Monday, September 29, 2008

CHARLIE'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES

– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
– IN REMEMBRANCE, BOB ANDERSON AND MIRIAM DONELL
– MY PERSPECTIVE ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES

AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
We will change pace a little this week with State Representative Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) as our speaker. Following the massacre of over 30 people on the Virginia Tech campus, a group of students and perhaps faculty formed an organization to work toward allowing students and faculty to have concealed weapons while on campus and in the classrooms.

As a result of Representative Murphey’s efforts to pass such legislation in Oklahoma during this year’s session, they invited him to speak at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. about 2 months ago. Representative Murphey will show the DVD of his speech and then answer any questions about these kinds of efforts as well as reveal possible legislation for the 2009 session. This should be a most interesting meeting.

Representative Murphey won the freshman lawmaker of the year award from OCPAC over the past 2 years. He currently is the only lawmaker in the entire legislature with a perfect score of 100 on the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper’s Conservative Index. This year, he was also recognized as the lawmaker of the year by the Oklahoma Rifle Association, an affiliate of the NRA.

Another interesting point about Representative Murphey is his CONVICTION not to receive any contributions from a special interest PAC which employs a lobbyist. He won’t even let a lobbyist buy him lunch. He also believes lawmaker pay should be tied to the average pay of all Oklahomans. To that end, he continues to honor his pledge to donate the difference from his pay and that of the average Oklahoman’s (about $8,000) to the Crossroads pro-life and health ministry in Guthrie. With his considerable energies, Representative Murphey runs a web business and works a part time job on the side to support his wife and 2 children.

The Democrats recruited a radical feminist lawyer to run against him this year and now is when we will see if the friends and constituents of Representative Murphey will step up to the plate and provide the necessary funds for him to have a successful campaign?

To that end, a group of supporters are hosting a banquet at the Club House of the Cimarron National Golf and Country Club, about 1 mile West of Guthrie on highway 33. The cost is only $15 per person which will feature a large Hors d’oeuvres Buffet starting at 7:00 p.m. on Friday evening, October 10th. Introducing Representative Murphey will be newly elected National Committeeman James Dunn, from Luther, Oklahoma. To RSVP, please contact Mary Scarberry, Home: (405) 324-2018, Cell (405) 464-5847 or Tracy Flury (405) 315-1720. The supporters are covering the overhead, so the entire $15 dollars will go to Jason’s campaign. There will be a donation table for those wishing to contribute more.

IN REMEMBRANCE OF BOB ANDERSON AND MIRIAM DONELL
Long time OCPAC member Bob Anderson passed away about 3 weeks ago. Bob was a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force who served our nation with dignity and honor. After his time in Viet Nam, he returned to the states and flew about a year and a half with the famed Thunderbirds.
Bob, along with George Harper was the co-founder of citizens against pornography, which later became Oklahomans for Children and Families, before that organization was rolled into the Oklahoma Family Policy Council. Bob had a lot to do with moving the folks that met every Wednesday for lunch and debate to the organization known today as OCPAC. Prior to his attending our debating society, we had resisted people who wanted to activate us for political purposes. He was also a tireless champion for school choice. We will miss Bob, as we all had a great deal of respect for him.

A few months ago, Miriam Donnell passed away after a long struggle with breathing difficulties. For several years Miriam and her husband Bill attended almost every OCPAC meeting, even after the level of difficulty increased as they each had to start carrying oxygen bottles with them everywhere they went. Miriam was concerned about the issues facing us today and was a long time supporter of OCPAC. I was always encouraged by her personal support for my efforts. When I think about how Miriam cared about the future of this nation and her commitment to learning and taking a stand, it makes me want to be less tolerant of people who say it doesn’t matter, nothing will change or they just don’t care. If everyone put out the effort under difficult circumstances like Miriam did, things would be much better in Oklahoma as well as America. We miss you Miriam, you were a great American.

MY PERSPECTIVE ON THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES
Unless you are an absolute cave dweller, you know by now that the current media and political buzz is about the "severe" financial crisis facing us and the supposed need to "bail out" the financial sector in our nation. I have read and heard many commentaries from the "so called experts" on the subject and thought, why not give it a shot of my own?

