Absolutely politics on Christmas Parade

Opinion/Analysis: While it may surprise some readers; Tulsa elitists are predominately leftists frequently attacking Christians specifically and conservatives generally. In latest proof, progressive pundit, Barry Fried-man, is empowered by Editor Natasha Ball and Publisher Jim Langdon to pontificate under a “News” banner the most factually inaccurate set of bull droppings ever to hit print on the six year saga of the Tulsa Christmas Parade in the July 16 – August 5, 2014 edition of The Tulsa Voice.

This answer then is a first-person eyewitness education for those mentioned; virtually guaranteed to deeply aggravate demonic Democrats, Kumbaya Christians and revisionist local historians. Warning: heavy sarcasm and irony not restricted by the tyranny of political correctness to follow – read at your own risk. Not recommended for leftists with high blood pressure.

My favorite locally owned burger joint near 16th and Harvard in marvelous midtown Tulsa offered the lonely stack of free papers “The Tulsa Voice” – a self-proclaimed “alternative” art and entertainment publication. As a continual reader, it always tempts even knowing there is little substance within, but I have friends who need regular birdcage flooring so I pick one up for a quick review.

Waiting for beef I scan a few pages and try to ignore the typos, but the first page of copy (page 6) the second sentence of “Editor’s Letter” (by Matt Cauthron) begins with “ut” which one must assume was meant to be “But.” Coherent copy editing and exciting content did not follow. Yawn one.

Page 8 features local socialist Ray Pearcy promoting increased government spending on education. Yawn two and turn the page without reading the university ad. Surprise, the headline “Christmas in July” appears under the graphic “News from the Plains.”

This could be fun. I know this topic and one should have charity for comedians with delusions of grandeur. (One of our staff has read Fried-man’s book.) The column includes a bio bit at the end that notes the content “appears each issue and covers Oklahoma politics and culture—the disastrous, the unseemly, the incomprehensible…you know, the day-to-day stuff. Barry Friedman is a touring comedian, author, and general rabble-rouser.”

Fried-man (personal reflection, I like to divide his name) begins; “When last we left Jesus, in the July 2 edition of this column, he was campaigning for two GOP senatorial candidates.” (Click here to read the column online.)

Hello political attack on Christian faith. Would it be fair to wonder if Mohammad personally cutting people’s heads off or taking a 9 year old child as a wife would ever be a target of Fried-man’s humor? Bet not. Some current Islamic leaders encourage modern slavery, female gentile mutilation, executions of homosexuals and forced religious conversions under threat of death, but for a progressive jingoistic hack like Fried-man – it’s all hip and cool to insult Jesus.

As Fried-man opened the door on party politics; remember the Democrat national platform committee removed acknowledgement of God (9/4/2012) and when leadership tried to return it to the official platform during convention, the attempt was booed by the audience – live on national television. That’s funny – sinners to the left as they so please.

Democrats booing God doesn’t really surprise me. The surprise is that no one in the audience had faith or courage enough to stand at that time to publicly defend official acknowledgement of God, but they are the party of Barack Hussein Obama – the first Islamic President.

Leftists are those who demand a woman have complete control of all decisions on her uterus while giving every other part of her body to the control of government. They live in gated communities and demand open borders. Leftists redefine terms because to them; words don’t matter, truth doesn’t matter, laws only matter on particular causes and there is no individual Liberty in Liberal. Gist for humor… don’t you think?

American Liberalism in 2014 is a disease that separates the infected from personal responsibility and historical fact. It is evil by all objective standards and funnier than Fried-man by a long shot from a hot spot.

Back to the primary subject; the first obvious mistake – he doesn’t get the name right. The downtown organizer this year is Josh McFarland not John McFarland.

Tulsa Christmas Parade float 2010

Further, in 2009 when the name change occurred – Tulsans protested on the parade route. In 2010, the protests occurred at a Tulsa City Council meeting. This writer spoke at that meeting against a new parade, but for Tulsa’s traditional Tulsa Christmas Parade. With a divided vote, the permit was approved.

In 2011, I met with officials prior to the season to offer volunteers and sponsorship if they would include the word “Christmas” in the title of the parade. It was soon clear that even if we paid their asking price ($30,000 they didn’t think we could raise) – the downtown leadership would not include “Christmas” as part of the title.

With then no other alternative, I was the original organizer of the first Tulsa Christmas Parade which became the largest and best attended Christmas Parade in Tulsa history by God’s Grace, His people’s good hearts, controversy, American Family Radio, fabulous volunteers, joyous participants and a wonderful welcome by merchants at the Tulsa Hills Shopping Center.

As you can see to the right, the top four sponsors listed on the official poster are in order: TulsaToday.com (this writer), Red Dog Construction (Josh McFarland), Eddie Huff Insurance (KFAQ host), WHY Insurance Agency LLC (Mark Croucher).

