OK COUNTY DESERVES BETTER  The Oklahoma County Clerk's office has been a "joke" for a long time, but that hasn't stopped Carolyn Caudill's fellow "friends" at the county from circling the wagons to keep her in place.   

Sadly, it's another example of how they'd rather have bad government in Oklahoma County than good people who are genuinely looking out for the taxpayers.

STAN INMAN is the pain-in-the-ass they fear at the county.   When he was County Commissioner, he made them do things "by the law," stopped them from spending bond money that the county had no right to, and who demanded accountability from the clerk's office.

The last person the "good old boys" at the county want in office is Stan Inman.

That should be the one thing that tells you he's exactly the RIGHT PERSON to replace Carolyn Caudill.   

This is the woman who put taxpayers SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS on the Internet, than blamed it on the taxpayers for filing the documents in the first place.  

This is the woman who put whose response when questioned at a public forum questioned why anyone had a problem with the whole thing, while attacking Stan Inman with comments about Stan who had a deputy that had been divorced three times?

So what.

I'm really curious how this woman ever got elected in the first place.   I guess nobody was paying attention that year.

If Obama's Plan Were Followed Barack Obama is enjoying a popular jaunt through the Middle East, but if America had heeded his judgment over the last five years, the fawning stories that have followed him this trip might be quite different.

Imagine: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama overflew the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Najaf Monday, where the mass graves for an estimated 240,000 victims of sectarian violence killed since 2007 were visible even from an altitude.

Sen. Obama was on his way to meet with American soldiers completing the US withdrawal from Iraq in Kuwaiti ports. Miles away, Iranian and Saudi delegations were meeting in an emergency summit in Kuwait City in an effort to keep the Iraqi civil war from boiling over into open regional conflict. Both sides have accused the other of providing advanced weaponry and training, while faulting American leaders for the bloody collapse of the Iraqi state.

Fortunately, of course, none of that happened.

Obama was in Baghdad on Monday for one reason and one reason only: President Bush wisely ignored the senator's repeated calls to abandon the Iraqi people and instead listened to advice to change commanders, strategy and tactics in Iraq. The resulting counterinsur- gency doctrine and a surge of American forces into Iraq coincided with a popular Sunni revolt against the al Qaeda-led insurgency known as the Awakening movement, which was followed by the fracturing of the Shiite Mahdi Army and other militant groups.

If we'd listened to Obama in 2002, Saddam Hussein (or his murderous son Qusay) would still be brutally repressing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites and Kurds - and some of the world's most accomplished terrorists (such as Abu Abbas, 1993 WTC bomber Abdul Rahman Yasin and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi) would still call Iraq home. I doubt Obama would be flying to Baghdad.

If we'd listened to him in 2005-2006, when things were at their worst, then the nightmare scenario might well be playing out: an open Iraqi civil war, verging on a wider regional war, with Saudi Arabia and Iran backing different sides in Iraq. I doubt Obama would be flying to Baghdad.

So, by all means let the journalists of The New York Times paint his visit as an accomplishment of some sort.

Just keep in mind that if we'd followed the novice senator's judgment at any point during his career, Iraq could've been too dangerous a place for his flight to even consider touching down.

Bob Owens blogs at Confederate Yankee, from which this is adapted, and writes for Pajamas Media.

- Sally Kern packs heat.   She should.   The enemies of the truth love to threaten people.  The same group had me carrying a gun myself when threats were reported to me by "insiders" in 1991.   

- John Edwards is on the VP list for Obama...and yet a story claiming he has a "Love Child" doesn't get picked up by any of the mainstream media.   No bias there, huh?

IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY

Stan Inman   for OK County Clerk

I know him.   I trust him.

T H E      B R I E F

Athletes from Iraq have been banned from taking part at this summer's Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee has announced.

The team was already the subject of an interim ban after the Iraqi government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees.

Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence.

Iraq had been planning to send a team of at least seven athletes to the Olympics which start on 8 August.

Two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer were in the frame for the trip to Beijing.

INTERPRETED:   We'd hate to have a FREE IRAQ represented at the games for the world to see.

----------------------------    

Sen. Barack Obama scrapped plans to visit wounded members of the armed forces in Germany as part of his overseas trip, a decision his spokesman said was made because the Democratic presidential candidate thought it would be inappropriate on a campaign-funded journey.

The spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Thursday that Obama made his decision out of respect for the servicemen and women, but Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign immediately criticized the move.

"Barack Obama is wrong. It is never inappropriate to visit our men and women in the military," said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the Republican contender.

Obama's decision raised a number of questions because the visit, which had been scheduled for Friday, never appeared on the schedule of events distributed to reporters who are accompanying him on his travels.

The first word from the campaign about its existence was Gibbs' statement.

Obama had been planning to go to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before a flight to Paris. Gibbs said the stop was canceled because Obama decided "it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."

----------------------------    

The New York Times Co. will increase the Monday-Saturday newsstand cost of its flagship paper by 25 cents to $1.50, the publisher said Wednesday.

Times Chief Executive Janet Robinson said the price increase for The New York Times will take effect Aug. 18. The last increase came a year ago. The company recently announced a 4.5 percent increase in home delivery prices for the paper that takes effect this month, the second bump in a year. The increases helped overall circulation revenue rise 2.5 percent in the latest quarter.

The increase will not affect the Sunday edition of the Times, which sells for $4 at the newstand in the New York metropolitan area and $5 in other parts of the country.

The move comes a week after The Wall Street Journal said it would boost its newsstand price by 50 cents to $2 starting July 28 to reflect both new content and higher costs.

Newspaper publishers are battling sharp rises in newsprint costs and deep declines in advertising revenue.

----------------------------    

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to pay thousands of state employees the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until lawmakers reach a deal on California's overdue state budget.

Democrats and Republicans have so far been unable to compromise on a solution to the state's $15.2 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year that started July 1. As the stalemate continued, Schwarzenegger has ratcheted up his rhetoric.

Spokesman Aaron McLear said the Republican governor is contemplating signing an executive order next week that would pay about 200,000 state workers the federal minimum wage, which is $1.45 an hour less than California's minimum wage.

----------------------------    

Hurricane Dolly slammed ashore and then loitered over deep south Texas as a tropical storm, dumping as much as a foot of rain in places and ripping roofs off buildings with 100 mph winds.

Emergency managers waited for Dolly to move on late into the night Wednesday and hoped to begin assessing the storm's damage Thursday even as they began to rescue people from flooded or damaged homes.

----------------------------    

A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.

Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.

Judge Rob Murfitt made the 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed, he said in a ruling made public Thursday. The girl was involved in a custody battle, he said.

The new name was not made public to protect the girl's privacy.

'Very poor judgment'
"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," he wrote. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."

The girl had been so embarrassed at the name that she had never told her closest friends what it was. She told people to call her "K" instead, the girl's lawyer, Colleen MacLeod, told the court.

In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of the unfortunate names.

Sex Fruit?
Registration officials blocked some names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, he said. But others were allowed, including Number 16 Bus Shelter "and tragically, Violence," he said.

----------------------------    

The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.

The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don't find a link between increased tumors and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Another researcher likened cell-phone use to "play[ing] Russian roulette with your brain."

Herberman is basing his alarm on early, unpublished data. He says it takes too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action now — especially when it comes to children.

"Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later," Herberman said.

----------------------------    

About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.

The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.

----------------------------    

Before heading to the airport to depart for Germany, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, came to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem for a pre-dawn visit, arriving at 5:01 am local time.

The visit did not appear on the official schedule nor had it been anounced by the campaign, but dozens of people were waiting for him, apparently tipped off.

At 5:11 am, Obama --a white yarmulke atop his head, a pack of Secret Service agents surrounding him -- walked from the motorcade with a small group of men to a sectioned off area of the Western wall of the Temple Mount, traditionally considered the last remnant of the Holy Temple.

Men and women are separated at the Wall, and a female Secret Service agent and two female Obama communications staffers went to the women's side.

The pre-dawn sky was dark.

And then one man at the Wall began screaming: "Obama, Jerusalem is our land! Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale!"

He kept yelling this for Obama's entire 10 minutes at the Wall, refusing to stop despite repeated entreaties to do so from the crowd.

After shaking some hands, Obama got back in his motorcade and headed to the airport.

----------------------------    

Top Pentagon leaders are expected soon to recommend to Defense Secretary Robert Gates which additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan over the next month or so, according to a senior military official.