We are bing told by the administration and others that if we don’t act fast and decisively to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into our troubled financial and real-estate markets we could be looking at a serious recession, or perhaps even a depression. We are told this would inflict a great deal of damage, pain and suffering upon American businesses as well as the citizens of this nation.

I don’t want to downplay that notion, as it could happen. However, the degree of suffering is purely speculation at this point. There is a counter movement of people through out the nation that disagree with the "sky is falling" crowd and want to keep government out of the bail out business and let the market place sort it all out.

I would suggest it is imperative we understand what brought us to this point before we go head long into fixing the problem. If not, the fix could become worse than the problem. The federal government has been fixing situations in a big way over the past few years and what are the results? On September 30 (end of the fiscal year) of 1982 we were ONE trillion dollars in debt which covered the first 206 years of this nations existence (1776 to 1982). We will know by October 8th, but my prediction is that we will now be around TEN trillion dollars in debt, just 26 years later. I lay the blame for our problems squarely on the CITIZENS of America and at the feet of what I will call the "GREEDY money manipulators." The citizens, because in our system of government which is a representative Republic, we the people are ultimately responsible for every thing that goes on in government.

Let me say, I have no problem with people creating wealth and a lot of it. I believe God has gifted some people with such an ability, though I also believe it is His intentions for those to be generous with the wealth they create. As usual, my issue is whether or not such wealth is obtained in a moral and honest fashion. We will all answer to God for how we have stewarded the talents and wealth with which he has intrusted us.

Let me define greedy, something Neal Bortz challenges people who use the word to do. According to Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, greedy is defined as: Having a keen desire of any thing; eager to obtain; as greedy of gain.

To the humanist culture which influences much in America today, that definition won’t seem so bad. However, there are numerous references in God’s Word to greed and they are all bad. You might want to look them up for yourself.

I would suggest greed is an ATTITUDE and a MOTIVATIONAL force that fails to be satisfied with honest growth and gain or that which would be the provisions of God’s blessings. The greedy will put a much higher priority upon their lust to obtain rather than build a relationship with God. Therefore, the greedy are willing to push the limits of morality, sound principles and perhaps the law to obtain ever more. The greedy are capable of using falsehoods, flattery and manipulation to obtain their gain while lacking kindness, love or respect for others.

With the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 we set the stage for a system which could eventually manipulate the economy for the purposes of the greedy (the definitive book is Creature from Jeckel Island by Edward Griffin). We had not had a central bank in America since Andrew Jackson was President in the 1830s as he refused to renew the charter for a national bank which was his pledge during his campaign. The creation of a new bank was a high priority for the money manipulators so it came up again in 1913.

Leading up to 1913 the naive were told a central bank would bring stability to the economy and protect depositors from panics and runs on the banks. How has the Fed performed since 1913? Not so good, as we have seen about a dozen recessions, one great depression and intermittent cycles of inflation which have increased the costs of all items and wages many multiples of times. And now, the people who brought us to the crisis of today are also the same people who are telling us what we need to do to get out of this mess. Do you feel confident now?

We now use fiat currency which we call dollars but are actually Federal Reserve notes. I like to call them Federal Reserve green stamps. We no longer use gold or silver for money as is called for in the Constitution. There is nothing of any value backing our currency, other than the full faith and credit of the United States Government.

A government which is now only 10 Trillion dollars in debt. We practice fractional reserve banking. In the equity markets, we have allowed the money manipulators to set up schemes for ever greater gains called derivatives, hedge funds and we even allow people to sell property (stock) they don’t even own. It is call "short selling." Many people have become rich by manipulating money rather than creating wealth (taking raw products and turning them into usable consumer goods or providing important or vital services).

We have allowed the politicians to regulate the financial market place by demanding financial institutions make loans (community redevelopment act) on a racial or poverty quota system rather than on sound credit ratings. We would call that an excess of regulation, not a lack of regulation. In other cases we have removed the protections which kept bond rating entities from becoming entangled with conflicts of interest for the entities they were supposed to be rating. In past years we have seen some of the largest and oldest accounting firms become compromised. We have seen government regulators or accounting examiners have their hands tied by politicians who desire to be seen as caring for the people, while they may have actually been covering for the actions of the greedy or simply seeking political gain.

