Opinion

As Oklahoma’s political leaders continue to search for ways to fire up economic growth, now is the time to address many of the problems they have been avoiding for years.

In order to make people prosperous, you have to understand the nature of both your economy and the larger society in which it is embedded.

While it has taken most of us several decades to catch up to his thinking, it is safe to say that most observers agree that Peter Drucker was right that our society and economy are founded on knowledge.

For years, we’ve worked to expand and grow Oklahoma’s economy.

We’re still very much an oil and gas state and we will continue to be. Aerospace is our number two leading economic generator and agriculture remains a top economic driver.

But as we continue efforts to diversify our economy, the film industry has become increasingly important to Oklahoma and is still growing.

It’s hard to say what’s worse — that the University of Oklahoma is accused of trying to force staff and students to endorse positions they do not support, or that college leaders thought they could keep those efforts a secret.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), whose mission is to “defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities,” recently focused its attention on OU’s mandatory diversity training.

In the late 1980s, as a pre-med major at the University of Pittsburgh, I pulled many all-nighters at Scaife Hall at Pitt’s School of Medicine.

My friend Dirk and I knew the only way we would ever make breakfast at the cafeterias at the Towers or Lothrop dorm-halls was by staying up all night studying and then sauntering in zombie-like at 6 a.m. for eggs and pancakes.

Otherwise, the typical early morning fare for me and my buddies was “O Fries” from the iconic Original Hot Dog Shop, washed down with cheap beer around 2 a.m.

Editor’s Note: The following is an open letter from Catholic League President Bill Donohue to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Dear Commissioner Manfred:

As president of the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, I would like to commend you for your new-found interest in policing human rights in the United States.

While your objections to the voting reform law in Georgia are baseless, let’s assume nonetheless that you have a genuine interest in alleged violations of human rights.

In 2016, Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby stressed to members of Congress that there “are no reservations in Oklahoma. People from many backgrounds are neighbors who live, work, play and worship together.” Anoatubby said this created “a sense that we all share in a common destiny in our communities.”

Today, “common destiny” has been shattered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt decision, which held the Creek Nation’s reservation was never disestablished. Instead, crime victims of all races are seeing claims of tribal sovereignty translate into justice denied.

During his long life, Winston Churchill suffered several indignities. He was dismissed from his position as the head of the Royal Navy in 1915 because of the disastrous defeat Anglo-French forces endured at Gallipoli during World War I.

Happy Easter!

Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford told some stories during his stop in El Reno last week that if they weren’t related to the federal government would be difficult to believe.

Lankford said the recent trillion-dollar COVID relief package was “not about saving lives” but about handing out money.

He mentioned a USDA loan program in which funds of up to $2 million could be borrowed by anyone and then forgiven up to 120 percent with one stipulation, the borrower could not be white.

Each of us as individuals would probably find it a fairly easy task to define what patriotism means to us, and in various geographic locations, many of the definitions would look very similar.

However, today we would also find in various geographic locations, the definition would look very different if there was a definition at all.

What do Pepé Le Pew and a high school student in Las Vegas have in common? Both are targets of adherents of Marxist-derived “critical race theory” and its offshoots — and many Oklahomans could soon join them.

Pepé Le Pew drew attention when a New York Times columnist, soon joined by other critics, complained the cartoon skunk “normalizes” rape culture.

That the female cat in the cartoons is always fearfully, frantically trying to escape Pepé’s embrace is proof, they say.