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  <title>Urban Tulsa Weekly |  Columns : Capitolist</title>
  <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com</link>
  <description>Urban Tulsa - Tulsa Metro&amp;#39;s Only Independent Newsweekly.</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <copyright>Copyright 2013 Urban Tulsa Weekly. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Urban Tulsa Weekly readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Urban Tulsa Weekly.</copyright>
  <webMaster>urbantulsa@urbantulsa.com</webMaster>
  <pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 EDT</pubDate>
  <lastBuildDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:00 EDT</lastBuildDate>
  <generator>Dispatch Gyrobase</generator>

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    <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com</link>
    <description>Urban Tulsa - Tulsa Metro&amp;#39;s Only Independent Newsweekly</description>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Take the Good, Take the Bad | Mercifully, session comes to an end]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=60248</link>
      <description><![CDATA[As the mostly unlamented 2013 legislation session nears adjournment, it's time to take note of some highs and lows:

High: Sen. Brian Crain's Senate Bill 315 requiring law officers to be trained in recognizing symptoms of Alzheimer's and dementia.

As the Tulsa Republican correctly points out, peopl... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Something's Fishy | Questionable practices abound in OKC]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=60019</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A standard Republican talking point in recent years depicted the wisdom of Oklahoma's political leaders versus D.C.'s knuckleheads.

It went something like this:

Washington: dumb, Oklahoma City: sage. Washington: gridlocked, Oklahoma City: problem-solving. Washington: hyper-partisan, Oklahoma City:... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Test-Testing Toll | Private screw-ups now very public]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=59756</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Last week's chaotic standardized school testing wasn't just a two-day cluster for students, teachers and test monitors. It was potentially a worst-case scenario for Oklahoma's school districts, their administrators and the rank-and-file citizens serving on their boards.

Why? Because you can bet som... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[State Shenanigans | Legislature makes questionable decisions]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=59510</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A maximum of four weeks to go in the 2013 legislative session, a minimum of four things you ought to know:

1. If you're a state employee or a public school teacher, the Legislature is monkeying with your pension system.

Not just tinkering, not improving, but monkeying with it.

Police and firefigh... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Lip Service | Lawmakers react with redundancy]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=59284</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A classic case of no good deed goes unpunished? Or window dressing that all-too-often defines so-called "grand achievements" at the state Capitol?

I'm referring, of course, to the four new laws spawned by the work of the Oklahoma Commission on School Security.

The blue ribbon panel was quickly ass... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Legislative Tomfoolery | State lawmakers are making us look bad]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=59062</link>
      <description><![CDATA[So our august legislature can't make time to meet its April 1 deadline to fund public education for the next year. Or to discuss seriously one of the key safety issues facing motorists today: what to do about those who insist on texting while driving.

But our elected poobahs can carve out plenty of... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Republican Rifts | Dominant party still has internal battles]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=58806</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The state lawmaker leaned closer and demanded anonymity for the heresy he was about to utter: "Seventy-two," he said in a lowered voice, "isn't a good thing."

Seventy-two is the number of seats Republicans control in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Out of 101.

There are not enough Democrat... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Slaughter on Lincoln Boulevard | Why Good Friday to break news?]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=58499</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Traditionally in politics, the best time to roll out inconvenient, flies-swirling-stinky news that might displease much of the general public is a late Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend.

On cue, Gov. Mary Fallin delivered just such a message last week when -- on Good Friday -- she signed into l... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Going Public with This | Give to those who serve us more thought and money!]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=58141</link>
      <description><![CDATA[What is it with the Oklahoma Legislature's disregard for -- and disrespect of -- of public employees?

It's been six years since state workers received pay raises. Moreover, budget cuts have decimated the state's work force -- down nearly 10 percent since 2009 -- meaning far fewer employees serving... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Hey, Porter | Bills have potential for real passenger rail service]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=57899</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Don't be fooled by the name. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation isn't really about "transportation" -- at least not in the fullest sense of the word.

Rather, it's an agency best described as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state's well-heeled, politically influential, highway contractors.... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Beer Me | Nanny State considers microbrew samples]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=57661</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Who's your Nanny?

That's right -- Nanny, with an N. Not Daddy, with a D. You may never have had heard it phrased quite that way, but it's a question posed almost every day at the state Capitol.

Ever since Republicans seized legislative majorities earlier this millennium, their rhetoric oft has inv... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 13 Mar 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[For Better or For Worse ]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=57424</link>
      <description><![CDATA[For decades in Oklahoma City, it was really more lament than question: Do you think the Gaylords will ever sell the Oklahoman?

That is the sort of antipathy that can build over generations in a small state where the wealthiest family wields the era's most powerful news medium as a bludgeon to advan... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
    </item>
  
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Business as Usual | Senators read the bill (unless the Chamber wrote it)]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=57243</link>
      <description><![CDATA[You'd think the Oklahoma Senate would want its members to have enough time to read the bill.

But the 260-page monstrosity that would remake Oklahoma's workers' compensation system landed in Sen. Tom Ivester's inbox one day before he was supposed to cast an informed vote on it.

As a lawyer, the Say... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Chamber Danger | Special interests fight to keep useless tax incentives]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=57051</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The next time you hear members of the Oklahoma Legislature prattle on about tax reform and tax fairness, remember this: They aren't really serious -- not enough of them, anyway.

If they were, Rep. David Dank's years of hard work on tax credits, exemptions, and incentives wouldn't have gone down in... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
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    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[As Water in a Sieve | Legislators entertain profitless endeavor]]></title>
      <link>http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=56846</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Across Oklahoma, the landscape is starting to look and feel uncomfortably like the parched '50s or the Dirty '30s.

Record warm years. Cracked earth. Blowing dust. Far too little rain for far too long.

Anyone who doubted water would supplant oil as the 21st Century's most precious natural resource... By Arnold Hamilton.]]></description>
      <category>Columns/Capitolist</category>
      <pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2013 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
      <source url="http://www.urbantulsa.com">Urban Tulsa Weekly</source>
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