The GOP holds 22 seats in the Oklahoma Senate, and Democrats hold the other 26. Because of this, like in the US Senate, the Republicans don't control the daily agenda of the Senate, and can't force the chair to recognize them or bring their bills to the floor.

The GOP-controlled state House and the Democratic-controlled state Senate are at odds over reforming Oklahoma's workers' compensation system this year. The Senate has passed a plan mostly authored by Democratic Gov. Brad Henry, which reduces costs by limiting medical expenses. The GOP has passed their own bill, authored by the state's business interests, that instead limits legal fees so that workers who dont' get compensation can't sue, or if they do, can't recover much.

These bills should be resolved in conference committee, but in the same spirit we've seen nationwide, the GOP refuses to broach any compromise. They want to force the Senate to vote on their bill, even though it didn't pass its a Senate committee hearing.

They came up with a novel way to do it. The state's Lieutenant Governor, one Mary Fallin, is a three-term Republican. On Thursday, the GOP Senators brought her to the Senate chamber and, claiming that she's constitutionally authorized to lead the Senate, put her in the chair and had her call the Senate to order.

This would put a Republican in charge of the Senate and allow her to set the agenda, recognize debate, call bills to the floor - in essence, run the chamber. Even though the Democrats own the Senate majority, they'd have to give in to the Lt. Gov. every time she wanted to preside over the Senate.

That's why the Democrats refused to go along with it, leaving the building and not answering about 10 hours of quorum calls. The GOP fumed and fussed that the Democrats were refusing to "work," but can you just imagine what the GOP would have done nationwide if Al Gore had gone to the Senate in 1998 and said to Trent Lott, "Step down, I'm running things now?"

Fallin showed back up again today to pull the same trick, but the Democrats had a trick of their own ready. They filed into the chamber at 1:30, and majority leader Mike Morgan took control from the floor:

After Monday's effort by Fallin to preside over the Senate, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, made an adjournment motion from the floor after noting no bills were on the agenda.

A voice vote followed between Democrats and Republicans and Morgan declared that "the ayes have it. The Senate shall stand adjourned until 1:30 tomorrow."

Fallin said later she was disappointed that only Morgan and the majority leader's microphones were turned on and that she was not allowed to perform her constitutional right to preside. Democrats have called Fallin's presence in the Senate a "political stunt" and have said workers' comp reform should be worked out in a House-Senate conference committee.

Sore losers as always, the state GOP is now asserting that as long as a Republican is the Lieutenant Governor, the GOP controls the Senate agenda, even if they're the minority party. This is ludicrous on its face, and they know it, but they'll break any rule they have to break to get their way. Majority leader Morgan says he's checked with several attorneys, who all say that Fallin has no Constitutional obligation or right to take the chair over the Senate's objection. Section V-28 of the Oklahoma Constitution agrees with them (emphasis added):

The Senate shall, at the beginning of each regular session and at such other times as may be necessary, elect one of its members President pro tempore, who shall preside over its deliberations in the absence or place of the Lieutenant Governor; and the Senate shall provide for all its standing committees and, by a majority vote, elect the members thereof.

No other provision of the Constitution gives Fallin any more authority than that.

Nationally, the GOP (including two Oklahoma Senators and four Oklahoma Representatives) insists that, when they're the majority, they don't have to give the minority any rights. On the state level, the same party insists that they can ignore the majority by having the Lieutenant Governor quite literally take over the Senate. The Democrats here are smart enough not to let her have a quorum, because if she chairs the chamber once, they're going to claim she can do it whenever she wants - and that will be whenever the GOP can't get its agenda passed.

It's been going on for five days now - I don't understand why Kos and Atrios and the national Democrats haven't used this to point out the hypocrisy that is today's GOP. It's a fun and instructive example.

Update: Mike has now posted about this at Political State Report.

Update 2: C.G. Hill has added his views at Dustbury.com. On Tuesday, both the Republicans and Democrats pretended they had control of the Senate simultaneously, but only the Democrats had the microphones. The Democrats think they came to order, dispatched about 100 bills to committee without amendments, and adjourned; the Republicans think that Fallin called the chamber to order and that they adjourned before doing anything. Both of these actions happened concurrently.

