The Reddest Place on Earth

I suppose there is some irony and a bizarre coincidence in Oklahoma being the reddest state. We grew up hearing that the state's name is derived from two Choctaw words meaning red and person. Also, we're the home of Woody Guthrie, and at one time had the largest agrarian socialist movement in the U.S. Over the next couple months I'm working on a series of stories about what the Oklahoma legislature has been up to since Obama's election. I won't be able to comment extensively until the stories are done, but I wanted to post a few articles here in the interim, in addition to the usual rants, to give you outsiders an idea of what is happening in the areas of abortion rights, stem cell research, immigration, and establishment clause issues in this reddest of the red states. Let's start with Slate on Oklahoma's new ultrasound law.