By Theodore King

A column was sent to me by Tulsa blogger Michael Bates of Batesline.com. The column came from RedState.com and was titled "Lobster Traps of the Left," which explained that lobsters walk into traps set on the beaches for them. They can go in one way, but they can't go back out; hence they are trapped. For decades, Republicans have been like lobsters going into traps in Washington set for them by the left, and they are trapped. Mary Fallin was trapped when she co-sponsored H.R. 2499, The Puerto Rico Democracy Act, this past spring. This bill will allow Puerto Rico to vote once again on statehood. Should Puerto Rico become the 51st state, it will be a boon for the far left in that it will give them a Spanish speaking state, which will make us a bilingual nation, like Canada. Puerto Rico, for the first time, will have two Senators and as many as six House seats, all to further the Obama agenda. Puerto Ricans are a notoriously liberal voting bloc. And since there can be only 435 members of the House, Oklahoma may very well lose a congressional seat in favor of the newly-minted state.

On April 29th, the vote was 222 to 190. Congressmen Tom Cole, Frank Lucas, and John Sullivan voted no. Dan Boren voted yes. Mary Fallin, probably sensing she made a mistake in co-sponsoring the bill, had some emergency that day and did not vote. As for Sarah Palin's endorsement of Mary Fallin, Sarah chose Mary not because of Mary's convictions (convictions which are vague at best), but because Mary's a she. Sarah Palin is really not well informed, and yet she will be running for president in 2012. May God help us all.

Last winter, I wrote about Congressman Barney Frank's financial overhaul bill, the so-called Wall Street Reform and Consummer Protection Act of 2009. According to Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, it would create, among other things, a consumer protection agency housed within the Federal Reserve that could force banks to make home loans to people based on a sense of "social justice," not on burrowers' ability to repay. This bill would create a continuation of the policies that led to the mortgage crisis that began three years ago. On May 20th, the Senate voted for the financial bill by a vote of 59 to 39. Both Senators Coburn and Inhofe voted no. Senators Byrd of West Virginia (who would die over a month later) and Senator Specter of Pennsylvania (now politically dead) did not vote. Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts voted for the bill. On June 30th, the House approved the conference report by a vote of 237 to 192. None of the Oklahoma delegation voted for this bad bill. Both the House and Senate need to hash out differences in the bill before final passage and its signing into law by the president.

Writing of Barney Frank, on May 27th by a vote of 234 to 194, the House passed The Defense Authorization Act for 2011, which repealed, subject to approval by the Department of Defense, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the policy agreed to by the Clinton administration and Congress in 1993 that forbids the military from asking if a recruit is homosexual. The policy means that a member of the military who is homosexual cannot reveal his or her orientation while serving. The repeal of this policy would allow homosexuals to serve openly. I can see this as a morale problem for our military. Dan Boren did not vote, and the four Republicans from Oklahoma voted no.

That day, the Senate Armed Services Committe voted 16 to 12 to repeal the policy, upon the Defense Department's approval. Senator Inhofe, a ranking member of that committee, voted no on repeal.

I am dissapointed that Congressman John Sullivan is seeking re-election after having checked himself into The Betty Ford Clinic for alcoholism last year. Recently, Sullivan teamed up with (are you ready for this?) Patrick Kennedy, son of Ted who has his own drinking problem, to create a new federal agency on mental health! Congressman Sullivan stated: "I am proud to join my colleague Rep. Patrick Kennedy in introducing this important legislation to help ensure that doctors and health care professionals have all the information they need to treat patients suffering from mental health and addiction disorders."

A close friend of and donor to Congressman Sullivan told me (while Cong. Sullivan was at Betty Ford) that he needed this job because he has no other source of income. I should point out that this is the same source who informed me in early October of 2008 that he had been asked by a very wealthy local banker to contact Cong. Sullivan and ask him to vote for the TARP bailout of the banks, which Sullivan did. Recently, it was reported in the Tulsa Beacon newspaper on June 3rd and the McCarville Report, http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com, that John Sullivan is being sued by one of his former political consultants, Dave Pearson, for a $20,000 debt owed to him from the 2002 campaign. "Sullivan is the most dishonest, disingenuous, and crooked politician I have ever known. He is a liar because he repeatedly lied to me and others about his business background, his arrest records, and many other things," Pearson told the McCarville Report.

I can personally attest to John Sullivan's slipperiness. In 2001, while running in a special election for Congress, he asked this paper to have me get in touch with him. In our phone conversation he said to me: "What would it take to get you to come back to Washington?" I responded: "Well, John, it depends on what I would be offered." John immediately changed the subject, and that was the end of that. Congressman John Sullivan and a lot of other incumbents are running for re-election, not because they can help the nation get out of its current mess, but because they need the money, and so do our bankers -- very sad.

I should mention a book I read recently -- Revolution! by Tim Cox, a Texas computer programmer and founder and coordinator of GOOOH or Get Out Of Our House! His idea is that we find ordinary citizens from every congressional district, select them by caucus, then have them compete against the Democrat and Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. If elected, these candidates would commit themselves to a laundry list of reforms that many of us would find agreeable. While Republicans will dominate this election cycle, if they disappoint us next year, 2012 may be a GOOOH year. www.goooh.com

With the recent comment by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the fault of the former Bush administration, it is a good time to write about the soon-to-be former Speaker of the House. In my 30 years of observing politics, I have never witnessed anyone like Nancy Pelosi. I write this not from an ideological bent, but from the neutral prism of public relations. This woman is colossally imperious and delusional. What must be alarming to Democrats, like Dan Boren, is their party does not seem to notice what a liability they have with her. Governor Brad Henry knew that if he were to govern Oklahoma effectively, he need not speak, given his poor rhetorical skills. Nancy Pelosi does speak, a lot, and what she says is often amazing.

In February 2009, she commented that she was miffed at the Republicans for not supporting the 800 billion dollar stimulus package. She also vowed that the voters would punish Republicans in the next election for not voting for the Obama stimulus package. In the face of mounting public opposition to the health-care bill, she told the country that we needed to pass the health-care bill so that we could find out what is in the bill. She dismissed the Tea Party protesters as nothing more than "astroturf," not a real grass roots movement, and she thereby galvanized the movement further.

During a press conference, Madam Pelosi was about to burst into tears over those mean signs she saw people holding in protest of the health-care bill. Then on the day of the health-care vote, she marched on the congressional lawn with gavel and congressional Democrats past those same protesters who had so frightened her. And she recently commented that artists will now be able to quit their jobs and pursue their "art" because they will have health care.

Madam Pelosi has called on churches to make political statements from the pulpit in support of amnesty for illegal immigrants. One of her lieutenants, Lynn Woolsey from California, wanted the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax exempt status of Catholic bishops who opposed the abortion provision in the health-care bill (See my column in the Winter 2010 issue). More recently, she said that her policies have to reflect on "The Word." I must say in her defense that the Church to which we both belong has not had the courage to discipline politicians like Nancy Pelosi who support abortion. The Catholic hierarchy's lack of resolve on this issue has aided and abetted such delusional thinking. In June, a reporter asked her at what point does she have to stop blaming the previous administration for the nation's woes. Her response was: "When we run out of problems." Oh, but it gets better: on July 1st, she was quoted as saying that sending out unemployment checks is the fastest way to create jobs. At this point, a court-appointed guardian is in order.

Senator Coburn believes her to be a nice lady. I think she is the closest thing I have ever seen in politics to a three dimensional cartoon character.

"Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison in 1788