OCPAC e-mail
Charlie Meadows
Committee (OCPAC)
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ RACHAEL MADDOU, THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY & GLENN BECK
++ SARAH PALIN, JOHN McCAIN AND PATRICK HUGHES
++ MONDAY’S TEA PARTY AND OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
++ Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, February 3rd will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This Wednesday will
be Rose Day at the State Capitol. During this annual event pro-life
supporters from all over the state gather to present Roses to
lawmakers to ask them to be mindful of pro-life issues. Many people
will begin handing out roses starting at 11:00 a.m. then gather in the
House chambers for a program starting at 11:45. The program will last
until 1:00 p.m.. This year’s keynote speaker will be the granddaughter
of Martin Luther King Jr. Not enough members of the black community
realize that Margaret Sanger’s planned parenthood organization
promoted eugenics with the intention to eliminate the black race.
Since OCPAC has missed only 1 weekly meeting in 19 years now, we will
still have our meeting starting at noon. Some folks may want to give
their lawmakers a rose then come to the OCPAC meeting. To keep the
theme consistent with Rose Day, our speaker will be John Michener.
John is a long time OCPAC member who used to be on staff with Oklahoma
Christian University. He has recently made a 2 year commitment to
become a regional manager with the organization Justice For All, a
national pro-life training organization whose mission is to train
thousands to make abortion unthinkable for millions, one person at a
time. John will present JFA’s strategy of transforming pro-life
volunteers into active advocates who can turn the abortion debate into
a heart-changing dialogue in a spirit of “gentleness and respect” 1
Peter 3:15. John will try to have a couple of students from Christian
Heritage Academy along with former headmaster Ralph Bullard present to
explain what it has meant to the students that have gone through the
JFA training to become effective pro-life volunteers.
One more item on the abortion issue. This past week, a jury handed
down a guilty sentence of murder in the first degree regarding Scott
Roeder, the fellow who killed Dr. George Tiller, formerly known among
pro-life activists as “Tiller the Baby Killer.” While the judge tried
to keep the word “abortion” out of the proceedings, Mr. Roeder was
able to explain that he killed Dr. Tiller to keep him from murdering
more un-born, or in the case of partial birth abortion, partially born
babies. What I don’t know about the case is if the judge prohibited
the jury from considering the “necessity defense” from being
considered? The 51 year old Mr. Roeder will have to spend at least 25
years in prison before being considered for parole.
The vast majority of people do not condone citizens taking justice
into their own hands. However, when the government justice system
breaks down and fails to protect innocent life (unborn children are
the most innocent of all), then we sometimes see people like Mr.
Roeder act on their own. I personally have serious moral questions
which arise out of this situation. Did the court not consider pre-born
babies as human beings? Are law enforcement and military personnel the
only ones allowed to take human life to prevent an aggressor from
harming or taking human lives from the innocent? If so, why is it
moral for them to do so, but not moral for Mr. Roeder to save many
lives by taking the life of one person bent on taking the lives of the
innocent while the abortionist pads his pockets with the blood money
of his victims? Is not the real problem, the fact that not only is
government not performing one of its 3 mentioned functions as
enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, to protect life, but in
fact government is condoning the killing of innocent life and in some
cases funding such. There is a lot of blood on the hands of a lot of
people with the issue of abortion and I am not sure it is on the hands
of Mr. Roeder!
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
+ TULSA AREA - On Thursday evening February 4th, Oklahoman’s For
Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, (OK-SAFE) will hold their monthly
meeting at the Hardesty Regional Library, 93rd and South Memorial. The
meeting will begin at 6:30 and last until 8:00 p.m.. These are not
just educational meetings. They consist of learing as well as
effective activism toward the goals of OK-SAFE.
+ TULSA AREA - On Saturday, February 6th the Tulsa County Republican
party will be hosting a rally and table venue for all state wide
candidates as well as those running for the legislature in Tulsa
county. The event will begin at 9:00 and last until around 11:30 a.m..
The location is the Lemley Campus of Tulsa Technology Center, 3420
South Memorial Dr. This will be a great time to meet and hear from the
candidates. I will be manning a table for OCPAC, so please drop by and
say hello.
+ OKC AREA - Our long time friend, Miss Emoly West, will be hosting
the 10th annual Winter Ball on Friday evening, February 12th. That is
one week from this coming Friday. This is a fun event for the family
and will once again be held in the Grand Ballroom at the National
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in OKC. For more information and to
make reservations log on to: www.annualwinterball.org.