However, the biggest problem we face today is an attitude most Americans have. That attitude believes that it is the responsibility of the government to provide for a robust economy as well as provide for the needs of the people. Please pay close attention. If you want to live in a socialist or fascist society then it IS the responsibility of government to control the economy and it WILL BE the responsibility of government to solve our problems and bail us out of financial calamities as well as provide for our needs.

However, if you believe in a free market economy as envisioned by our Founding Fathers, then we must look for every opportunity to return us to a market driven economy. A society where people are responsible for their own well being. In such a society, when people need help as they will from time to time, that help must come from family, friends, civic organizations and religious institutions, NOT government.

America is not bullet proof. Only a fool, ignorant of history, would believe in our invincibility as many great nations and empires of the past have fallen into the dust bin of oblivion. The attitude that it is the government’s responsibility to meet our needs is a sure path to fiscal collapse, simply given enough time.

All economies are ultimately driven by consumer demand. In a free market economy, if too many citizens take on too much in obligations, they pull back for a while and a slow down occurs. When the pressure if off, they begin to purchase again, either by cash or with debt, and the economy expands again. This is as natural as people breathing in and out. The slow downs are corrections of the excesses. If the excesses were too severe, the slow downs could become recessions.

Politicians don’t want to lose their jobs or their wealth, so when slowdowns occur, they begin to try and manipulate the economy. The longer and more aggressive they manipulate the economy, the more severe the correction will become, once the correction finally overpowers the manipulations. God’s economical principles cannot be violated forever. They will eventually overpower any manipulations we try to enact.

This may be very close to the situation we face today. The bail out as proposed or a compromise that will soon come about are nothing more than more manipulations. Will they work? Maybe and maybe not. If they do work and we don’t have a long range plan to gradually work our way back to sound economic principles, then the next crisis will only be more threatening. I would actually support some kind of a bail out if we could begin on a long term path to return us to limited government and a free market economy. However, I see no evidence of that in any of the plans at this time.

Congressman Lucas said we must do something as he didn’t want to see the nation suffer the way people in Oklahoma did with the bust of the 80s. He indicated it took up to 15 years in some areas of Oklahoma to regain the property values lost in the bust. However, I am not so sure we didn’t learn some important lessons in Oklahoma that the rest of the nation might need to learn at this time.

After all, we have had a robust economy in Oklahoma for several years now, but our lending institutions haven’t made massive numbers of bad loans. We have also avoided the hyper-price increases affecting the costs of properties. Could that all be because we learned our lessons from the correction of the 80s? We haven’t closed a bank in Oklahoma in quite a long time, after closing around 50 banks and S&Ls in the 80s. Did people feel pain during the 80s? Yes, but we may be the better for it now.

Bottom line. Contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives once we know the particulars of the plan and then tell then what you want them to do. As for me, if there isn’t significant reforms and a move away from an ever growing federal government, I will be opposed to the plan. Please log on to the OCPAC blog and register your opinion as to whether or not the feds should go farther into the manipulations of the economy. www.ocpac.info

Don’t miss this Wednesday’s meeting or you will be sorry you did.

Charlie Meadows
charliemeadows@peoplepc.com

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

THANKS TO READERS OF OCPAC E-MAIL & U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FALLIN

– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

I want to encourage as many of our dues paying members as possible to attend the meeting this week as we will have a time of discussion on the house candidates that appeared before us, then vote to determine which ones we will support. We have seen at least one bad candidate, some good candidates in tough races and some very good candidates who have an excellent chance of winning if they have the resources to mount a quality campaign. Therefore, don’t miss this week’s meeting if at all possible.

– THANKS TO READERS OF OCPAC E-MAIL & U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FALLIN

Last week I mentioned 50 organizations in the U.S. and Canada were asking their members to contact their personal U.S. Representative or member of Parliament with a request to oppose any effort to create a North American Union, to protect each nation’s sovereignty and to serve the Constitutions of which they swore an oath to up-hold. In Congress that would mean to become a co-sponsor of HCR 40, by Virgil Goode (R-Virginia).

