Oklahoma Progressive Network

We've had enough of The Oklahoman's bad journalism, harmful business practices and poor community service.

The major daily in Oklahoma City is bad for the city, the region it serves and the citizens because:

* its editorial section is dangerously one-sided, misinforming readers about the national conversation
* it will not cover news stories and events about political positions with which it disagrees,
* political opponents who complain are blacklisted from the letters page, and
* it has a history of biased reporting, sloppy or non-existent editing, and inaccurate, unfair style practices.

We are organizing for action to demand fairness, accuracy and accountability from this community business.

An editorial in the Boston Globe on May 2 identified our own Sen. Coburn as the single hold on a bill that passed in the House last month with 420 votes. President Bush has said he will sign it.

But, as he so often does, Coburn thinks he knows better than anybody, and singlehandedly put a hold on the bill -- anonymously.

Don't need more info? Contact the brat immediately.

This message to the DC Bureau chiefs of The Oklahoman and Tulsa World from research gal is featured prominently at DemoOkie forums:

A message for Chris Casteel and Jim Myers:

Doc Hoc is calling you out on the free pass you are giving Jim Inhofe. Let's see the story within a week or I'm going to start publishing your emails.

The Progressive Democrats of America doesn't have a state coordinator, or any district coordinators in Oklahoma. A few years ago, Pam Paul was very active and effective with PDA in the Oklahoma City area, but she moved away, and left a big void in the activist community. Time for someone to fill that void!

Should some Oklahoman (newly arrived or newly awakened) search at pdamerica.org for a way to get involved, this is what they'll find:

State Caucus

Dan Boren was one of 14 Democrats who voted with the Republicans against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, which passed in the House yesterday, 237-180 (a similar bill is in progress in the Senate).

Contact info for Boren is to the right. Please log your contact/results in comments below.

If you're on MySpace, join our group: http://groups.myspace.com/okprogressive

If you know anything about how MySpace works, please get involved in helping us develop the group there. We're noobs in that world!

Next: Facebook, Newsvine, ???

I think we on the Left in Oklahoma need to get our heads (and bodies) together and forge a real alliance: Improve communication between activists and groups, work on developing a plan for progressive empowerment in communities across the state, build better coalitions between labor, environmentalists, peacemakers and social justice advocates.