And for some reason, I didn't even think they were open more than about an hour a day.

Drive-in food

Does the smell of onion rings in your car drive you wild with desire?

Check out the May issue of Gourmet magazine, where you'll find a list of 10 places to get a great meal without getting out of your car.

Some of these classic drive-in restaurants will even hang a tray on your rolled-down car window.

You won't find anything fancier than french fries, hamburgers and cole slaw at most of the spots on the list, but as any connoisseur can tell you, it's worth driving out of your way for a perfectly battered corn dog. Frozen custard, chili dogs and ribs are also typical offerings.

Gourmet's 10 great places for drive-in food are the Beacon Drive-In, 255 John White Sr. Blvd., Spartanburg, S.C.; the Cozy Dog Drive In, 2935 S. Sixth St., Springfield, Ill.; Harry's Place, 104 Broadway, Colchester, Conn.; Jay Bee's, 320 Mocksville Highway, Statesville, N.C.; Jobe's, 1220 W. Sunset Drive, El Reno, Okla.; Leon's, 3131 S. 27th, Milwaukee; Mug-n-Bun, 5211 W. 10th St., Indianapolis; Sugar's, 1799 Highway 68, Embudo, N.M.; Tastee Inn & Out, 2610 Gordon Drive, Sioux City, Iowa, and Taylor's Automatic Refresher, 933 Main St., Helena, Calif.

Mom was unimpressed. "Johnnie's Grill was in Gourmet three years ago." And on public radio two years before that, not that she listens to The Splendid Table. (To the end of my days, I will never be used to Johnnie's, or anything else, being at "301 S. Rock Island.")

And, of course, all this serves to remind you all that Saturday is the 17th Annual Onion-Fried Burger Day Festival here in the Crossroads of America. Come on out and get a piece of the world's biggest onion-fried burger, then wander around and watch other people eat theirs. Or, like last year, perhaps you'll have some fried onion ectasy. Great small-town fun for everyone.

Because God knows, holding only all the major media and all three branches of government, the GOP has trouble getting its message out.

Democrats blocked 10 of the president's first-term appeals court nominees by filibuster, a parliamentary tactic that requires supporters to post 60 votes to assure a final vote.

The president renominated seven of the 10 after he won re-election. Democrats say they are prepared to block some or all of them again on grounds that they are too conservative to warrant lifetime appointments to the bench.

Republicans have responded by threatening to use their majority to ban juidicial filibusters.

"Senate Democats have abused the rules and refused to even allow a vote," says the television ad produced for Progress for America. "So courtrooms sit empty, while thousands of Americans have their cases delayed."

Progress for America scheduled news conference for Monday to unveil its plans, and officials declined to discuss them in advance. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the material to be made public.

The ad praises two of Bush's seven stalled nominees, Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen. It says it's the job of a senator to vote, adding, "Urge your senators to vote, up or down."

Janice Rogers Brown was listed as "unqualified" for her state judge post by the California Bar Association for being unwilling to follow legal precedents when they conflicted with her conservative viewpoints. Priscilla Owen was opposed by several Texas newspapers for the same reason - a documented tendency to ignore the law and impose her own political views on those appearing before her, the very definition of an "activist judge."

So if some progressive group like MoveOn.org or the others that have been silent since the election want to step up with some of that donated money and run their own ads, the script should be a no-brainer:

Senate Republicans kept sixty of President Clinton's judicial nominees from receiving a vote. Now they want to change those same rules because Democrats blocked just seven of the most radical candidates ever proposed for lifetime appointments to the federal bench.

Republicans say the tactics they used are now an attack on people of faith. They want to break Senate rules to appoint pro-pollution, anti-woman, anti-consumer judges - judges that will let televangelists use the courts to impose their religion on you, like they tried to do with Terry Schiavo.

Call your Senators today and tell them to live by the same rules they used a few years ago. Fair is fair.

That's 45 seconds, not 29, so it needs editing, but I'm too tired to make it fit. Even so, the strategy is still Adlai Stevenson's:

I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they will stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.