++ RACHEL MADDOW, THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY AND GLEN BECK
About a month ago it was announced that the John Birch Society would
be one of the sponsoring organizations for the C-PAC convention to be
held in Washington, a few weeks from now. The announcement caused the
lesbian talk show host Rachael Maddow to get her panties in such a
tight wad, I thought her eyes were going to pop out. She went on a
tirade which lasted around 12 minutes, suggesting there was such a
thing as a right wing fringe, and then there was the Birch Society
which was to the right of the fringe.
Maddow really lacks the intellectual capacity to properly understand
the positioning of groups on a political scale. Truth is, The Birch
Society would fall into the category of Constitutional moderates, or
in the same position as our founding fathers. To the far right are
found the anarchists, or those who believe in no government or the
absence of such. Of course on the far left are the Communists,
socialists, fascists, progressives and yes the Nazis, though Maddow
probably believes the Nazis (national socialists) would fall on the
far right.
To help her try and add some “gravitas” to her little temper tantrum,
she had a writer from the Wall Street Journal on her program also
talking about the Birch Society. He was explaining that the Society
has seen evidences of “conspiratorial” influences upon our society and
government. Part of his evidence was that we spoke of the
“International Communist Conspiracy” to rule the world. I believe he
would have preferred to refer to it as the “C” word rather than have
to say the full word Communism.
Then he said something which was really interesting. He suggested we
were having an influence upon Glen Beck. Though he was quick to say,
Beck was cautious not to use some of the same language Birchers use
such as the “conspiracy” word, none the less Beck was making reference
to many of the same things the Birchers refer to. He suggested Beck
was saying things like, until recently I would have never believed
there was a “plan” or perhaps an “organized effort” dating back many
years behind the policies we have today in the Obama administration
today or perhaps in the Bush administration which proceeded the
Democrat rule of today.
Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I had become a fan of Beck’s TV
show, though I don’t care for his radio program. I try to watch as
many of his programs as possible using my DVR to reduce the time
needed to view the program. Let me say, after watching close to 60 of
his programs now, without a doubt in my mind, Beck is producing the
finest information on TV of which I am aware. It is just outstanding.
This past Thursday evening, he had one of his bombastic programs, full
of humor and body gesticulations as he presented the information he
wanted conveyed. However, Friday evening he interviewed 3 men on his
program and in one hour did the best job I have ever seen of putting
together the big picture of the evil influences and players over the
past century which have shaped America into its current statist
condition.
His guests were R.J. Pestritto, author of American Progressivism, and
Burton Folsom Jr. author of New Deal - Raw Deal. Both of these men are
professors at Hillsdale College, one of only a few colleges in
American which refuse to take a dime in government aid, they won’t
even take scholarship money from students if it comes from the
government. Hillsdale is also the home of the IMPRIMIS publication. In
addition, he had Mr. Larry Schweikart in studio, author of the book, A
Patriots History of the United States. He also played a few minutes of
an interview with Thomas Sowell, an economist from the Hoover
Institute at Stanford University and one of America’s leading
conservative intellects, a man who also happens to be a black.
Between the five of these men, and with the skilled use of sound bites
and pertinent quotes from leftist progressives from the past until the
present, they exposed their evil and un-American agenda with skill and
beauty. As an interviewer, Beck was at his best. His extensive study
over the past 2 or 3 years has opened his eyes to the strategy and
tactics of America’s enemies and he shows their influences upon both
the Republican and Democrat parties. A great interviewer must know the
subject matter well to know what questions to ask to draw out the
pertinent information from the experts. The interviewer must also know
when to emphasize or clarify a point if one of the experts speak above
the heads of we common folk.
Beck was a master and I can’t stress the importance of watching his
programs if at all possible. He even began to get down to
understanding the powerful influences of the Council On Foreign
Relations upon our nation, something Hanity, Limbaugh and most others
won’t touch. Which is why they will always fall a little short of
getting to the crux of the matter.
Beck closed the program by asking each guest to suggest one book to
read other than their own to have our eyes opened. The books suggested
were, A Conflict of Visions, by Thomas Sowell, Liberal Fascism, by
Jonah Goldberg and the Federalist Papers, by Madison, Hamilton and
Jay.