At the first meeting after the event, Mark Croucher announced that contrary to what he had assured in previous meetings of the group, he filed with the State of Oklahoma to establish himself as owner of Tulsa Christmas Parade LLC. In short, he betrayed every volunteer who contributed time and effort by embezzling ownership. I will work on a project for free as one of a group of equals, but not for an owner of a private enterprise without compensation. I sent him a bill for time he never did pay. Funny how often those who profess faith forget its principles when convenient.

In 2012, hearing nothing from Croucher, McFarland, or Huff as the season approached, I filed a permit application. Once the group realized I had begun the work, they filed their permit and held a press conference accusing me of being an imposter promoter. McFarland loves to call press conferences. Faced with the choice of holding a third parade or withdrawing, the group I lead decided to withdraw the permit application. A story on Tulsa Today from September 27, 2012 covers that dispute (click here for more).

In 2013, the parades both downtown and at Tulsa Hills continued.

Now in preparation of a 2014 parade, McFarland, Chairman of a new group called Tulsa Events Group LLC announced he will produce a downtown parade and asserted at a press conference that the parades were uniting.

Not unexpectedly, Croucher told the Tulsa World, “We have never agreed to merge nor have we ever been asked for a meeting to discuss the possibility of a merger.” In that at least, Barry Fried-man quoted correctly and, further, I agree with him that, “these two are behaving like 8-year-olds fighting over the last LEGO Star Wars Death Star on the shelf.” Who says conservatives and liberals can’t laugh with each other?

Barry Friedman bio bit in Tulsa Voice

Fried-man should have stopped while he was ahead, but he further wrote, “It’s not just a name in a parade. It’s Oklahoma’s attempt to change its motto…prayers being allowed at the beginning of city-council meetings. It’s GOP senatorial candidates talking of God coming to them with job openings. It’s Creationism in the public-school curriculum. It’s an arts-and-crafts store using its corporate faith to deny women reproductive freedom.”

For the sake of brevity, let’s just address the last point on his list. Hobby Lobby offered insurance for 16 out of the 20 accepted methods of birth control. The 4 methods they could not abide were after insemination – after the fact Jack – which is, in their opinion, murder or abortion if you prefer the term.

Leftists like Fried-man should be critical of butchers like Dr. Kermit Gosnell, but the historical fact is, in their hubris, genocide of lower classes is of little concern as Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger wrote (Woman and the New Race, Chapter 6, The Wickedness of Creating Large Families), ”[We should] apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”

Another of Sanger’s jewels, (Women, Morality, and Birth Control, New York Publishing Company 1922, Page 12), “We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

Adolph Hitler learned eugenic philosophy from American Leftists – so is there humor in that? There may be poetry as Rudyard Kipling captured in “The Gods of the Copybook Headings.”

Back to the more mundane issue of the Tulsa Christmas Parade, Fried-man writes, “I’ll say it again: we’re not all Christians, nor want to be. The downtown event, by contrast should give the rest of us – after all, it still has ‘Tulsa’ in the name—a chance to enjoy a parade without the notion that floats, reindeer, and peppermint bark have anything to do with a virgin birth.”

Ok then here is a primer: Christmas is a Christian Holiday or Christ Mass; the celebration of the birth of a Savior who Christians believe the Son of God, who came to earth, lived a perfect life and died for the sins of those that believe in him so that they might be reconciled with God, receive forgiveness for sins and, by grace, eternal salvation. Christ is the reason for the season.

Those of different or no faith should remember that Christians have fought and died for generations in countless conflicts to protect this and other secular nations. So now it is culturally cool to disdain Christian faith? Leftists must think themselves as hip, cool and open minded as residents of Sodom and Gomorrah who thought themselves trendy too.

Thomas Jefferson

Jim Langdon, who publishes The Voice and Tulsa People Magazine among other efforts, apparently forgets his roots in efforts designed for the socially addicted, but that is between him and God. As my fellow Anglican, Thomas Jefferson, declared, “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Let all faith celebrate their holidays in peace – the point of our First Amendment.

Let Fried-man continue to write. I called his editor, Natasha Ball, to let her know I would answer his juvenile perspectives and mistakes of fact – invited him to call if he wanted to discuss in advance. She said she would pass the word along, but didn’t seem to care if her publication was factual or not, offensive, reflective of local culture or shown to be just plain stupid.

Maybe that is why they title Fried-man’s column “News From The Plains” as it is mostly New York snarky. Leftists love irony. He notes he has written about the Christmas Parade multiple times. As he has not returned my call; one can assume he doesn’t care what others write about him, his work or his publication.

Yet maybe this is a chance to change the game and end all dispute.

Should we let the December parade celebrate Fried-man’s favorite reindeer and call Christians to celebrate a new parade – an Easter Parade in Downtown Tulsa. Yes, abandon the fight. Let the heathen win the coldest season and let’s head to Spring to celebrate new life.

Easter is a more specifically Christian day where we could give gifts and celebrate the greatest gift of all, because "God so loved the world...” That’s worth a parade of praise.