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Petra, Jordan, is one of the seven wonders of the world

Tulsa Beacon

Before I have my cancer surgery, I have taken a couple of weeks to travel to the Middle East with my oldest son, Jeremiah. He teaches high school history and geography and injects insights from his travel experiences into his classes. Besides that, he and I both have an unsatisfied curiosity for knowing what lies…

Some college courses make you want to scratch your head

Tulsa Beacon

When I was at The University of Oklahoma, I took Theory of Basketball, Theory of Baseball, Theory of Wrestling, Theory of Track and Field and, of course, Theory of Football. I was a journalism major and I thought I wanted to be a sportswriter, so I took these courses. All but Theory of Wrestling were…

New Green Deal Democrats are looking for a piggy bank

Tulsa Beacon

Washington governor and Democratic presidential candidate Jay Inslee plans to make climate change the primary focus of his campaign. When asked if transitioning to all renewable energy would require raising taxes, Inslee replied “not necessarily.” He claims one source of funding is to “remove the giant subsidies from the oil and gas companies.” The oil…

Democrat hopefuls racing to get as far left as possible

Tulsa Beacon

Just when you thought national politics couldn’t get any worse, it does. The Democrat debates are a series of desperate candidates trying to outdo each other in making promises that they can’t keep. They are overtly trying to buy votes and the sad fact is – it might just work. One Democrat wants the federal…

Gov. Kevin Stitt is right to ban the outside political consultants

Tulsa Beacon

On July 6, there appeared in the daily newspaper a story, on Page A-9, carrying the headline: “Stitt bars state agencies from hiring lobbyists.” Credit was given to Keaton Ross of The Oklahoman.  As an explanation for the location, the Tulsa World now, they reported, is doing the printing for the Oklahoma City paper and…

Some of the best gifts in our lives just happen to be free

Tulsa Beacon

When my boys were young, I had to travel on many occasions to preach or teach. While I was away, I wanted them to know that even though we weren’t close in distance, they were on my mind. Now, these were the days before we had cell phones, Internet and FaceTime. It would seem like…

Without fossil fuels, American goes back to the 19th Century

Tulsa Beacon

Listening to climate change activists, one gets the impression that we could transition to a fossil fuel-free world in the near future. Besides the virtual impossibility of quickly moving away from coal, oil and natural gas, the source of 85% of global primary energy, we need to ask, do we really want to do this?…

Corn Palace

Stop by the Corn Palace on a road trip to Mitchell, S.D.

Tulsa Beacon

MITCHELL, South Dakota – Corn is king in this part of the Midwest. Driving through Central Kansas and Central Nebraska in the summer provides a graphic panorama of the importance of corn and the magnitude of this golden treasure. The City of Mitchell is home to the Corn Palace, billed as “The World’s Only Corn…

What happened to those theaters Tulsa used to have?

Tulsa Beacon

When I was a kid growing up in Tulsa, going to a movie was a big deal. I grew up near McClure Park (11th street and Memorial Drive) and we were close to the Admiral Twin Drive-in. The park and the drive-in are still there. When the Crosstown Expressway (I-244) was built, we were afraid…