I called Representatives Fallin and Cole’s offices on Wednesday morning (Constitution Day) with my requests. I was told by Cole’s office that they would call me back, but haven’t heard from them as yet. By the time I got home Wednesday evening and got on line, I had an e-mail from Representative Fallin’s office that she would become a co-sponsor of HCR 40 along with Representatives John Sullivan of Tulsa and Frank Lucas of Northwestern Oklahoma.
Sources tell me both Representative Fallin and Cole are considering a run for Governor in 2010. I will suggest, if that happens, conservatives will remember it was Mary Fallin that was willing to stand up for our nation, and once again, Tom Cole must be hiding somewhere under a rock rather than provide just a little leadership.

The same as he has done on the FAIR TAX, as he is the only Congressman in Oklahoma not to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Fair Tax. Thanks Mary Fallin, and thanks OCPAC members and friends for making your calls.

– ANNOUNCEMENTS

– EDMOND
A group of Republican volunteers have secured a headquarters in Edmond, located at 426 East Second St. across the street from the University of Central Oklahoma. This is a great place to pick up signs and other materials for various campaigns. They need more volunteers to help work 2 hour shifts from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 until 2 on Saturdays. This is a real service and a great opportunity to meet some of your fellow Republicans. If you can help, please contact Janet Black at (405)
341-4086 or by e-mail, www.janetray@cox.net.

– STATE WIDE
This Saturday, September 27th there will be a live nation wide simulcast featuring Dr. Dale Tackett, presenter of THE TRUTH PROJECT. This will held from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at 2 locations in central Oklahoma. Mid-America Christian University, 3500 Southwest 119th Street in far Southwest OKC and Faith Bible Church, 600 North Coltrane in Edmond. It will also be presented in Tulsa, Altus, Alva, Hopetown, Seminole and Tahlequah. For those locations, log on to http://www.thetruthproject.org/. For ticket information log on to http://www.ccn.tv/truth/.
I believe the cost is $119 for one person to attend and another $35 for a spouse to attend. The price does include the 13 hour DVD series.

Again, I can’t say enough about this world class presentation, not only as far as its production quality, but also its content. If you can attend I am sure it will be well worth it.

– CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
Sunday, September 28th there will be a REAL I.D. EDUCATION FORUM featuring State Representative Charles Key, OCPAC Vice Chairman Richard Engle and Mark Lerner from Missouri. Mr. Lerner is arguably the nations foremost authority on the issue. The time will be from 4 until 8:00 p.m with a catered meal being served at 6:00 p.m.

The location will be the Character First Training Institute, 520 West Main in downtown OKC. If you want to eat (the meal and beverage is $12), you must R.S.V.P. by September 25th. Please contact Kaye Beach at (405) 818-3224 or by e-mail, ladyaxiom@yahoo.com.
There are far too many American who are "deaf, dumb and ignorant"
regarding this important issue, especially Christians. This is not about safety, but rather an international I.D. for EVERYONE.

For more information log on to www.stoprealidcoalition.com.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday

Charlie Meadows
charliemeadows@peoplepc.com

Thursday, September 18, 2008

DUELING LETTERS, THAD BALKMAN VS. SENATOR BROGDON

– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
This will be our last week of interviewing candidates. Invited to appear are Mike Sanders of Dover, winner of the district 59 primary run-off race. Another winner of a primary run-off was Harold Wright from Weatherford. Mr. Wright won his primary run-off race by 8 votes. There was a recount with only a 1 vote change. Also invited is Dan Gambil of Elk City. Not invited was Jay Matlock of Tulsa. When he filed for office he didn’t include his zip code with his address and when I tried to call him, there was no phone listing for him at his address. There always seems to be a least one candidate like this in every election cycle. Kind of makes one wonder why they even go to the trouble of filing.

– DUELING LETTERS, THAD BALKMAN VS. SENATOR BROGDON
About 3 weeks ago former State Representative Thad Balkman (defeated 2 years ago by Wallace Collins) had a letter published in the Oklahoman titled "Resorting to smutty politics." Balkman attacked World Net Daily reporter and author Jerome Corsi by suggesting his latest book, OBAMA NATION, was ANOTHER work of fiction.

