Oklahoma’s best known homophobe joins Chick-Fil-A controversy

Business News, Features, LGBT, Oklahoma Politics , , 4 Comments
Oklahoma’s best known homophobe joins Chick-Fil-A controversy

You can’t possibly be surprised that our state’s premier drama queen felt the need to weigh in on this pressing national issue with a press release calling for public demonstrations of moral outrage.

Kern Urges Oklahomans to Support Chick-Fil-A

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Sally Kern is urging Oklahomans to support Chick-Fil-A and to participate in the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day event scheduled for next Wednesday.

“Chick-Fil-A is a company that has incorporated traditional values into its business model, the same values that a large majority of Oklahomans adhere to,” said Kern, R-Oklahoma City. “This is a company that respects its employees and customers and creates jobs for young people. The hate and intolerance they have been subjected to in the past week is astonishing, and I encourage Oklahomans to rally behind this company and show our support.”

Kern noted that voters overwhelmingly passed a state Constitutional amendment in 2004 that stated that prohibited same-sex marriage and declared marriage to be between one man and one woman.

“Seventy-six percent of Oklahoma voters believe that marriage is an institution for one man and one woman,” said Kern, noting the percentage of voters who approved the state question. “What the owner of Chick-Fil-A said is nothing controversial to Oklahomans.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has created the “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” Facebook page to encourage citizens across the nation to support the company by dining at their local franchises on August 1. So far, more than 290,000 people have indicated they plan on participating nationwide.

According to the company’s website, there are 13 locations across Oklahoma.

Maybe gay-friendly Okies need to stage their own actions at the restaurants next Wednesday, to give those who follow Kern’s advice a real show.

Just don’t buy anything.

House Insurance Committee Kills Consumer Protection Bill

Consumer Rights, Oklahoma Politics , , No Comments

Bill would have required insurance companies to notify customers that their policy does not include earthquake coverage.

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Mike Shelton said he is disappointed that a House committee voted down a consumer protection measure that would ensure Oklahomans are notified of the need to buy earthquake coverage.

“This was a simple bill that only required insurers to notify customers that their property insurance policy does not cover earthquake damage,” said Shelton, D-Oklahoma City. “Under current law, insurance companies must obtain an explicit opt-out from customers declining uninsured motorist coverage, and that system has worked fine for years. I don’t see why we would oppose greater transparency for the customer when it comes to earthquake coverage.”

House Bill 2863, by Shelton, would have required that customers obtaining or renewing property insurance policies be “notified as to whether the property insurance policy provides coverage for loss caused by the peril of earthquake.”

“After the recent earthquakes, many homeowners experienced significant damage and learned the hard way that it was not covered by a homeowner’s policy,” Shelton said. “My legislation would simply require insurance agents to explicitly notify customers that they do not have earthquake coverage and give them the opportunity to buy it.”

Shelton revised the bill this week to address the concerns of insurance groups, but noted that lobbyists for the insurance industry still “turned out in force” to oppose it today.

House Bill 2863 failed to pass out of the House Insurance Committee.

“Now that earthquakes have been added to the list of natural disasters facing Oklahoma homeowners, it makes sense to be proactive and encourage property owners to obtain earthquake insurance coverage,” Shelton said. “A house is the biggest single investment most families will ever make, and they should not face the loss of their home due to a lack of information.”

Veterans lobby state legislature for benefit retention

Oklahoma Politics, Politics, The Economy , No Comments

Jeanne Flanigan, an art teacher and advocate for veterans, reports:

I went to the State Capitol today, with some of the veterans from the Norman Veterans Center, to lobby for no cuts to veterans’ centers and hospitals in Oklahoma. In recent years their budget has been cut 14%, and it looks bad for this year. This means that they won’t have enough nurses and others to help them in their most [critical] time of need. We ran into Sen. Al McAffrey just after he’d been sworn in! Of course he’ll support the veterans!

Oklahoma Observer features injustice of Payday lending racket

Consumer Rights, Money Matters, Politics , No Comments
Oklahoma Observer features injustice of Payday lending racket

‘PayDay MayDay’ is the cover story in the new issue (Feb. 25)  of the Oklahoma Observer. Observer editor Arnold Hamilton wrote the piece.

Just before Thanksgiving, about 50 Baptists of varying stripes gathered at a predominantly African-American church in northeast Oklahoma City to learn about an economic plague quietly devastating the state’s teetering middle class and poor: payday lending. What they learned was disturbing — the average payday loan borrower in Oklahoma paid the equivalent of a whopping 349% annual percentage rate on a 14-day loan in 2010. “People are just absolutely dumbfounded that this is legal,” says Dr. Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists. The clergy and laity at the meeting vowed to crusade against the legalized usury, urging the Oklahoma Legislature to impose limits on what can be charged. What they and their legislative allies know, however, is that the alternative financial industry has real power at the Capitol, not least because of generous campaign contributions over the last decade.

For the full story, see ‘Payday Mayday — Preying On The Poor’ on the cover of the Feb. 25th Oklahoma Observer, now available on-line for digital subscribers at www.okobserver.net/current-issue/.

Other stories in the issue include an op-ed by Observer founder Frosty Troy on the religious right’s attack on birth control, an investigation by Foster Kamer on the the decision by OK’s attorney general Scott Pruitt to opt out of the mortgage settlement that 49 other state AGs signed and a review (so far of the 2012 Oklahoma legislature by Eli Reshef.

The Observer is published twice monthly and in addition to news, provides a forum for a wide range of liberal opinion.