Oklahoma Postpones Double Execution After First Is Botched

McALESTER, Okla. — What was supposed to be the first of two executions here Tuesday night was halted when the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, began to twitch and gasp after he had already been declared unconscious and called out “man” and “something’s wrong,” according to witnesses.

The administering doctor intervened and discovered that “the line had blown,” said the director of corrections, Robert Patton, meaning that drugs were no longer flowing into his vein.

At 7:06 p.m., Mr. Patton said, Mr. Lockett died of a heart attack.

Mr. Patton said he had requested a stay of 14 days in the second execution scheduled for Tuesday night, of Charles F. Warner.

It was a chaotic and disastrous step in Oklahoma’s long effort to execute the two men, overcoming their objections that the state would not disclose the source of the drugs being used in a newly tried combination. 

Read the rest here.

Oklahoma City Suburb Leveled; Dozens Killed by Tornado

Rescue crews searched Tuesday for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that devastated a suburb of Oklahoma City, grinding up entire neighborhoods and pulverizing two elementary schools.

A total of 24 people were confirmed dead as of Tuesday morning, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office. The toll was considerably lower than the 51 fatalities reported in the hours after Monday’s twister, but Elliott cautioned that the numbers were still preliminary and were likely to rise as search and rescue efforts continued.

Read the rest here.

Massive Tornado Strikes Oklahoma City

This is breaking news. Text and details reported below are likely to change.

A monster tornado ripped through southern Oklahoma City and the suburb of Moore on Monday afternoon, leaving homes and schools in ruins and fires burning out of control.

There was no immediate word on casualties, but aerial footage showed major destruction: homes in rubble, cars flipped over and crushed, residents milling around in shock or combing through debris.

"A large part of the community has been affected," Jayme Shelton, a spokesman for Moore, told MSNBC.

A forecaster for NBC station KFOR said the tornado was kicking up a debris cloud about 2 miles wide as it tracked east into residential neighborhoods in the Moore area.

Forecasters said the twister could be an EF5, the most devastating category of storm with sustained wind speeds topping 200 mph and “incredible” damage. The National Weather Service will confirm the storm’s intensity.

Read the rest here. Live coverage on most news channels. There are reports that at least one school took a direct hit.

Prayers for all effected.

Washington Oklahoma, a bastion of social conservatism

WASHINGTON, Okla. — Here is the only light amid the Sunday-night darkness of the plains, its yellow glow visible for a mile around. People travel here down two-lane roads, past flags that snap in the wind and a sign that reads “Only God Can Save America.” They park in front of the steeple at the corner of Center and Main. Pastor Fred Greening greets them at the door.

Theirs is a church of 400 in a town of 600, where four generations stand together to bow their heads in prayer. Cowboys wear boots and roughnecks wear flannel. A 9-year-old sets down his toy truck and clasps his hands. Together they recite pledges of allegiance to the United States, to the Bible and to the Christian flag.

“May God guide us and watch over us,” an assistant pastor says. “May He work to preserve our community and the values we hold dear.”

Oklahoma will hold its Republican primary on Super Tuesday, bringing the cultural debate over the heart of conservatism to the conservative heartland. The presidential campaign has turned into an argument about values and faith — a battle long underway on the prairie of central Oklahoma. Here, they fight to protect their town from what Pastor Greening calls the “slow and steady decay of moral America”: the erosion of traditional marriage; the methamphetamine addicts content to rely on public assistance; the political correctness creeping ever south from the college in nearby Norman, which they fear will force God out of their government offices and schools.

Now more than ever, they want a politician in that Washington who will safeguard the culture of this one.

Read the rest here.

People sometimes challenge my libertarian leanings by asking if they are consistent with Orthodox Christianity.  My answer is in the form of another question.  How many Orthodox Christians or traditionally minded Roman Catholics would be comfortable living in Washington Oklahoma?  I wouldn't.  It sounds like they are their own little country and the state religion is the Southern Baptist Convention. I enormously respect many aspects of their lives.  But it is very clear that anyone who doesn't conform to their their low church Protestant Evangelical worldview would likely not be very welcome. 

We need to remember that we (Orthodox Christians) constitute a fraction of 1% of the population of this country.  If we are going to start setting up a quasi-theocracy, I promise you it will not end with onion domes and three barred crosses over the state houses.  On the surface places like Washington OK sound like what Norman Rockwell might look like had he been reincarnated as a town.  But under the surface is the town depicted in "Inherit the Wind."