As a point of interest, while in a motel on the way back from our recent trip to Colorado, I was flipping through the channels and saw Jerome Corsi on the TV talk show, Larry King - barely aLive. Dr. Corsi was in a debate with the head of the ultra liberal disinformation organization, called Media Matters which I believe is associated with the move on.org group. They were in a heated debate about Corsi’s new book. It appeared the most controversial thing in the book was Corsi’s claim that OBAMA had been registered by his step-father as a Muslim while attending school in Indonesia. Therefore Obama’s claim that he has never been a Muslim was incorrect, though Corsi acknowledged Obama is a Christian now.

The fellow from media matters never could dispute any of Corsi’s claims but only attacked Corsi by name calling and making innuendos, much like Balkman has done. I haven’t read Corsi’s book and I rather doubt Balkman has either. However, I understand Corsi’s book has 30 pages of foot notes to document his claims. Part of Balkman’s letter states: "Corsi is a smear artist who’s unfairly maligned people’s reputations on the political right and left alike. He’s advocated various deceptive and frankly delirious ‘North American Union’ and 9/11 conspiracy theories and has associated with white supremacists." I would sure like to see Balkman come up with ANY evidence of the "white supremacists" claim.

Me thinks Balkman may have paid too much attention to the Media Matters fellow. Balkman went on to suggest: "voters in Oklahoma should know better than to buy Corsi’s piffle; just last year Corsi attempted to undermine the 100 Ideas Initiative by claiming that a meeting the initiative sponsored together with TRUST was really a ruse to promote the North American Union and a superhighway..."

I would suggest that since Balkman was the point man for former Speaker Lance Cargill’s 100 Ideas Initiative, we may have discovered the real rub with Corsi. Balkman is correct in saying that Corsi went after Cargill’s 100 Ideas program and Balkman would be technically correct to say the 100 Ideas program didn’t endorse the agenda of using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as the means of building multi-modal transportation corridors. Cargill and Balkman’s initiative did however help sponsor a presentation by Robert W. Poole Jr, Director of Transportation Studies with the Reason Foundation.

I attended the presentation and Poole was a huge proponent of the PPPs as a means of financing and building roads such as is going on with the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) which is commonly referred to at the NAFTA Superhighway. That road is under construction today and is headed toward Oklahoma, with likely intentions to run parallel on the East side of I-35 through Oklahoma, on its way to Kansas and eventually on to Canada.

As I have stated in the past, the I-35 corridor, or NAFTA Super Highway, is the main corridor of an intended 80 independent but interconnected corridors to run throughout Mexico, the United States and Canada. These corridors are like the cardiovascular system needed to create a North American Union. Due to the fine efforts of Jerome Corsi, The John Birch Society, Eagle Forum, the Freedom 21 Coalition, the Selous Foundation, World Net Daily and many others, the opposition to the creation of a North American Union is enormous and continues to grow.
Too bad Balkman doesn’t have a better knowledge of history and how the 50 year process to create the European Union came about. The Birch Society has done a superb job of chronicling the step by step process which created the EU. It all came about through trade agreements, incrementally increasing the scope of control and eventual loss of sovereignty the various member states of the EU are now experiencing. The NAFTA trade agreement along with the Central American Trade Agreement (CAFTA) are all steps on the way to the desired plum known as the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).

Too bad Balkman is so worried about "delirious" conspiracy theories that he lacks the discernment to recognize the peril of the actions taken by President Bush along with former President Fox of Mexico and former Prime Minister Martin of Canada in March of 2005 at Crawford Texas. As a result of their meeting they agreed to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The thoughts of being secure and prosperous through a partnership sure sound good, but the words are superficial and for consumption by the great un-washed.

There are approximately 25 non governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the North American Super Corridor Organization (NASCO) working like busy little bees in the 3 countries to implement the working parts of a merged union. If Balkman would do a little research, with an open mind, and read the quotes of the proponents of the "open borders crowd" and the globalists, he just might be able to put the rather obvious pieces of the puzzle together. I think he could as he really is a smart fellow, assuming his nose isn’t bent too far out of shape by Corsi’s thump of the 100 ideas program he was running.