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have been asking for three combat brigades, or roughly 10,000 more troops, to help quash rising violence there.

The senior official, who requested anonymity because the proposals are not public, said the recommendations have not yet been approved by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or delivered to Gates.

Last week Gates said he is hoping to address some of those requirements sooner rather than later.

On Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that any sizable increase in troop levels in Afghanistan may not come until the new administration takes over next year.

----------------------------    

The Arctic may hold 90 billion barrels of oil, more than all the known reserves of Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Mexico combined, and enough to supply U.S. demand for 12 years, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

One-third of the undiscovered oil is in Alaskan territory, the agency found in a study released today. By contrast, a geologic formation beneath the North Pole claimed by Russian scientists last year probably holds just 1.2 percent of the Arctic's crude, the U.S. report showed.

Energy producers such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. have accelerated exploration of the northernmost regions for untapped reserves amid record prices and receding access to deposits in more hospitable climates. Russia's move to scrap a United Nations convention and carve out an exclusive Arctic zone sparked protests from Canada, the U.S., Norway and Denmark.

``Most of the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum,'' Donald Gautier, the project chief for the assessment, said in the report. ``The extensive Arctic continental shelves may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth.''

----------------------------    

A proposal that would place at least a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a broad swath of neighborhoods, mostly in South Los Angeles, won unanimous support from a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday.

If approved by the full council and signed by the mayor, the law would prevent fast-food chains from opening new restaurants in a 32-square-mile area, including West Adams, Baldwin Village and Leimert Park. The moratorium would be in effect for one year, with the possibility of two six-month extensions.

The measure, proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose 9th District includes much of South Los Angeles, defines a fast-food restaurant as "any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."

Restaurant lobbyists initially opposed the law. But Andrew Casana, a lobbyist for the Sacramento-based California Restaurant Assn., said his group is working with Perry and other council members and is waiting to see how they define fast food and plan to deal with lots that remain vacant after the law expires.

----------------------------    

The U.S. stock market would fare better in the first year after a victory by Republican presidential candidate John McCain than by his Democratic rival Barack Obama, according to a majority of economists at U.S. banks and research groups polled by Reuters.

But the survey of 29 firms taken alongside a regular Reuters economic poll also found that economists had mixed views on the two candidates' economic plans.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "very good", 12 economists gave McCain's proposals higher marks, while nine rated the two candidates equally and eight preferred Obama's policies, according to the poll released on Wednesday.

The economy has supplanted the Iraq war as the main issue in the November presidential election between Arizona Sen. McCain and Illinois Sen. Obama.

The troubled housing market, tightening credit conditions and rising costs of food and energy have driven U.S. consumer confidence to a 28-year low.

The survey, conducted this week, found that 21 of the economists polled thought McCain would be better for the stock market in the first year after the election, while six chose Obama and two gave no response.

----------------------------    

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention set for Denver next month is avoiding paying state and federal taxes on gasoline by gassing up vehicles at a city fuel depot, according to a city councilwoman quoted yesterday on the Web site of the Rocky Mountain News. "There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them, and that concerns me," the Denver official, Jeanne Faatz, said at a city meeting yesterday. "I believe this is only for elected officials, government dignitaries," Mayor Hickenlooper said at the session, according to the News. "My understanding is in Washington or wherever where this happens on a regular basis, that it's standard operating procedure. I do know for a fact that they're doing the same exact thing in Minneapolis." Not so, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention's host committee in that city, Teresa McFarland, told the paper. "We're not getting a tax break on fuel," she said. "That's not the set-up at this end."

A spokeswoman for the Democratic convention, Natalie Wyeth, said the taxes would be paid. "The Denver Host Committee will pay all applicable taxes and fees related to their fuel contract, as they should," she said in a statement e-mailed to The New York Sun.

----------------------------    

PAGE CONSTANTLY UPDATED 

What's  On  DRUDGE?

E - B R I E F

Bale asks for privacy in assault allegations
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Batman star Christian Bale asked for privacy Thursday in his first comments since allegations he assaulted his mother and sister at a London hotel, saying the incident was a "deeply personal matter."...

Lucy Liu joins Samuel L. Jackson in `Afro Samurai'
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Lucy Liu is set to embrace her inner warrior....