Perhaps the reason I have become such a fan of Beck is that he is ever
more presenting the important information the Birch Society has been
making available for the past 51 years. Stay with is Glen, you are
really beginning to make a difference. I am going to try to get that
program transferred to a DVD and show it at an OCPAC meeting sometime
in the future.
++ SARAH PALIN, JOHN McCAIN AND PATRICK HUGHES
During this past presidential race, I wanted to get to know what Sarah
Palin really believed, but didn’t think we would know as the McCain
machine had tight shackles on her during the campaign. I have urged
people not to make up their minds about her one way or the other until
we could really find out what she stands for. Therefore, I have been
looking forward to reading her book to try and get a better
understanding about this charismatic person who might well be a
candidate for president in 2012.
Then last week, she endorsed John McCain in his re-election bid as
Arizona’s senior senator. What a disappointment, for Palin to play
such an establishment game. I can understand her not opposing McCain,
after all his choice of Sarah propelled her to the national stage and
set her up for where she is today. But it would have been much better
for her to remain silent rather than support such a moderate
Republican as McCain.
To be honest, I would support having 3rd party candidates or
independents on the ballot if we had a general election run off system
in Oklahoma. However, we don’t and I believe it requires so much
energy to raise up a third party or independent candidate to the
minimum support level for a Republican or Democrat candidate that I
believe those efforts are a waste of time and energy. On top of near
impossibility of such a candidacy leading to success, independent
candidates may actually lead to the election of a bad candidate over a
good candidate or the greater of two evils, rather than the lesser of
two evils in some races.
At the national level the Democrat party is a lost cause with it being
fully under control of the most radical leftists and progressives in
our nation. However, there is a tremendous battle going on for the
soul of the Republican party. Will the Republicans continue their slow
slide toward progressive statists or will it purify itself and refocus
on conservative principles? Much of talk radio has come alive and is
challenging such notions of trying to be just a little less liberal
than the Democrats.
Sarah Palin’s endorsement of McCain shows incredibly poor judgment or
a willingness to play the game. Many of the tea party and 912 groups
are tired of playing the games. They have been educating themselves
and are looking for true leaders with a respect and understanding of
the Constitution. On top of that, they are looking for people that
will take a stand upon those principles. McCain has little to none of
those qualities and Sara runs the risk of defining the word “rogue” as
meaning establishment and nothing different than those who have
preceded her.
Today, there will be a primary election in Illinois which pit’s a very
liberal Republican establishment candidate who believes in global
warming, cap and trade, is opposed to drilling in anwar and even
supports partial birth abortion. Opposing him is a conservative
Republican businessman by the name of Patrick Hughes. If Sarah wants
to be taken seriously as a “conservative” then she needs to be
supporting candidates like Mr. Hughes rather than supporting worn out
liberals such as McCain. As for me, the jury is still out on Sarah,
but supporting McCain certainly earns her strike one, with 2 more to
go before she strikes out.
++ THE CAPITOL TEA PARTY AND OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
Even with icy roads and sidewalks, we still had 300 to 400 attend the
indoor tea party on Monday. It was a good opportunity for so many new
activists to be able to get their feet wet as far a finding their way
around the Capitol and meeting many of the lawmakers. While the
majority of people were from central Oklahoma, I saw visited with
people from Lawton, Poteau, Tulsa and Bartlesville in attendance. I
visited with several lawmakers and many of them expressed a basic
willingness to support the legislation we are pushing. At least
support the legislation in principle depending upon the exact wording
of the various pieces of legislation. A couple even had legislation
they want included into our list. Time will tell on those issues.
OCPAC finished up January with 118 people having already paid their
dues, far beyond any previous year by the end of January. If you were
a member last year and your dues are not being automatically withdrawn
from your checking account, then your membership has expired. I want
to invite you to renew your membership for another year and help keep
our momentum going forward. I can’t say enough about my thanks to you
for your support. If you want to join OCPAC and have not as yet,
please consider doing so by following the instructions below. Thanks
again for your support.
Charlie Meadows
Charlie...@gmail.com
To join OCPAC fill out the following and send your check to:
OCPAC
P.O. Box 2021
Edmond, OK 73083
Yes Charlie, I want to join OCPAC at one of the following levels:
___Basic membership at $50 per year.
Safari Club Membership:
___Elephant Provider at ___$180 annual or ___$15 monthly
___Elephant Provider & RINO Hunter, ___$360 annual or ___$30 monthly
For monthly payments please send a voided check so we may draft your
Checking account on a monthly basis. If you decide to discontinue
monthly support, simply contact me and we will stop the withdrawal.
THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED BY STATE LAW !
Print Name____________________________________________
Address___________________City___________State____Zip_____
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I have freely given from my own resources & have not been compensated
for this contribution. (Corporate contributions not allowed by law!)
Signature_____________________________________
Charlie Meadows
Committee (OCPAC)
Two items, first an important action item and second, information
about a Tulsa school board race. This week’s regular e-mail will go
out Tuesday morning.
++ ACTION ITEM
Last week one of the member organizations of the Oklahoma
Constitutional Alliance put out a call for its members to call House
Speaker Chris Benge under the belief that Speaker Benge had pulled one
of this year’s most important pieces of legislation from being
considered. The legislation in question is HJR 1054 by Representatives
Mike Ritze and Mike Reynolds in the House and Senator Brogdon in the
Senate. The gist of the legislation calls for the citizens to be able
to vote this year to amend our state constitution to allow any citizen
or business in Oklahoma to opt out of participating in a federal
health care law, should President Obama and the Democrats be
successful in getting something passed.
Evidently many people contacted the Speaker’s office as several of you
forwarded his e-mail reply for me to see. His response explained that
he had not pulled it for consideration but that it still had an
opportunity to be heard sometime in the first 4 weeks of the session.
His final statement assured people that he strongly opposed President
Obama’s health care plan. Please let me make this important point.
Anytime you contact an elected official and that official responds and
then no longer hears from you, the elected official is under the
assumption that the response was sufficient. Let me suggest, if you
are not satisfied with the answer, contact that official again until
you are satisfied with the answer.
I did a little checking around and this is what I learned. It appears
that Speaker Benge is concerned about the number of state questions to
be on the ballot this coming November. Speaker Benge told one source
that there are already 9 questions to be on the ballot, with 13
questions held over from last year’s session and 31 pieces of
legislation coming from this year’s legislative session that are still
eligible to be placed on the ballot. Benge told the source that the
committee is “working to manage the number of state questions to avoid
overloading the ballot.”
I have been telling people for over a year now that I too am concerned
about the large number of ballot questions. However, this issue is so
important that it must be heard and hopefully pass asap. Therefore, we
must do whatever is necessary to urge Speaker Benge and the rest of
the legislature to move this issue along. Speaker Benge could
negotiate with Governor Henry to put some of the lesser important
issues, such as requiring a photo ID for voting purposes, to be put on
the ballot during the primary election. The governor has that option.
Therefore, please contact Speaker Benge’s office and ask him for an
assurance that he will use his INFLUENCE to allow HJR 1054 to be
heard. If he is really against Obama’s health care plan and wants to
protect the citizens in Oklahoma from the unconstitutional actions
that may come out of Washington, then he needs to support this
legislation. The Speaker’s Capitol number is (405) 557-7444 and his e-
mail is chris...@okhouse.gov. A phone call is preferred or do both.
Speaker Benge has near dictatorial power over legislation, so no
matter where you live in Oklahoma your call is needed and important.
Please act today through Thursday.
++ TULSA SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION
I don’t normally make recommendations in school board elections as I
just don’t have time to investigate that many races. However, this
past Saturday I had the opportunity to have lunch with Dr. Lois
Jacobs, candidate for Tulsa school board district #7. Dr. Jacobs is
definitely the conservative with the most important issue being school
choice. Dr. Jacobs favors school choice and competition and her
opponent wasted district dollars by filing an unsuccessful law suit
against the state regarding funding for charter schools.
The conservative Tulsa Beacon newspaper editorial page also endorsed
Dr. Jacobs. If you live in the district 7 area of the Tulsa school
district, I urge you to go tomorrow, Tuesday the 9th to vote for Dr.
Jacobs. To find out is you live in the proper district call your
county election board, give them your address and they will give you
that information. This will be a low turnout, so your vote will be
very important.
Charlie Meadows
Charlie...@gmail.com
Charlie Meadows
Committee (OCPAC)
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ THE RESULT OF YOUR CALLS ON HJR 1054
++ THE OKLAHOMAN’S EDITORIAL PAGE IS WRONG AGAIN!
++ SHOULD I GET A MEDAL OR HAVE MY HEAD EXAMINED?