About 10 days ago, Senator Brogdon (R-Owasso) answered Balkman’s letter with one titled "Threat to Sovereignty." Senator Brogdon wrote in part: "Balkman described Corsi and other opponents of the NAU as someone believing in ‘delirious’ conspiracy theories and associating with white supremacists. Balkman should know that U.S. Reps. John Sullivan and Frank Lucas, along with 50 other members of Congress, have co-authored HCR 40 denouncing any U.S. involvement in the NAU. I’m quite sure that all 50 co-authors must believe there is a big enough threat to our sovereignty to try and stop any involvement in the NAU. I’m also confident that the members of Congress don’t believe in delirious conspiracy theories, nor do they associate with white supremacists."

Brogdon finished by saying: "The facts are there for anyone who’s interested: The North American Union is another piece of the puzzle designed to help support a global agenda. Although the "100 Ideas" may be a fine effort, the best idea for Oklahoma is to support Americanism."

With the thought in mind of supporting Americanism rather than the globalist agenda known as the North American Union, may I suggest everyone reading this e-mail make a phone call today, Tuesday the 16th to your personal U.S. Representative. The reason for today? The American Policy Center (www.americanpolicy.org) has organized 50 different organizations to have their members call their personal Congress in the U.S. and their members of Parliament in Canada. The calls should urge these elected officials to: 1) Stop the Efforts to create a North American Union, 2) Protect our nation’s independence and sovereignty, and 3) to serve the Constitution they were elected to protect.

You should specifically ask them to co-sponsor HCR 40. This is a bill offered in Congress by Virginia Representative Virgil Good calling for Congress to oppose the NAU and the NAFTA Super Highway. If calling Representative John Sullivan, covering the Tulsa area, or Frank Lucas, covering North central and North West Oklahoma, please thank them for their support. The ones who need to be contacted to co-sponsor HCR 40 are Mary Fallin, Tom Cole and Dan Boren. I will list their local office phone numbers. Representative Fallin: (405) 234-9900. Representative Tom Cole: Norman (405) 329-6500, Lawton (580) 357-2131, Ada (580) 436-5375. Representative Dan Boren only has his Washington office listed in the Oklahoma Almanac. His number is (202) 225-2701.

As I have said before, I will never ask folks to make calls if it is not important. This is important, so I urge folks to take a couple of minutes to make your call. It is a great way to stand up for the sovereignty of our nation and only 1 day before the anniversary of the signing of our Constitution which occurred on September 17th, 219 years ago.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
charliemeadows@peoplepc.com

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

THE SARAH PALIN FACTOR

– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
– ANNOUNCEMENTS
– THE SARAH PALIN FACTOR
– MEMBERSHIP UPDATE


– AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

The Republican candidates invited to appear this week are Pat Ownbey of Ardmore, Corey Holland of Marlow, Jay K Ramey of Tulsa and Mike Christian of South Central OKC. In addition, Jason Nelson has re-scheduled for this Wednesday from last week. This is our next to the last week for interviewing candidates. We will vote to determine which ones we support on September 24th. The poll question for the week is: do you think the U.S. Constitution is outdated? Please log on to the OCPAC blog site to register your opinion, http://www.ocpac.info/. –


ANNOUNCEMENTS–

OKC AREA The business and professional chapter of the John Birch Society will resume their monthly meetings (second Wednesday of each month) after a summer break. We start with breakfast at 7:00 and the meeting starts at 7:30 a.m. with the location being the Character First Training Center, 520 West Main in downtown OKC. District Judge William (Bill) Graves will be speaking on the U.S. Constitution in celebration of Constitution Day which is September 17th. Judge Graves served over 20 years in the legislature before being elected two years ago to the bench in the OKC area. He is considered one of the foremost authorities in Oklahoma with regard to the Constitution. Set your alarm early and come hear Judge Graves. This will be a great way to celebrate and honor the signing of that great document, which happened on September 17th 1789. It was then sent to the states for ratification.

