ever turned to music as a means to impact your own mental or emotional health?
• Has your parent ever sang to you when you were troubled or needed to calm down and rest?
• Have you ever cranked up some rock'n tunes to get 'pumped up'? 
• Have you gotten 'in the mood for lov'n with something romantic on the stereo?

  With just weeks to go before the Oklahoma primary elections, several civic and political activists are beginning to score the incumbents' voting records and other objective criteria related to their political duties.

  There are several groups actively compiling these indices.

• The Oklahoma Constitution has been publishing since the late 70s. Their Conservative Index is the most established such index in continuous publication. The scoring is based upon a balance combination of tax, freedom, moral, & cultural factors.They will go to print soon with their 2016 Index.
• Sooner Tea Party Rino Index. This group has published more recently on several factors including tax & freedom.
• OCPA Impact Scorecard focuses on how Oklahoma state legislators voted on key bills related to issues of economic freedom, free enterprise, individual opportunity, limited state government and federalism.
• OK2A Score. Legislators are graded A-F, based on their voting record for bills relating to the second amendment.
• RIED Report. Legislators were scored based on their voting record for bills dealing with business, industry, job creation and economic growth issues deemed important by the private sector.
• RIED Report. Legislators were scored based on their voting record for bills dealing with business, industry, job creation and economic growth issues deemed important by the private sector.

  What was turning out to be an incredibly successful National Libertarian Party Convention, turned into a freak show of sorts.

  While delegates were awaiting the returns of the second round of Vice Presidential Nomination balloting, they decided to hold the nominating speeches for National Party Chairman. James Weeks was one such candidate for the top spot in the organization.
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  Mr. Weeks took to the podium when his name was called and he gave the nod for the music to start. That's when the morbidly obese young man began hopping around the stage and as his fat body giggled, he began to unclothe himself. C-Span was carrying the event live and without any 'delay' mechanism to prevent uncensored graphic nudity from going live throughout the world.

  Former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson (the 2012 nominee) survived a strong insurgency by Austin Petersen, this morning, to become the party 'standard-bearer'. Going into the convention, Johnson's 'insurmountable lead' began to see real slippage. Petersen's strong debate skills and Johnson's unpopular positions(with the party delegates) on a few issues; led to a strong push for a new face to lead the party.

  The first round of balloting resulted with Johnson was 1st with 49+%; falling short of the 50% requirement. Austin Petersen was 2nd with just over 21% and John McAfee was 3rd with 14%. Politicos saw this as a referendum of sorts, on whether Johnson should continue to lead.  About 10% of the very minor candidates' supporters sided with Johnson on a 2nd ballot, resulting in a 56% tally for Johnson.
​  Austin Petersen quickly made a public endorsement of Johnson, before the convention body.

- by Oklahoma Watch: -
  Warren Vieth & Mark Lash are reporting that the Legislature rushed through a late bill to kill subsidies to working poor families, but decided that 'corporate welfare' is fine. Even corporations who employed no Oklahomans, paid no taxes, or reported any income, would be eligible for government money payouts of tax dollars paid in by families of modest incomes.

  In the late night hours of late May, the legislature killed any state funds being sent to struggling poor families who are trying to get off welfare and return to self-reliance. This modest program(Earned Income Credit) was designed by former governor, Frank Keating, as a way to ease the process of weaning single working parents off of TANF, Medicaid, 'food stamps', and other much more costly welfare programs. It encourages single parents to reenter the workforce as their young children go to school.

  In the midst of an explosion of interest in the Oklahoma Libertarian Party, there is a struggle beginning to take shape.. Several secular Libertarians are becoming very concerned that an insurgency of the Religious Right may overtake their ranks and corrupt their political party & movement. 

  Ironically, the more secular Libertarians of Oklahoma lately have been expressing far more concern about the Christian population joining their membership than other faiths, particularly the Muslim demographic. While Muslim orthodoxy seems far more intolerant of religious diversity. It leads some to believe the real concern is for maintaining power and control of  the party structure and platform message?

  With the overt help of some Republican Lawmakers, the Oklahoma Libertarian Party is back in the election business. Several Libertarian candidates will appear on the 2016 primary & general election ballots. Their April state convention was one of the biggest in recent history and the recently lowered thresholds for voter support means that they could stay on the election rolls going into the next round of state elections, in 2018.

By Elaine Nickelson
   Representative Doug Cox (R-Grove) is term-limited and there are three candidates vying in the Republican Primary for his position.  

  On Monday evening, May 23, the Republican candidates took part in a forum with questions fielded by Pastor Robert Carter, Chair of the Delaware County GOP.  Approximately 80 people attended the event at NewSong Church located between Grove and Jay.  

  Each gave opening remarks and then answered the same questions presented.  

​  After wrangling for massive new taxes and other relentless fee increases, the 2016 is nearing an end.

 The session concludes within 3 days and the budget has been announced. We're posting it up for all to peruse through...

  Within just a couple years, GT Bynum could have Tulsa feeling like a taxpayer's hell. It's the only way to sustain the legalized bribery of buying public unions' endorsement in exchange for massive pay raises at the private sector's great expense.

  This is looking like a dreary replay of the demise of California, when Republican governors George Deukmejian & Pete Wilson were followed by Liberal Democrat Gray Davis and his massive bribes (albeit a legal form of bribes) of the massive public sector unions.
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  After just a handful of years, California voters overwhelmingly voted Davis out of office via a recall election. California is still suffering from the bloated government Davis left them and Republicans have been unable to get a foothold in the state ever since.

  Sooner Politics will be covering the major convention events of the 2016 election. This week we are providing expanded coverage of the Libertarian National Convention, in Orlando, Florida.

  On Friday, May 27th, the Libertarian delegates will gather. 9 Oklahoma delegates will be among them. We look forward to updates and reports from the floor, as they are able to update their fellow Sooners.

  Our state team of citizen journalists and leading national contributors will be adding insight, breaking news, and complete analysis.
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Follow the news at: http://www.soonerpolitics.org/convention.html_

  The Oklahoma City Metro group of  Republicans who make up the panelists of the Sooner Republican Assembly met Saturday May 21st, to deliberate and endorse candidates in several key races.
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Among their endorsements were;

• District 1 Congressman, Jim Bridenstine (incumbent)
• District 2 challenger, Jarrin Jackson
• District 4 challenger, James Taylor
• District 5 challenger, Frank Volpe

No endorsement was made in the District 3 race.

For Corporation Commission: Dana Murphy
For US Senate: James Lankford

​  Oklahoma Libertarians just hit another big challenge in staying on the Oklahoma ballot after November. Their leading presidential candidate, former governor, Gary Johnson, of New Mexico; just tapped  Massachusetts former governor, William Weld; as his running mate. Oklahoma polls as strongly pro-life, but Weld wants no restrictions on abortion. He sees it as a constitutional right.

  The Oklahoma Republican legislature just recently handed a gift to the Oklahoma Libertarians by dropping the threshold mandatory election returns to remain a recognized political organization. The historic 10% requirement was lowered to 2.5%, a standard more in line with surrounding states.