++ SARAH IN THE SPOTLIGHT
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, February 10th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. I am really excited
to be able to have Mr. Casey Luskin from Seattle Washington as our
speaker this Wednesday. Mr. Luskin is a geologist and attorney who
currently is on staff at the Discovery Institute serving as the
Program Officer in Public Policy and Legal Affairs. The Discovery
Institute was featured in Ben Stein’s documentary EXPELLED that was
shown in movie theaters across America. Mr. Casey is also co-founder
of the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center
( www.ideacenter.org ), a non-profit helping students to investigate
evolution by starting “IDEA CLUBS” on college and high school campuses
across the nation. Mr. Casey is published in both science and law
journals and is one of the nations top experts and debaters on the
topic of Intelligent Design. We are very fortunate to have him at our
meeting while he is in Oklahoma. Come early and get a good seat. Don’t
miss this meeting or you will be sorry. Home school parents should
really try to make this meeting, especially with some of their older
children.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
WEDNESDAY - OKC AREA - The Business and Professional Chapter of the
John Birch Society will hold their monthly breakfast meeting this
Wednesday morning, February 10th at the Character First Center, 520
West Main in downtown OKC. Breakfast is served at 7:15 and the meeting
begins about 7:40 a.m. Our speaker this month will be State
Representative Mike Ritze (R-Broken Arrow). He will catch us up on the
progress of this year’s legislative session. This is a breakfast
buffet for $6.00 and we always have a great time visiting with one
another before the meeting starts. Visitors are welcome.
THURSDAY - TULSA AREA - The Tulsa area Republican Men’s Club will
meet, 12 noon at the China King Restaurant, 1330 East 71st. The
speaker will be Federal District Judge, Greg Frizzell. Pryor to his
appointment he was active in Republican party politics and served as
vice president of membership for this very club. Time will also be
available for candidates to give short updates on their campaigns. For
more information contact Bob McDowell at 481-1051.
THURSDAY - OKC AREA - Oklahomans For Sovereignty and Free
Enterprise www.ok-safe.org will hold their monthly meeting at the
Village Library, 10307 North Penn in OKC. The meeting will begin at
6:45 and last until 8:15 p.m. This meeting will be geared toward both
education and activism.
THURSDAY - MOORE - The Sooner Republican Assembly will hold their
monthly meeting at Earls Rib in Moore beginning at 6:00 p.m. The
speaker will be Mike Jestes, Executive Director for the Oklahoma
Family Policy Council. Following his talk there will be a 2 minute
“bully pulpit” available to get your most important point across.
THURSDAY - EDMOND - There will be a 5th congressional district
forum for all the Republican candidates running to replace U.S.
Representative Mary Fallin. The location will be in Constitution Hall
at the Nigh University Center on the campus of the University of
Central Oklahoma in Edmond. The forum will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will
be moderated by Stuart Jolly, State Director for Americans For
Prosperity (AFP). The public is welcome.
FEBRUARY 19TH AND 20TH - The first ever OKLAHOMA LIBERTY CONFERENCE
will be held on these two dates. The location will be the Metro Tech
Springlake Conference Center, 1900 Springlake Drive in OKC. The
conference will begin on Friday at 9:00 a.m. and run till 9:00 p.m..
Then it will continue on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. and run until
5:00 p.m. The general admission for the conference will be $6 in
advance or $8 at the door.
There will be a special session with the speaker being Arizona Sheriff
Richard Mack, author of the book: THE COUNTY SHERIFF - AMERICA’S LAST
HOPE. When Bill Clinton was president and the Democrats were
successful in passing the Brady Bill to greatly restrict ownership of
firearms, there was a portion of the law which required county
sheriffs to enforce the law or go to jail. Sheriff Mack refused to do
so and filed a suit against the federal government on the grounds that
it violated the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It took 6
years to work its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court and they ruled in
Sheriff Mack’s favor.
That decision gives great hope to the 10th Amendment movement stirring
throughout the land. The special session to be able to hear Sheriff
Mack will cost an additional $12 to attend in advance or $14 dollars
at the door. The money to attend the Sheriff Mack event will benefit
the Oklahoma Constitutional Alliance (OCA) county deputy sheriff
bullet proof vest matching grant fund. Most county sheriff departments
are strapped for funds and are not able to provide the vests for their
deputies. Following the gunning down of 2 deputies in Seminole County
last year we wanted to help raise money for deputies in Oklahoma. The
overall event is being sponsored by the Sooner Tea Party. For more
information send an e-mail to soonert...@gmail.com I believe we
will have tickets to the events at this Wednesday’s meeting.
