One Year Ago Today: Until the Sirens Went Off

Last updated on: May 24, 2014 at 2:34 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

We were in legislative session when the sirens went off. For the first time that day, the room fell silent. It was the kind of bottom-dropping-out, free-fall silence that occurs when people face their omnipresent dread. Tornadoes are an omnipresent dread in Oklahoma. Their unpredictability, coupled with their potential for absolute deadliness are the source of our nightmares. I don’t personally know a single native-born Oklahoman who does not have tornado nightmares. Fear of these things is drilled into us... Read more

Jacqueline Kennedy’s Private Letters to Priest to be Auctioned

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 11:29 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

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I started not to write about this. It’s one of those stories that I don’t like one bit. Evidently a very young Jacqueline Bouvier met Father Joseph Leonard when she was in Dublin in 1950. This was three years before she married Senator and future President John F Kennedy. She and the priest became friends and she corresponded with him at key points in her life — when she suffered a miscarriage in 1956 and later after the assassination of... Read more

Saying Goodbye.

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 11:29 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

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I am leaving the Oklahoma legislature. Last week was a week of formal goodbyes. I gave a farewell speech to the House, which you can watch, if you’d like. Go here to see the video. The House Democrats held their annual Sine Die Party, and roasted me and other departing legislators. The Democratic Legislative Assistants prepared a delicious luncheon (Covered dish. All their best cooking. It was to die for.) with a cake with all our names and said... Read more

The REAL Welfare Queens: The Overbearing, Election-Buying, Congress-Owning, Almighty Money Changers of the Temple of Greed

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 11:30 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

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Note: I first published this post almost two years ago. We’re coming to the end of the legislative session here in Oklahoma, plus I have quite a few personal and family issues to deal with. I’m going to re-blog a few posts from the past this week, along with a few others that will be short, but more timely. I hope you enjoy them. Let’s talk for a moment about people who feel “entitled” to government hand-outs. I don’t mean... Read more

Utah Considers Bringing Back Execution by Firing Squad. Is Oklahoma Far Behind?

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 11:30 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

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Representative Paul Ray of Utah has announced that he will introduce a measure to bring back execution by firing squad in the state. Oklahoma’s botched execution of a few weeks ago has led to a rather ugly debate about the death penally in several quarters. This debate has ranged from calls for an end to the death penalty on one side of the argument to discussion of alternate means execution other than lethal injection on the other side. Evidently,... Read more

Pope Francis Will Travel to Holy Land with a Rabbi and Muslim Friend

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 11:31 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

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Pope Francis does it his way. In a complete departure from previous papal trips abroad, he is bringing two friends of other faiths along with him on his upcoming trip to the Holy Land. Pope Francis’ longtime friends, Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Omar Abboud, a leader in Argentina’s Islamic community, will accompany him on his journey to the Holy Land later this week. The Vatican spokesman called this a “novelty.” I think of it as a symbol of what this... Read more

Nigerian Villagers Kill Boko Haram Terrorists

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 11:32 pm By Rebecca Hamilton

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It appears that the ordinary people of Nigeria are getting enough of Boko Haram. Villagers in Northern Nigeria have evidently lost faith in the government and begun taking things in their own hands. According to reports in Al Jezeera, local people in Northern Nigeria have killed and detained scores of Boko Haram “fighters” suspected of planning another attack. After locals from the village of Kalbalge learned of an impending Boko Haram attack, they ambushed two trucks loaded with gunmen.... Read more

Vatican Acknowledges that Complaints about Georgetown University are Well Founded

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 1:18 am By Rebecca Hamilton

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The Vatican has acknowledged that complaints listed in a canonical petition it received from alumni of Georgetown University are “well founded.” What this means in real life, I’m not sure. Hopefully, it signals the beginning of a return to Catholic education at Catholic universities. William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist and Georgetown alum, submitted the petition, which contained 2,000 signatures, to the Vatican last September. Here is the text of the petition: I, the undersigned, a Catholic in... Read more

Vatican: Place the Family at the Center of all Concerns

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 1:18 am By Rebecca Hamilton

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May 15 is the United Nation’s International Day of the Family. Monsignor Vicenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Council on the Family, will go to New York to address the United Nations for this event. He also had a few words to say in advance. He commented that people will say “forever” to a soccer team (or here in Oklahoma, to the Sooners) but to their own husband or wife, not so much. The family has been sliced... Read more

Benham Brothers: “If Our Faith Cost Us the Show, So Be It.”

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 1:18 am By Rebecca Hamilton

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The Benham brothers have issued a statement concerning the cancellation of their show by HGTV. HGTV has joined the line of corporations and other enterprises which is limiting employment according to the dictates of the politically correct police. There is a tendency to label the people on the two sides of this debate as either “liberal” or “conservative” or, sometimes, as “right-wing” or “left-wing.” But in truth, these liberals are no more liberals than today’s neo-cons are conservatives. It... Read more

Which book of the Bible contains the Song of Moses?