An Okie Blog Award may be the most prestigious honor an Oklahoma blogger can receive, but there are other awards going on that are almost as good. And they aren’t as snobbish either, since they let anyone with an Internet connection nominate and vote.

First up, the 2008 Weblog Awards:
While the nominations are over, last year’s Best Overall Okie Blog Award winner, The Pioneer Woman, is a finalist in the category of Best Photo Blog. You can vote for Ree’s blog here.

Also, currently accepting nominations is the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards: The 2009 Bloggies. Nominations for these awards close Jan. 12.

Things are going well so far for the 2008 Okie Blog Awards. So well in fact, that it takes Google more than a decisecond to pull up the 73,800 results for the term “2008 Okie Blog Awards”.

We’ve received nominations from some two dozen bloggers already, containing many new, to me, Oklahoma blogs. And discovering new Okie blogs is my favorite part of these Awards.

The biggest problems so far are minor:

• A couple bloggers nominating their own blogs.
• A couple nominations of blogs unknown to me, without links.
• Category list could be better.

The last problem is something that has confronted me from the beginning . Every year I consider whether to add, delete or change categories. The second year of the Awards, a new category was added - Best Commentary - bringing the total of categories to an even dozen. This year I changed one category, Best Blog Design, to Best Looking Blog. Not much of a change, I know.

Since I used to work as a bagel baker, I guess a dozen is a sweet spot for me. However, we did have a popular deal for a while - 13 bagels for a $1 (yeah, I’m that old). Therefore, feel free to suggest a new category to add for next year’s Awards. So far, I like the idea of Best Photo Blog, and I even considered it as a category originally.

… when first establishing the award categories, one criterion was that there be at least ten blogs eligible for a given category. I was not aware of ten Oklahoma blogs that focused on photography at that time. And to be honest, I still only know of about a half dozen Okie blogs whose primary content is made up of original photographs. Of course I would be happy to learn otherwise.

Although it doesn’t show it, I will tell you that I wrestle with the Award category list every year. I realize that a few categories such as Political, Family, and Culture are a bit crowded and perhaps I will at least make the list a baker’s dozen next year.

Makes me want to go dig out my old pinhole cameras I made in order to learn about photography. And no, I’m not that old.

Sir David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, was one of the first to make pinhole photographs, in the 1850s

Good news for former Oklahoma U.S. Representative and GOP gubernatorial candidate Ernest J. Istook Jr.; perhaps he can finally put the business of campaign corruption behind him.

The Federal Election Commission has imposed a civil penalty of $14,600 after closing a lengthy investigation of former U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook’s last re-election campaign.

The FEC conducted an audit two years ago of Istook’s 2003-04 campaign. It found improper contributions from corporations, donations exceeding the legal limit, failure to report some last-minute contributions and campaign money used on personal items, including tickets to football games and Broadway shows.

And I am sure he and his campaign manager, Kyle Loveless, will be happy to pay their fines, considering how Mr. Istook’s respect for the law is well documented:

The American people do not want people thumbing their nose at the law. It undercuts the very fabric of our society and the system of civil justice and of criminal justice as well.
- Ernest Istook

We can look forward to more bits of wisdom from Istook as a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation in his areas of expertise: “Congressional reform, Spending and Oversight”.

Just when you thought the spreading of good cheer was winding down, along comes the 2008 Okie Blog Awards.

Created in 2005, the fourth annual Okie Blog Awards continues its mission to expose the most talented, creative, and entertaining bloggers in Oklahoma as determined by bloggers themselves.

Nominations will be accepted beginning Jan. 1 through Jan. 20, 2009. Visit the 2008 Okie Blog Awards site for details and instructions.

Only Okie bloggers with active Okie blogs are eligible to nominate and vote. “Active” is defined as having at least one blog post during the last 60 days of 2008. An “Okie blog” is defined as having at least one blog author residing within the state of Oklahoma.

Categories

Best Overall Blog ——
Best Political Blog ——
Best Family Blog ——
Best Humor Blog ——
Best Audio Blog ——
Best Looking Blog ——
Best Writing ——
Best Commentary ——
Best Culture Blog ——
Best Unusual Blog ——
Best Inspirational Blog ——
Best Commercial Blog (company sponsored) ——

If you are an Okie blogger, please help spread the word and begin preparing your list of nominations. And feel free to use any Okie Blog Awards logo in your efforts.

Thanks for playing and may the best Okie bloggers win!

You have to admire how some Okies suffer undue hardship and still retain a good attitude. Take this guy who was arrested by Creek County sheriff deputies just days before Christmas for walking a dog the wrong way.

The case against Hahn stem from Oct. 16 when the Sheriff’s Office was notified that someone driving a black SUV was dragging a dog behind the vehicle.
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At first, witnesses said, the small brown dog of undetermined breed tried to keep up with the SUV, but then fell listless and was dragged along until the animal came free of its collar.

