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SJR 34: Oklahoma judicial reform
The Oklahoma State House of Representatives is considering SJR 34, a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to change Oklahoma's nominating process for state appeals courts to match the federal method: Nomination by the chief executive with the advice and consent of the legislature. This would put the entire process of...
Eclipse 2024 notes
Composite image of August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse, Madras, Oregon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani) Monday, April 8, 2024, will be the nearest a total solar eclipse has come to Tulsa in my lifetime. The path of totality stretches from south Texas to northern New England. Oklahoma southeast of...
Are charter schools "state actors"?
The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board has authorized an explicitly Roman Catholic virtual charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, to begin operation in the 2024-2025 school year. Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a pretend-conservative and Biden for President donor who won the GOP nomination with the help...
Ron DeSantis for President
In my pre-presidential primary post, I provide a detailed explanation of the delegate allocation process for Oklahoma. As I mentioned in the same post, I am voting for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Oklahoma Republican Primary. A BatesLine reader asked me why the names of so many candidates...
Wagoner County sales tax election, March 5, 2024
In addition to Oklahoma's presidential preference primary on March 5, 2024, a small number of local jurisdictions will have propositions: Haskell, Norman, Oilton (2), Dewey County, Logan County (3), McIntosh County, Major County, and Sharon-Mutual Public Schools (Dewey & Woodward Counties). One school district, Mannsville in Carter & Johnston Counties,...
February 13, 2024, Oklahoma school primary
ELECTION RESULTS: Tulsa County school district bond issues all passed by a wide margin, each proposition exceeding 80% in favor. School bond issues fell short of the 60% threshold in Canute, Krebs, Silo, and Tupelo. In Boswell, Tuttle, and Weleetka school districts, a majority of voters voted against the bond...
Christopher Alexander: Finding patterns, and God, in urban design
From the BatesLine Bookshelf, a very occasional feature on authors and books that have influenced me: Christopher Alexander was an architect, but he might more appropriately have been called a philosopher of the built environment. He spent his career trying to describe and name the qualities that make a place...
The impact of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine
I recently responded to an appeal from the Internet Archive, seeking testimonials about the value of their Wayback Machine, the tool that allows researchers to go back to earlier snapshots of webpages, including many from long-gone websites. Here's what I wrote: Tell us about the first time you used the...
Everett Piper and Rollo Tomassi debate marriage on KFAQ
The late, great Pat Campbell, morning host on 1170 KFAQ in Tulsa for over a decade, had a number of regular, weekly guests. Friday was always an interesting contrast: Dr. Everett Piper, author and nationally-syndicated columnist, then-president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, now Osage County Commissioner, would be on Fridays during...
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys: <br /><em>For the Last Time</em> at 50
Earlier this month was the 50th anniversary of the last time Bob Wills recorded with his legendary band, the Texas Playboys. The sessions that became the album known as For the Last Time were recorded at Sumet-Bernet Studios (aka Sumet Sound Studios), 7027 Twin Hills Avenue, Dallas, on December 3...
A bidding prayer for Christmas, A. D. 2023
Edited from the version originally published on December 25, 2012 Merry Christmas to anyone who happens by BatesLine today. This Advent (2023) I renewed an earlier attempt to turn the 4-arm, 5-globe reproduction Victorian streetlamp in front of our house into a kind of Advent candelabra. I installed three purple...
Tulsa and Oklahoma historical maps and aerial photos
What was here? Who owned it? What did it look like? There are a number of resources available for reconstructing Oklahoma's geographical past, and they're easier to use than ever. These are my go-tos when researching the history of a neighborhood or answering questions about the past. This is an...
Remembering Jim Mautino
Viewing for James Mautino will be 12 noon - 8 pm, Wednesday, November 1, 2023, and the service 11:30 am, Thursday, November 2, 2023, at Moore's Southlawn Funeral Home. Services will be webcast. Condolences may be left online at www.moorefuneral.com. Former Tulsa City Councilor Jim Mautino passed away last Thursday,...
Gist gone
Happy news late this afternoon that Deborah Gist has resigned as superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools. Gist resigns as the state's largest school district faces a hearing on Thursday at the State Board of Education on the loss of its accreditation. The threat to pull accreditation stems from poor academic...
Improve Our Tulsa: Tulsa's Underpants Gnomes promise to fix homelessness
A dialogue pertinent to the August 8, 2023, City of Tulsa special election: "Homeless problem in Tulsa seems worse than ever and all over the city, not just downtown." "Don't worry, GT has a plan." "What's the plan?" "$75 million." "To do what?" "We don't know yet." "How do...
Tulsa GOP urges NO on Improve Our Tulsa 3
The Tulsa County Republican Party has officially come out in opposition to the four City of Tulsa propositions for sales tax and general obligation bonds on the August 8, 2023, ballot ("Improve Our Tulsa 3"): Republican Party of Tulsa County Takes Stance on Improve Our Tulsa 3 Bond Package Tulsa...
Spurgeon on music in worship
An apt remark by P. Andrew Sandlin: Church leaders: if your praise band plays songs 90% of your congregation can't sing easily or enthusiastically, you don't have a church music program; you have a musical performance program. Let me urge you to start a church music program. prompted Noah Goedker...
Oklahomans for Life backs SB 368
Tony Lauinger, State Chairman of Oklahomans for Life, who has tirelessly, for decades and at his own expense, lobbied on behalf of the unborn at the State Capitol, is calling on Oklahomans who oppose abortion to support SB 368. In his message below, Lauinger rightly points out the short-term thinking...
Do all cultures share the same values?
A recent tweet from Jeremy Tate, founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test (CLT): Classical education is fundamental an educational [sic] it what it means to be fully human. It is not a politically conservative alternative to the already politically hijacked mainstream education. Instead, it is an education in...
Resources on believers' baptism
A rain-filled mikveh (ritual immersion pool) at Korazim National Park, Israel. Photo © 2023 by Michael D. Bates, all rights reserved. Here are a couple of useful resources that I recently encountered, one very old, one new, in support of the view that Christian baptism is for those only...
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