Mailbag: SCOTUS Coyne Mustache Cultural Center

2:14 PM EDT on June 29, 2012

Hello Gentle Readers. This is Patrick, not Marisa, but I thought I'd just throw you off there for a sec.

Anyway, it's time for that thing where people send me emails and then I try to answer them in some borderline articulate fashion with a lot of typos. You then read the emails and vote for your favorite. Whoever sends us the best one wins some free food to Flint, which is a pretty good place to dine and be seen. In fact, Clark Matthews and I have had lunch at Flint every Friday because they let us play checkers on the patio. Or actually, they let Clark Matthews play checkers on the patio. I'm usually at the bar buying women drinks.

To this week's emails!

Nick writes:

I spent a brief time this morning arguing that the President is not taking away our freedoms but making things more fair by asking people who want health care (and are legally guaranteed it) to pay for it like the vast majority of us already do.
Why is fairness so misrepresented in Oklahoma? Why is it fair to be born poor or subjected to the terrible negative extremes of life (abuse, violence, addiction, etc) but total unfair to ask wealthy folks to help even that out even a little? Where is the Christian love for the sick and the poor?
Reading this blog helps me laugh at the absurdity. Thanks.T

That's a very logical and rational statement. That means there is a 70% chance it just went over the heads of all of our conservative readers. Zing! I'm just joshing you, angry-conservative-guy-who's-about-to-leave-a-hateful-comment.

Here are my three quick thoughts about the SCOTUS ruling:

• Judge Roberts is a genius. He was able to be unbiased (going against party lines to rule the act constitutional) and political (referring to the mandate as a tax) all at once. Nobody saw him making that type of ruling.

• I think this ruling will have the same impact on healthcare as Brown vs. Board of Education had on the civil rights movement. It basically paves the way to a single payer system that will eventually give every American the right to healthcare, just like Brown vs. Board of Education paved the way for all Americans (except gays) to have equal civil rights under the law. What a terrible thing, huh?

• Social media does a great job showing how stupid and misinformed the general public is about important issues.

Liam asks:

Have you seen Wayne Coyne's latest goofy stunt? They set the world record for most multiple-city live concerts played in 24 hours. I'm only 23, so can you remind me of what the Lips were like before Wayne Coyne became a Flaming attention-hound and narcissist?

I used to be a huge Flaming Lips fan (here are my top 10 Lips songs), but now they've kind of become an afterthought. This could have something to do with them being a bit overexposed on a local level, but I think it's more to do with the current state of the band. Wayne Coyne seems more concerned with "shocking" people, getting publicity and staying young than he does actually making music. Seriously, when was the last time you really liked a Flaming Lips song? It's been awhile hasn't it.

Anyway, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Chad, a big time music nerd, recently broke up with Wayne's gray suit, and Steven Hyden, the music editor for A.V. Club, wrote a lengthy article detailing how he's fallen out of love with band. I'd suggest reading both.

Tiffany writes:

Why is there such a huge discrepancy in the budget and funds needed for the Indian cultural center? Theyre asking for $40 million dollars in addition to the $80 million they have already received from the state & feds. There hasn't been any discussion as to why there's such a large shortfall. No explanation, no investigations... Maybe there's a TLO that has some answers?

I have no clue. What I don't understand is why half of the thing is buried in a huge mound of dirt. It looks like a cultural center for moles and Dig Dug, not Native Americans.

Sam asks:

What is the deal with 20 year old girls wearing mustaches? Drawn on there fingers and holding up to their nose? Am I not cool anymore?
Thanks! Love the site!
Sam

I think that is what they do to attract the attention of the 22-year-old boys who wear colorful striped tanktops. Also, I noticed that our web designer Dustin Brewer does the same damn thing on his Twitter avatar. Maybe that's why he owns so many tanktops.

Chris writes:

The NBA draft was last night, and we all had the chance to watch the Thunder better themselves by bringing in new talent. If there was a draft for news talent, whom would you draft to bring in better news talent. And by better, I mean hotter. I would love to see the Top 5 News Draftees from other markets, preferably with details on how they spend their time at the river or some details on what they were doing in college.

Wow! What great timing. Just last night I came up with an idea for the first ever Oklahoma Celebrity Fantasy Draft. Basically, our stable of TLO contributors and I would draft six person teams (five starters and one back-up) of Oklahoma celebrities and then have TLO readers vote for which team they like the best. I'm not sure who would win or what would constitute a good pick, but it seems fun.

If we do that, maybe we can have Royce with DailyThunder grade and criticize each draft pick. That's what he did last night for CBS Sports. The only catch is we would want Royce to be critical and mean. He may just be the nicest draft grader in history. He's like the art teacher who gave everyone an A or B, except for those kids who ditched class or stole colored pencils (Phoenix and Milwaukee). Also, it's weird to personally know someone who gives draft grades on a big national websites. Pretty soon Royce is going to become the Chad Ford of CBS, only he won't live in Hawaii.

Vote below! And if you have an email to send, do it!