It’s not like the driver was negligent and had forgotten about the dog, Sammy.

Those same witnesses also reported that once the dog came free of the collar, the SUV driver stopped, went around to the back and then put the leash into the vehicle as Sammy lay nearby.

And it’s not like it was a hate crime either.

… there was a female passenger in the SUV who actually petted the dog before they sped away in the vehicle.

Note to self: Don’t drive Obi for a walk in Creek County.

- Via Red Dirt Report

Oklahoma City police may have caught one criminal:

A former day-care operator has been charged with child neglect for allegedly leaving a 5-year-old boy in her car for four hours while she went to a doctor’s appointment.

But they must’ve overlooked another… surely it’s a crime to make folks take four hours for a doctor’s appointment .

I prefer my web browser and eggs the same way: organic and free range. Ya see, I’ve raised chickens, and if chickens ever get happy, it’s when they are freed from their coop to forage in the yard and garden. Not only does that improve their bug gobbling skills, it’s good for a healthy immune system. And the eggs just come out better. I figure the same goes for programmers. Which is why I use 100% organic Mozilla Firefox.

Why should you care?

We may not be a typical company, but we still know how to focus on the bottom line: making the web better for you.

Being open means the next big idea can come from anyone across the world rather than just relying on a few dozen employees at our company offices. When you look at the situation in those terms, why do it any other way?

All this talk about organic software and open source ultimately means a better browser for you and the 150 million regular Firefox users. It means a higher-quality, more secure product. It means innovation, freedom and supporting an Internet that’s accessible to all.

Oh, and there are two other good reasons for Internet Explorer users to make Firefox your default browser:
Major flaw revealed in Internet Explorer; users urged to switch

The major press outlets are abuzz this morning with news of a major new security flaw that affects all versions of Internet Explorer from IE5 to the latest beta of IE8. The attack has serious and far-reaching ramifications — and they’re not just theoretical attacks.

And even more important:
Okiedoke - Vintage Okie opinion is powered by WordPress | Optimized for Mozilla Firefox

Get your chemical free Firefox here.

The compassion for citizen rights is proving strong among at least two Oklahoma legislators.

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Eric Proctor today said he will file legislation to repeal the sales tax on the purchase of guns or ammunition in Oklahoma.

“As Americans, we should not have to pay a tax to exercise our constitutional rights – especially our Second Amendment rights,” said Proctor, D-Tulsa.

The measure, by Proctor and state Sen. Kenneth Corn (D-Howe), will not affect any dedicated revenue stream for wildlife or other programs and the measure would have minimal impact on the state treasury.

“In Oklahoma, we have a long tradition of sportsmanship and hunting that precedes statehood and we should protect that heritage,” Proctor said.

He said the tax should also be repealed because it could be a barrier for those needing protection.

“People shouldn’t have to pay a tax to the government if they need a gun in the home for self-protection,” Proctor said. “No matter what, the responsibility to protect your family is greater than the state’s need to generate taxes.”

- Oklahoma House of Representatives Media Division

Well, I guess that makes some sense.

Too bad for poor Okies that the right to eat isn’t in the Constitution. Then lawmakers might consider excluding the sales tax on groceries.

I’ve been a strong critic of General Motors’ management style since notorious bean-counter Roger B. Smith began accelerating the company’s demise some 30 years ago.

As the 1980s began, G.M. sat atop the automobile industry, as it had since the end of World War II, with 46 percent of American market share.

But by the time Mr. Smith retired, in 1990, G.M. held only 35 percent of the American market, with a lineup of look-alike automobiles blemished by poor quality.

GM’s market share today is about 24%.

While I think we can all agree that current GM executives deserve a lot of criticism for their lack of vision by depending so much on light truck production for profitability, I’m not convinced that a government car czar would be any better. With GM sales of pickups and SUV’s dropping 39% in November, an enlightened car czar would likely have GM truck factories converting to hybrids like the Toyota Prius.

Prius sales plunged 48.3% in November
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Plans to produce the Prius hybrid in the United States have been put on hold indefinitely, Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday.

So here’s my best guess auto bailout scenario:

1. The “Big 3″ (GM, Ford and Chrysler) get a car czar and a government line of credit to retool light truck factories to build ‘green cars’.
2. Workers’ wages reduced.
3. Gasoline remains at less than two dollars a gallon.
4. U.S. sales of trucks and SUV’s increase.
5. The “Big 3″ go bankrupt.
6. Japanese automakers fill U.S. demand for light trucks.
7. Public becomes more protectionist.
8. States hotly compete for new Chinese car factories.
9. Economy improves and oil prices rise.
10. Shrewd investment bankers lose trillions. Chinese buy more banks.
11. Economy tanks.
12. Congress gives the “Big 3″ (Toyota, Honda and Nissan) a car czar and a government line of credit to retool factories to build ‘green cars’.
13. Worker’s wages reduced.
14. Ralph Nader becomes 45th President of the United States.