Oh, Oklahoma voters. How do you pick these people? Ralph Shortey edition

Last week, I did something I very rarely do (for the sake of my sanity and blood pressure) - I read the local newspaper’s Opinion page. I ran across this letter to the editor that prompted me to go on a crazy tumblrant. The tumblr platform was being a weirdsmobile & wouldn’t let me post, probably a good thing. So I ‘saved as draft’ so I could cool off a little about yet another bozo in the state senate. Well. I decided today was the day to do some edits and post. However. The draft wasn’t there.

If only it were that easy to silence the nonsense of Senator Ralph Shortey.

Here is the letter in question from Oklahoma City resident Don Gibson:

Regarding “Court upholds injunction of state’s Sharia law measure” (News, Jan. 11): State Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, called the court’s injunction an attempt “to silence the voice of 70 percent of Oklahoma voters.” He said, “At some point we have to decide whether this is a country of, by and for the judges, or of, by and for the people.”

Senator, the judges’ ruling is based on our Constitution! The court injunction is a clear indication that 70 percent of the voters in this state don’t know and understand the Constitution. The ignorance of 70 percent is no justification for violating the Constitution.

Perhaps we should require candidates for public office to pass a test proving that they have read and understood the Constitution before they’re certified to run for public office.

According to the Jan. 11 story, SQ775’s ”principal author, former state Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, called it a pre-emptive strike to keep state judges whom proponents characterize as liberal from considering Islamic law because they view Islam as a growing threat. The appellate judges said state officials admitted “they did not know of a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law.”

And then I thought …. hmmm … this Shortey guy, he sounds familiar. You want to know why? Because he’s the crazy behind another piece of legislation that was recently introduced due to pre-emptive strike - SB 1418. You want to know what SB 1418 is? It prohibits the sale and manufacture of food or products which contain aborted human fetuses.

Um….what?

No really, though. In a Jan. 25 article in the Oklahoman, he calls this bill a “public awareness effort” after reading about the group Children of God for Life boycotting food because of companies potentially using stem cells in research. Well, now I’m well aware of your wacky beliefs, and your stance on stem cell research and abortion…so maybe it worked.

The article also makes mention of the other oddities of legislation that Shortey has brought to the state government since becoming a senator in 2010. They list SB91 which was to require proof of citizenship that includes an original birth certificate for presidential candidates. And SB 898, an Oklahoma citizenship bill that would deny babies born to illegal immigrants. And a search and seizure bill that would allow police to question and confiscate items from suspected illegal immigrants. Also, a newly proposed reolution to abolish the state court of criminal appeals, SJR83.

Please don’t forget about SB 905, to recognize english as the official language of Oklahoma. Or the co-authoring of HB 1511 to recognize “Second Amendment Day” in Oklahoma, i.e. a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (Because I’m sure we all need a second amendment day to celebrate, right?)

Good job District 44. Sigh.

1 Notes/ Hide

  1. rantzbylantz posted this

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus