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Oklahoma State Questions

Here is a summary of the State Questions on the Oklahoma ballot and my brief take on each.

BALLOT TITLE FOR STATE QUESTION NO. 776

This measure adds a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution, Section 9A of Article 2. The new Section deals with the death penalty. The Section establishes State constitutional mandates relating to the death penalty and methods of execution. Under these constitutional requirements:

The Legislature is expressly empowered to designate any method of execution not prohibited by the United States Constitution. Death sentences shall not be reduced because a method of execution is ruled to be invalid. When an execution method is declared invalid, the death penalty imposed shall remain in force until it can be carried out using any valid execution method, and The imposition of a death penalty under Oklahoma law —as distinguished from a method of execution—shall not be deemed to be or constitute the infliction of cruel or unusual punishment […] → Keep reading

Oklahoma: The Ten Commandments v. Satan

By now, everyone in Oklahoma is probably aware of the monument to satan that a New York based satanic group wants to have placed at our Capitol building. A drawing of the proposed monument is of a bearded, goat headed demon sitting on a throne adorned with a pentagram, with smiling children on either side. If you want to see a picture of it you can easily find it on the internet but I won’t have it on my blog. The statue is a response to the privately funded Ten Commandments monument that was placed on the north steps of the Oklahoma Capitol building in 2012. Before the concrete was even dry, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to have the monument removed. The satanic temple says the Oklahoma Legislature’s decision to allow the Ten Commandments monument opened the door for any privately funded monument. Other requests to place monuments have come from a Hindu leader in Nevada […] → Keep reading