++ THE RESULT OF YOUR CALLS ON HJR 1084
I received an e-mail this afternoon from a lawmaker informing me that
the measure to protect Oklahomans from being forced to participate in
a federal health care program has been placed on the agenda to be
considered in the Rules Committee this Wednesday. Representative Gus
Blackwell (R-Goodwell 557-7384) is the Chairman of the committee and
is a reasonable lawmaker. If you have time please call these lawmakers
and ask for their support to pass this legislation out of the
committee so it can head to the next place in the process.
Following are the committee members names and Capitol phone numbers
all of which start in the 405 area code: Mike Jackson (R-Enid
557-7317), Tad Jones (R-Claremore 557-7380), John Trebilcock (R-Tulsa
557-7362), Mike Thompson (R-OKC 557-7403), Guy Liebmann (R-OKC
557-7357), Charles Key (R-OKC don‘t bother he is already in favor of
the bill), Joe Dorman (D-Rush Springs 557-7305), Richard Morisot (D-
OKC 557-7404), Cory Williams (D-Stillwater 557-7411), Jerry Shoemake
(D-Morris 557-7373) and Mike Sanders (R-Kingfisher 557-7407). I will
try to keep people informed as to this legislation‘s progress. As I
said this is one of the most important pieces of legislation for this
year’s session. Thanks for responding to the request to contact
Speaker Benge’s office.
++ THE OKLAHMAN’S EDITORIAL PAGE IS WRONG AGAIN!
In an editorial on January 30th the Oklahoman took a swipe as Senator
Brogdon, claiming him to be a populist candidate. Brogdon, one of the
3 Republican candidates for governor, is proposing legislation to
prevent the Turnpike Authority from having the ability to raise tolls
without legislative approval. The Oklahoman said: “We remind Brogdon
and his supporters that tolls not only pay for turnpike maintenance
but Highway Patrol services as well. Thus, taxpayers aren’t required
to fund maintenance or patrols. That burden goes solely to turnpike
users, many of them from out of state.”
I would suggest the Oklahoman doesn’t need to provide that 3rd grade
information to Senator Brogdon or any of his supporters, they
understand that perfectly well. The reminding that should go on in
this case should come from Brogdon toward the Oklahoman. One of the
reasons the Colonists fought our war of Independence was over the
issue of “taxation without representation.” To the Oklahoman, when do
we hold elections for members of the Turnpike Authority? Those
unelected, nameless and faceless bureaucrats have the AUTHORITY to
raise the costs, not only on the unemployed, but also on all the rest
of us, without any accountability to the citizens. That is akin to
“taxation without representation.”
This nameless faceless bunch at the Authority raised the fees last
year, suggesting the increases were needed. A reliable source informed
me that the Turnpike Authority was still operating in the black
without the increase. In addition, based on their budget, it appears
that the Turnpike Authority has been turning over several million
dollars each year to ODOT. I must ask why and on what authority?
Brogdon is correct to want to bring legislative oversight to the
Turnpike Authority, because lawmakers are not nameless faceless
bureaucrats. We know who they are and they stand accountable to the
citizens every two and four years.
If the Turnpike Authority is wisely using their fees and the revenues
are insufficient, then the legislature can approve an increase, but
the Authority should have to justify such and not act like an bunch of
elitists, accountable to no one. The Oklahoman is wrong on this one
and Senator Brogdon is right on again.
++ SHOULD I GET A MEDAL OR HAVE MY HEAD EXAMINED?
On Monday, February 1st I made the decision to sit in the House
Chambers and listen to the Governor’s State of the State speech. I
normally listen every year, on live radio. However, this was the first
time in person and my head is still hurting. Just a few musings as
Governor Henry is certainly a governor with the philosophy of big
government.
His desire to “hold harmless” education is pandering to the first
degree. The education industry is the most powerful special interest
in the state as in most states. Their power is bolstered by people who
correctly think education is important, but don’t realize that the
path to quality education can’t be attained in today’s government
schools, though may good teachers are trying their best. The system
now ensures a mediocre to poor quality education. It is really hard to
balance the budget in a shortfall by not cutting education dollars
when education represents over 55% of the total budget. I appreciate
Senator Coffee’s (R-OKC) insistence that education also be carefully
considered in budget negotiations.
