Okay, we’ll give this another shot.
We’re not OPI (although we like the ‘dedicated to excellence’ part):
A family-owned company committed to the highest quality products and to our customers’ well-being, OPI has long been a leader in the community and within the Professional Beauty Industry. Quite simply, we are dedicated to excellence.
We’re not Opie
Not us either:
Definitely not us:
Over the past 14 months, this blog has run over a dozen guest blog submissions. We greatly appreciate the contributions we receive from the community – not just because we’re a small organization and it’s nice when someone else pitches on to help us do our work, but because these posts expand the range of subjects we’re able to address and the range of voices we hear from. We hope you’ll take some time to give some of our guest blog posts a fresh look. If what you see inspires you to try your hand at this yourself, just check out our simple guidelines for guest blogs… and fire away.
As Oklahoma continue to grapple with the worst economic downturn and fiscal crisis in decades, the stakes for all of us who care about public services and the well-being of the disadvantaged are especially urgent. Oklahoma Policy Institute provides a unique contribution as a source of timely and credible policy information, analysis and ideas that helps keep Oklahomans informed while offering an important and distinct voice on state policy issues.
If you count on OK Policy’s blog posts, issue briefs, fact sheets, guides and information to help make sense of complex policy issues, please know that we are counting on you, too. We are a 501 (c)(3) funded entirely through foundation grants and from contributions from Oklahoma individuals and organizations. The tough economic times are affecting our fundraising opportunities as much as anyone else. You can help us out enormously by making a tax-deductible donation in any amount you can afford – $10, $25, $50, $100 or more – through our secure website. Or, if you prefer, just sent a check to: Oklahoma Policy Institute, PO Box 14347, Tulsa, OK 74159. Between now and June 30th, all first-time donors will receive a copy of “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax System in All 50 States“, a seminal publication from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that reveals the amount that households of different income categories in each state pay in state and local taxes.
With your support, we’ll be able to continue producing and distributing the information that Oklahomans need to understand key policy debates affecting the state. You can count on it.
If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’ve got opinions and points of view on some of the major policy issues confronting Oklahoma. What impact is the economic downturn and fiscal crisis having on the organizations you’re involved in and the people you care about? What should we be doing to operate government more effectively and fund services more fairly? What program is working that not enough people are hearing about?
This blog aims to be a forum where Oklahomans can share their perspectives, and we encourage you to contribute to the conversation by submitting a guest blog post. Think of it as an op-ed with links. We will help publicize pieces we post to our audiences and encourage you to send out the link to your friends, colleagues and networks. Read the rest of this entry »
Two years ago, Oklahoma Policy Institute was launched to provide timely and credible analysis of state policy issues that would help educate the state’s residents and guide public policy decisions. We formed OK Policy to respond to the need for a results-oriented, analysis-driven organization that would gather data, develop proposals, and mobilize stakeholders to advance policies aimed at promoting fiscal responsibility, reducing poverty, and expanding economic opportunity.
OK, so we’re supposed to be on blog break, but then I realized that we could end up as the only information source in the world without its own end-of-year Top 10 or “Best of” list. Not to miss the party, here are the 10 posts that got the most hits since the launch of our blog in March. If you missed some of these the first time around, here’s another chance to take a look.
10. The racial wealth gap — I reported on a provocative talk by Meizhu Lu on the extent and causes of the racial disparities in wealth and ownership in America.
9. Fewer exceptions – Tobacco tax revenues rise while sales fall — thanks to changes in compacts and enforcement, the state is enjoying a win-win situation on tobacco.
8. Sunk: Mercury Marine fiasco sheds light on cost of state subsidy wars — a powerful example of how everybody can lose when states throw incentives at businesses. Read the rest of this entry »
Most people in this country today agree that indigenous tribes, who lived in the Americas before Europeans arrived, were treated less than fairly by their new neighbors. Unfortunately, the inequitable and inconsistent policies with regard to Native tribes are not strictly a thing of colonial or even early American history. Even into the second half of the 20th century, the federal government implemented new versions of its on-again/off-again assimilation policies. These policies, often implemented without a full understanding of the differences between the tribes’ cultures and ways of self governance, proved to be hugely detrimental to the various tribal ways of life. Luckily, there has been a tremendous amount of resiliency shown in response.
Last week, as representatives from every Oklahoma tribe gathered in Washington DC for a Native American Summit, I gathered with the rest of my Leadership Oklahoma class in Tahlequah to learn more about Native American issues in Oklahoma. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week we posted a guest blog on a legislative proposal to change the treatment of military retirement income, which set off a small firestorm of controversy in our comments section. In the six months or so that we’ve been running this blog, this was the third time people have accepted our open invitation to submit guest contributions – the other two posts addressed protecting our natural resources and last session’s proposal to repeal education mandates in SB 834.
We look forward to running guest contributions more often. We believe this blog can serve as a forum for honest and lively debate. We encourage you to submit guest blog posts on subjects that are important to you or in response to points of view that others have expressed in this space. We just ask that everyone treat the OK Policy blog more like a front porch conversation than like a heated argument. This is a discussion of issues with the intent of making Oklahoma better for all of us. The first step to coming to agreement is to have a free exchange of ideas in a respectful way. Read the rest of this entry »
