And yes, we like to discuss politics. Why do you ask?

They took the word “Seattle” away back in March. But now it doesn’t say “Supersonics” on what used to be the Supersonics website either.
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Until further notice, it’s the “NBA OKC” site. The team is simply referred to as “Oklahoma City” for now.

There is no shortage of suggestions. However, the lack of good suggestions are the problem.

Finding a nickname for OKC’s new team is almost impossible

It’s not easy to think of a good nickname, but it’s sure easy to think of a bad one.

As an example:

NBA Team in Oklahoma City Needs a Slam Dunk of a Name, Says Dunkadelic TV

The Sonic-Boom in Seattle is now a Dunkadelic-Boom in Oklahoma City. Should OKC choose a unique and colorful name like the Dunkadelics or something more traditional like Thunder, Wildcats, Lightning, or Stampede.

The Oklahoma City Dunkadelics has a nice flow and would make the franchise the only team with a dunk/mascot name.

A hundred more can be found here.

And of course, there’s already an unofficial contest:

The NBA no doubt is working on a new design as we speak, but we can’t trust them to come up with anything palatable. So Uni Watch is issuing the following challenge to you, this column’s faithful readers: Come up with a new name, logo, and uniform set for Oklahoma City’s NBA team. And do it fast, before the NBA issues its own crummy design that we end up having to look at for years.

So far, I’m leaning to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Man! After that, returning to Oklahoma in July must be pure Hell.

So, I have been savoring every single minute of my first summer back in Oklahoma which will end suddenly next Tuesday when I wing my way across the Pacific to work the Summer Olympic Games. In these past two weeks I have been present and accounted for every tangerine prairie sunset, every bloom coming and going on ever flower in my garden — I have not missed a minute of the summer life that goes on in my little backyard. I revel in barefoot splendor watching the grass and the sunflowers grow everyday. In these two weeks I’ve worked diligently trying to eat an entire summer’s worth of vine-ripened tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, okra, purple-hulled peas, banana peppers, and sweet corn washed down with a couple of gallons of sun tea flushed with the mint from my garden.

I think I’ll go out and pick some beans.

Most Popular Baby Names Change Dramatically

The top 10 baby names from 1950 look nothing like today. Here’s the list from 1950, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration:

Most popular boy/girl baby names in 1950:

1. James / Linda
2. Robert / Mary
3. John / Patricia
4. Michael / Barbara
5. David / Susan
6. William / Nancy
7. Richard / Deborah
8. Thomas / Sandra
9. Charles / Carol
10. Gary / Kathleen

I was a child of the fifties and my parents went with #4, and no, Barbara isn’t my middle name. (In 1953, when I was born, Michael was the most popular name for boys at a rate of 37.2 per thousand.)

And while I like the name Michael just fine, I never really liked being a Michael. Because being a Michael usually meant I was one of many in any given situation that included more than three males. I’ve spent probably a third of my life responding to calls of “Mike” from people that don’t even want to talk to me.

So, seeing a headline that baby names have changed dramatically gave me hope that, if I can live another 50 or 60 years, I might be the only Mike within earshot once in a while. But no…

Here’s the list from last year:

1. Jacob / Emily
2. Michael / Isabella
3. Ethan / Emma
4. Joshua / Ava
5. Daniel / Madison
6. Christopher / Sophia
7. Anthony / Olivia
8. William / Abigail
9. Matthew / Hannah
10. Andrew / Elizabeth

Great! Not only is Michael still on the list, it’s even more popular. It looks like me and a couple billion other Michaels will continue spending much of our lives listening to the expression, “I wasn’t talking to you.” I guess I should just be glad my last name isn’t Smith.

By the way, my son never had, or will have, the same such problem.

It is not just the fact that Obama will now be the first major party presidential nominee since Watergate to opt out of public financing in the general election that should raise eyebrows — though it makes the Richard Nixon comparison even more compelling. In classic Richard Nixon style Obama chose to blame his reversal on his opponents than accept responsibility for the decision himself. Nixon always had some plausible sounding excuse to one up his opponents, to reverse his positions and to lower his standards. That excuse was the same one Obama chose to offer in defense of his recent reversal — political expediency.
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Campaigns tell us who a candidate is as well as what he believes. And, last week Barack Obama looked and acted a lot like Richard Nixon. That ought to concern his supporters even more than his opponents.

And the public response to Cole’s logic:

1. […] first carter, now nixon? give me a fucking break. […]
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3. So Tom Cole now supports public financing? Because in April of this year he said he did not, a politically expedient change, which, in some circles, would be called “Nixonian.”

Q: Do you support voluntary public funding of all federal elections to reduce the influence big money has on our democracy? You’d be able to spend more time serving your country and less time dialing for campaign contributions.

A: Listen to: U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)

First of all, I’m opposed to public funding of political campaigns – first and foremost because most of the public is as well. It’s not a very popular system. Second, it doesn’t remove money from campaigns; it just removes it from candidates. And you see it spent through all sorts of special interest groups and organizations with every point of view. So I would much prefer that my tax dollars go to fund government, and that I contribute to candidates I support as opposed to a portion of the money that I pay to the government being diverted to people I may or may not support.

Source: http://www.askyourlawmaker.org/node/358
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7. You are either (a) a hypocrite or (b) suffer from some brain disorder, which causes you to completely contradict your prior statements.
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Tom Cole: proverbial politician through and through.

Burglary charge filed in vacuum assault

Police said Ford and an unidentified man entered a residence in the 1800 block of Beaumont Drive June 22. Ford allegedly punched the resident and picked up a vacuum and hit the man over the back with it.

To be fair, Ford did supposedly earlier warn the victim that he would ‘mop up the floor with him’.

Local officials have issued an ACOG Ozone Alert Day for Friday, July 4.
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Because of immediate health concerns for people that may be susceptible to the effects of air pollution, residents in the metro area are encouraged to reduce air pollution by adapting their daily routines.
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Automobiles and gasoline-powered engines are a primary source for these pollutants. Industrial machinery, lawn and garden equipment, recreational boats, drying paint and charcoal grills are some of the other sources.

Yep, can you believe it? Government bureaucrats have the gall to call a smog alert on the very day we celebrate our nation’s birth. And get this, in addition to making people feel guilty about barbecueing or going to the lake, the fascist bastards want us to give up some long cherished freedoms:

• Avoid “topping off” the tank
• Avoid unnecessary vehicle trips
• Drive the speed limit on highways

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I do kinda like clean air. So maybe I will help out a little:

• Avoid lawn mowing.