The one thing I did agree with the governor was his call to
consolidate government agencies. The Republicans, led by
Representative Jason Murphy (R-Guthrie) are making headway on that
project and perhaps with the Governor’s help they may really make
gains this year. Government modernization, passed just last year is
already beginning to reap millions of dollars in savings.
The one thing that bothered me the most was seeing so many Republicans
act like little goobers in a musical jack in the box. Jumping up and
clapping on cue as the governor was proposing some of his big
government plans. The one idea that greatly disturbs me is the idea of
raising the Rainy Day cap from $600 million to $900 million dollars.
Please let me explain. As individuals, we should want to have a large
rainy day or emergency fund. After all, it is still our money while in
storage, and it also has the opportunity to bring us an increase as we
invest it.
However, when it comes to government, I don’t want large sums of our
money held in storage, preventing us from having use of our own money.
More important than that, most lawmakers lack the courage to cut
wasteful sectors of government and inefficiencies, much less eliminate
those areas of government that involve improper or immoral functions.
It is only in the hard times we seem to be able to cut the size of
government. With that in mind, both Senator Ford (R-Bartlesville) and
Branan (R-OKC), both offering legislation to raise the cap on the
rainy day fund, show their lack of understanding on this strategy. Or
perhaps they really aren’t that conservative, but rather have fallen
in love with government wanting it to be really successful in every
aspect, regardless of efficiency or propriety? These are normally good
guys, but hopefully their legislation will die a glorious death
somewhere in the process. The current issue of the Oklahoma Gazette
has two commentaries (Put up or shut up and the counter point, Money
fights) about the opportunity to act like a true conservative. It will
be on the news stands through Wednesday, really worth the read. I
think my head is still hurting from having to listen to the governor
as his speeches sound as if he is speaking to 3rd graders.
++ SARAH IN THE SPOTLIGHT
With Sarah Palin’s address to the rather small tea party gathering
this past weekend in Nashville, she has the liberal loons across
America and especially those of the press and commentators in a tizzy.
Their complaints about her are silly and really nothing more than the
ranting’s of political gad-flies trying to turn public opinion against
her.
I am trying to like her, but as I mentioned last week her endorsement
of John McCain in the Arizona senate race shows she is willing to play
the kind of games that elect unreliable RINOs like McCain. Her
endorsement of Texas Governor Perry also disturbs me. Perry’s recent
proclamations about Texas sovereignty and the 10th amendment are
helpful, but conservatives in Texas mostly believe he is pandering to
them after his several years effort to shove the Trans Texas Corridor
down the throats of the citizens of Texas and thus move ever closer to
establishing a North American Union. Palin has the opportunity to
endorse a true conservative by the name of Debra Medina, but chose to
play the game and stay with the typical big government Republican.
As a result of my e-mail last week, one of our readers in the Tulsa
area sent me documentation about her support for the Convention on the
Law Of The Sea Treaty, better known to its critics over the years as
the LOST treaty. The following is her statement in 2007 while Governor
of Alaska: “I want to put my administration on record in support of
the convention as the predicate for asserting sovereign rights that
will be of benefit to Alaska and the nation.” Sarah Palin.
Now folks, Ronald Reagan was very opposed to this treaty as he knew it
actually destroys American Sovereignty. If passed it would grant
regulatory control over all shipping lanes and mineral wealth in the
oceans to the United Nations. It is my understanding that the current
version is even worse than when Reagan was President as it now also
includes navigable waterways.
Rather than just bowing down to the feet of this charismatic
politician, real conservatives need to be asking her questions like
what kind of change will you bring to Washington when you support
people like McCain and Perry? Also, what is your opinion of the U.N.,
its agenda and do you still support the LOST treaty. If she does, then
someone needs to ask if she would be willing to read a critical report
on the treaty or perhaps spend some time with a conservative expert on
the subject.
Conservatives must break free from the habit of electing people we
like, but rather elect people who will govern according to the
principles of good government and protect our national sovereignty
among other things.
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
In Tulsa this past Saturday, I really got to meet a large number of
fine folks. We gathered a large number of new names for our e-mail
list and a lot of people obtained a lot of educational materials to
further develop their conservative ideology as well as share with
others. Memberships continue to come in from all over the state. We
are now up to 127 dues paying members. I want to invite folks to join
if you have not done so already. Thanks so much for all who have
already joined so far this year. For instructions on how to become a
dues paying member, see below following my sign off.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.