– NORTH OKC, EDMOND & LOGAN COUNTY Bruce Delay, pastor and popular radio talk show host in the Tulsa area will be speaking at the Bethel Congregational Church, 2131 NW 234th st. (same as Sorghum Mill in Edmond). This is 1 mile South of Waterloo Road on North Penn. Pastor Delay has been going to the U.S.- Mexican border once a year for the past 15 years and has seen the situation change dramatically. Mr. Delay just returned from a trip to Cochise County Arizona last month and will have a power point presentation with information on the Federal Government’s fence, first-hand input from border residents, amazing local stories and a Biblical perspective on this issue. There will also be time for Q&A. If you do not understand the seriousness of what is actually happening, an invasion of illegal aliens along with the drugs, gangs and crimes associated with such, then you will want to make every effort to attend this meeting. There is no cost and it is open to the public. For more information, call Darryl Hay at (405) 348-6843.

– THE SARAH PALIN FACTOR

Most astute Republicans had observed the passionate and loyal following of supporters that OBAMA has attracted over the past year of the election process. Nine out of 10 of those supporters can’t point to a single policy accomplishment Obama has produced but it doesn’t matter because they BELIEVE in him. That support is defined as a “personality CULT following.”

I believe something similar is happening with the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate. Though Palin certainly has more experience, especially from an executive perspective, than Obama and she does have some policy record, I don’t think much of that matters with many in the Republican party. Don’t get me wrong, of all those McCain was considering, I believe he chose the most conservative candidate and made the best choice possible for the purpose of winning. I also believe she has a social conservative ideology. As I expressed last week I am not sure about her fiscal policy conservatism.

However, I can say this, based on a proclamation in February of this year, she is very naive about the United Nations and thus foreign policy. Let me explain by providing the proclamation:

WHEREAS, the Alaska Model United Nations has provided important educational and international opportunities to Alaska students for 23 years.

WHEREAS, the Alaska Model United Nations serves as a simulation of the United Nations and has, as its purposes, the same high goals:




“To maintain international peace and security...” “To develop friendly relations among nations...” “To achieve international cooperation...” “To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.”

WHEREAS, the University of Alaska Anchorage, UNA/USA Alaska chapter, the Alaska World Affairs Council, and the Anchorage Consular Corps are cooperating to make this an important international experience available to Alaska’s youths.

NOW, THEREFORE, I Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim February 21-23, 2008 as:

Alaska Model United Nations Days

in Alaska, and urge all citizens to acknowledge the outstanding work done by the various student organizations in order to have peace and harmony in the world.

Dated: February 6, 2008

If Governor Palin really believes this pablum about the United Nations and its purposes we are really in trouble. One can only hope someone can get some information into her hands about the UN and its real purposes as designed by its founders. Those purposes are still the UN goals of today. Basically, that is to become the seat of a one world, globalist, socialist, and central planned government. Over the years, there have been many books and articles written about the UN and its agenda. I suggest one of the best being the book written in 2001, THE UNITED NATIONS EXPOSED by William F. Jasper. Unfortunately, you probably won’t find this in a government run library or a main stream corporate book store.

This election will be more about the turn-out of voters who might best be described as personality cult followers or personality groupies than about issues. The Democrats have their rock star in Obama and we Republicans have our new rock star in Palin. She gave a fine speech, with right jabs to Obama’s jaw with a few right crosses and uppercuts, all the while smiling right along. Her right jab to the media and the ensuring chant “CBS” has set some in the media rocking on their heals.

I know that expressing concerns about Palin will cause me a lot of grief among Republicans as anything but almost worship of the McCain - Palin ticket will be seen by some as heresy. However, please pay close attention. If they win, Sarah will be the heir apparent to run for President when McCain is finished. By the time that occurs, one can only hope her maverick label will have pointed her toward being a solid social, fiscal and foreign policy conservative. Yet, Washington will try to pull her the other direction. Unfortunately, too many voting Republicans will never know the difference or even care.

– MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE

This past week I was disturbed to find out the Oklahoma Republican party had done little if anything to help the Republican candidate from Ponca City, Brent Colle. Mr. Colle wasn’t complaining but I pressed him to find out what the party had done for him. Mr. Colle, 52 years of age has politically attractive credentials, 2 college degrees and recently retired as an engineer and trainer from Conoco-Phillips. He is a member of the chamber of commerce and narrowly lost a city council race in a run-off. He is conservative and is working hard knocking doors, but why no help from the party?

