By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: October 8, 2012

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – After getting hammered in The Oklahoman over the weekend, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel is scrambling to regain some momentum against his conservative, Tea Party-linked opponent Darrell Sorrels. Whetsel is getting scrutinized like never before. Remember the story a couple of months ago that looked into Whetsel allegedly using inmate labor to make his campaign signs? That was just the tip of the iceberg.

Over the weekend, RDR guest columnist Craig Dawkins submitted a hard-hitting column further exposing Sheriff Whetsel’s shortcomings headlined “Smoke & Mirrors: Why Oklahoma County needs a new sheriff.”

Dawkins said that “16 years of failures is enough” and that Whetsel’s mistakes “will likely be the cause of the DOJ taking over our jail facility.”

And here’s a post-script … our blogger buddy Steve Long, over at The Otter Limits, shares with us a rather alarming article headlined “Whetsel & Co. Threatening Bloggers?” It’s a fairly lengthy piece but adds to the aforementioned Oklahoman article and the issues swirling around Whetsel and his questionable judgment.

For those wanting to learn more about the Whole Foods/GMO scandal, uncovered at Infowars.com, check out this Mike Adams report headlined “Nothing Artificial Ever: Whole Foods caught in GMO marketing deception – proof.” Red Dirt Report has been in touch with a local representative for Whole Foods and we are awaiting a response to our numerous questions about this developing story.

Go to TulsaWorld.com and read Randy Krehbiel’s story on outgoing U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, who reflects on his decade in Congress. Sullivan was defeated in the Republican primary by Jim Bridenstine, a Tea Party-linked upstart who has a lot of work to do to gain the confidence of folks in that critical district, encompassing Tulsa.

And as U.S. Rep. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, works to get re-elected, his main challenger, Democrat Tom Guild, is sharing his story and the reasons why voters should elect him to represent Oklahoma’s 5^th Congressional District. As the voiceover notes in the new Guild campaign video: “Government, when managed properly, can be a force for good.”

And while we’re on the issue of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, an email making the rounds today involves an article written by an anti-Muslim author, Marc J. Fink, who reveals that U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, is plotting with fellow Native Americans to get Turkish nationals to set up businesses in Indian Country. As Cole noted in the Tulsa World late last year when H.R. 2362 – the Indian Tribal Trade and Investment Demonstration Project Act – was first being discussed, Cole addressed the issue of “Why Turkey?”

“People in Turkey have a genuine affinity towards American Indians. Many Turks believe that Indians share a common ancestry with the Turks dating back millennia,” Cole said.

Sounds like a bit of a stretch. We’ll have to inquire with our Turkish friends here in Oklahoma City on that claim. Anyway, it reminds me of a Indian tribe I used to cover when I was a reporter in central Louisiana – the Coushatta tribe. In recent years the Israelis have taken an interest in the Coushattas. In fact, in 2008, according to the Times of Israel: “The Coushatta would become the first Native American tribe to establish a formal relationship with Israel.”

Again, when the Coushattas approached the Israelis , there was some quizzical looks amongst them. But when they explained that both groups – Jews and Coushattas – had a lot in common, it made sense. As the article notes: “Both the Coushatta Tribe and the Jewish people have carved prosperous nations out of the wilderness. Look at how much both we and Israel have achieved in a relatively short amount of time,” said Coushatta spokesman David Sickey. And now the tribe produces olive oil-based lotions and creams called Aya Natural, that comes from Israel’s Galilee region.

Over the weekend, your Red Dirt Reporter read a new book by Brian D. McLaren titled Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World.

Towards the end of the book, McLaren writes: “As Gandhi said, Christian identity in a multi-faith world must be marked first and foremost by Christ-likeness – so that we experience spiritual formation in Christ-like character, Christ-like vision, and Christ-like virtues and values.”

McLaren, we should note, will be the guest speaker on Friday, Oct. 12, at Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ at 3901 NW 63^rd Street in Oklahoma City. Tickets are $10 at the door and attendees, according to the church’s senior minister, Robin Meyers, will “receive more than $20 in free materials at the event.”

And we should note that Dr. Meyers is back as a guest columnist at the Oklahoma Gazette. Meyers’ latest column is about U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe’s numerous failings – “An embarrassment of a senator.” Although, as we wrote recently, we are pleased that Inhofe is seeking to expose the EPA’s crimes related to testing human subjects with dangerous substances.

And another book we are in the middle of, Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening by Diana Butler Bass, is getting some serious attention right now in the media, getting a serious look by USA Today last week in a story headlined “Unitarian faith growing nationwide.” It's true. More people are leaving churches and finding their own path to spirituality.

With that in mind, we want to point readers to the latest post from Loren Coleman at Twilight Language who offers up “The Strange Sync of the Church Bomb Suspect.” There is some very strange things about this story that took place in Miami, Oklahoma a few days ago. A lot of unanswered questions. Weiler was arrested last Thursday in a motel in Miami with “50 Molotov cocktails and a hand-drawn map of 48 Oklahoma churches he intended to firebomb.”

The story is odd in itself. Weiler, reportedly dealing with mental illness, was from suburban Chicago but was moving around a lot – along the old Route 66 corridor – with a stop at religious compound (our term) in Missouri, before crossing into the Sooner State to attempt and do his dirty deed. But why? Why Miami/Ottawa County? What was his motivation. And, as family members note in the Chicago Sun-Times, “I don’t think any of us think he could do this on his own without the help of somebody else. How did he do the travel, pay the hotels and buy the material?”

All excellent questions. We hope to have more on this in coming days.

Copyright 2012 Red Dirt Report