Wind Catcher Cabal Cancelled
John Michener
1. From OCPAC President Bob Linn
2. Education
3. OCPAC Program
4. Wind Catcher Cabal Cancelled
5. Voter Guide Updated
6. “Gay Christianity”
1. From OCPAC President Bob Linn. As the new President of OCPAC, it is my plan to reinvigorate our presence at the capitol and in the community at large. It is my hope that our Wednesday meetings will provide a training ground for our young people and will, in addition, connect Oklahoma’s pulpits and its churches with the legislative process. In order to achieve these results, we will need the involvement of a cadre of new leaders who bring with them fresh energy, fresh ideas, and the kinds of community relationships needed to establish and expand our influence in the political and scholastic arenas.
We are in the process of developing a team of seasoned men and women who have enjoyed careers either in the Oklahoma Legislature or who have helped manage the campaigns of Oklahoma candidates. This team would help OCPAC make those vital connections between our faith communities and our lawmakers.
With the help of many capable leaders, I hope to see OCPAC become an institution that will help ensure moral, spiritual, educational, and economic stability in Oklahoma. The present decline of Western civilization is due to the inattention of recent generations to the Biblical foundations which positioned both the Church and the State as parallel institutions under the authority of Divine law. By the grace of God, I hope we can restore those foundations as we seek to develop a society based on the kinds of law that enable us to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Watch new OCPAC President Bob Linn present his vision for the future of the organization in this eighteen-minute video.)
2. Education, by Bob Linn. Government education has been an effective tool of the left. It was Henry Barnard, known as the father of educational bureaucrats, who championed “free schools” as a member of the Connecticut Legislature (1837-1840). Of course, schools are only “free” once the State has relieved us of a portion of our personal bank accounts. And, once the State has our money, it is not always careful to keep close track of it. It would not take long to see fiscal chaos in government schools develop.
Barnard served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin as well as agent for the Wisconsin Normal School Regents from 1858-1860. Public school finances were in disarray and described as “radically mismanaged.” In spite of the budgetary chaos, Barnard’s faith in statist control of education remained firm. From 1867-1870, Barnard served as the first U.S. Commissioner of Education and lent his support of educators who then lobbied for the nationalization of schools.
Not long afterward, John Swett, California Superintendent of Education from 1863-1868, articulated the posture of our modern-day state and federal governments regarding who has authority over our children when he said in his History of the Public School System of California, “Children arrived at the age of maturity belong, not to the parents, but to the State, to society, to the country.”
It is time our parents re-claimed their God-given authority and responsibility for their own children.
3. OCPAC Program. This Wednesday at noon at The Range Café, Brandon Dutcher, Senior Vice President of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, will challenge us to consider the foundations of true accountability in the educational process. He will address the issue of school choice and its relationship to accountability in all areas of education, from the economic to the scholastic.
4. Wind Catcher Cabal Cancelled, by John Michener. There is a familiar verse of scripture that asks something like, “Can anything good come out of Texas?” The answer is, Yes! On July 27 Public Service Company of Oklahoma pulled the plug on its $4.5 billion Wind Catcher project because the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas denied approval. Thank you, Texas! Their PUC is like our Corporation Commission, which has had the same project, including a $1.5 billion rate hike, awaiting approval here in Oklahoma. Thanks to Texas, we no longer have to worry that Oklahoma commissars might have approved the boondoggle. Regarding the Wind Catcher proposal, the PUC Chair rightly and wisely observed, “I don’t believe it provides sufficient safeguards for the ratepayers. The costs are known. The benefits are based on a lot of assumptions that are questionable.”
In short, the project was to be the development of a giant wind farm consisting of 800 turbines on 300,000 acres in the Panhandle, along with massive transmission lines across Oklahoma to Tulsa. So how was it a boondoggle?
In the first place, wind energy on a massive scale is not yet reliable and efficient enough to implement. Wind does not blow all the time, and it cannot keep up with maximum demand, whereas natural gas keeps giant turbines turning non-stop, and it keeps spewing out of the ground with no end in sight. There would be no demand for collective wind energy in a free market. However, the market is being skewed by crony capitalist tax dollars. As Warren Buffett observed, “We get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”
Another clue to the nature of the boondoggle is seen in New York politics. Follow this money trail to see how Yankee pensioners are trying to dip into the pockets of southerners.
Many short-sighted Oklahoma politicians have been on the bandwagon in support of the project, only seeing the immediate jobs that the project would create. They do not seem to consider the future fall-out of rate hikes to Oklahomans, the seizure of private property, the possibility of derelict turbines and transmission lines, or the nefarious forces driving the project. The following legislators have been very public in calling for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to approve the project: Senators Roger Thompson, Dave Rader, Casey Murdock, DeWayne Pemberton, and Roland Pederson, and Representatives Leslie Osborn, Weldon Watson, Carol Bush, Mike Sanders, John Michael Montgomery, Jason Dunnington, David Perryman, and Meloyde Blancett.
Even Gentner Drummond, candidate for Attorney General, was on the Wind Catcher wagon. He rebuked his opponent, sitting A.G. Mike Hunter, for opposing it. The Tulsa World reported, “Drummond said the state should encourage all energy development, including wind, and that Hunter’s opposition ‘demonstrates his inability to distinguish what’s in the best interest of Oklahoma versus his political base.’” This puts Gentner Drummond on the side of those who support the use of eminent domain to confiscate private property for crony capitalism, while A.G. Mike Hunter is on the people’s side. Could this influence the upcoming runoff election on August 28?
5. Voter Guide Updated. The OCPAC Voter Guide page on our website has been updated for the runoff elections on August 28.
6. “Gay Christianity,” by John Michener. In G.K.’s Weekly on June 19, 1926, G. K. Chesterton said: “The grand heresy of the last days will simply be an attack on all morality, but especially on sexual morality… I say that the man who does not perceive this fails to discern the signs of the times… Tomorrow’s folly will not come from Moscow, but rather from Manhattan.”
Homosexuals have forced their agenda of acceptance and celebration into school curricula, corporations, and civil law. Having nearly conquered our entire culture, they are now taking on the church. In our OCPAC program two weeks ago, Stephen Black of First Stone Ministries presented the insidious advance of “gay Christianity” in the church, revealing prominent denominations and evangelical church leaders who are promoting the apostate and destructive gay church. Be sure to view and share this important video.
The views expressed in this email are opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of OCPAC, its leadership team, or its members…although they should. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. Authorized and paid for by Oklahoma Conservative PAC, PO Box 2021, Edmond, OK 73083.