This was a seat held by Republicans until 2 years ago and still no help from the party? It really made me mad to receive a fund raising request from the party this past week as I am wondering what are they doing with all the funds they are raising? Mr. Colle isn’t the only good candidate we have seen this election cycle who had not received any help from the party, at least as of the time they appeared at OCPAC. While I can’t guarantee that our members will vote to support Mr. Colle, I will be surprised if we do not. While the final leg of our process will take a couple of weeks to finish, we have already sent thousands of dollars to other candidates, so they could use or know what to count on for their campaigns.

I have said this before and I will say it again. If you are a conservative and more concerned with electing conservative Republicans, rather than just a candidate with an “R” by his or her name, then may I suggest joining with us at OCPAC. Almost every penny of your dues will go to conservative candidates or a small portion may be used for our accountability efforts. Everyone at OCPAC is a volunteer and therefore none of your membership dues are siphoned off to pay salaries.

If you have thought about joining and just have not done so as yet, please consider doing so now. We want to have in hand most of our money for this election cycle by September 24th so we can support several of these fine candidates we have seen running for house seats. We have now surpassed our all time high of 190 dues paying members in a year and I would really like to exceed the 200 member mark. We just need 7 more members to do so. Instructions for joining will follow my sign off. Thanks again to everyone for your support and confidence in our efforts.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
charliemeadows@peoplepc.com

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

IS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAN BOREN REALLY A CONSERVATIVE?

– THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM
– ANNOUNCEMENTS
– SARAH PALIN, McCAIN’S VP CHOICE
– THE ETHICS COMMISSION REPREMANDS LANCE CARGILL AND OTHERS
– AMTRACK, AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOONDOGGLE!
– IS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAN BOREN REALLY A CONSERVATIVE?


– THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM
Invited to appear for our interview process this week will be Republican candidates Brent Colle of Ponca City, Tod J. Barrett of Norman, Charles Ortega from Altus, and Jason Nelson of Northwest Oklahoma City. We will have 2 more weeks of interviews then our members will vote to determine those to receive our support. Also, log on to the OCPAC Blog (http://www.ocpac.info/) for this week’s poll question about Amtrack. If it is on our blog by the time you get this, link on to the web-site for Kyle Coulter and see a new product, a 4 minute video of Kyle talking about the issues he cares passionately about in his run for a state house seat.

– ANNOUNCEMENTS– TULSA AREA:
Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise (OK-SAFE) will hold their monthly meeting tonight, Tuesday the 2nd at 6:45 p.m. at the Hardesty Library 93rd and Memorial in Tulsa. The meeting will feature a panel discussion on the proper role of government in the U.S. and Oklahoma. Panelists will include Senator Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso), State Representative John Wright, Senate candidate Gary Casey, and Ken Sellers, Vice President of OK-SAFE. The reports I have received are that these meetings are outstanding. This is a vital subject and folks in the Tulsa area should make every effort to attend

– JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY’S ANNIVERSARY:
The John Birch Society will celebrate their 50th anniversary at the national headquarters in Appleton Wisconsin on October 2nd through the 4th. There will be around 35 speakers with workshops going on during the days and keynote speakers during the evenings. You can log on to http://www.jbs.org/ to see the line up of speakers. For more information you may also call 1 800- JBS-USA1. Several folks will be going from Oklahoma in one or more vans, while some will fly to Chicago and rent a car from there. If you are interested in going with a group by van, you need to contact me by this Friday, either by e-mail, charliemeadows@peoplepc.com or on my home phone (405) 282-8711. There is no cost to attend the conference other than the banquet meal. The conference hotel and banquet meal have been sold out for a long time, but they have blocked off rooms with 5 other surrounding hotels and will provide a live video feed to a second banquet room. If you want to travel with the group by van, your minimum expense might be around 5 to 6 hundred dollars per person. We will also try to schedule a stop at the air museum in Osh Kosh Wisconsin, home to the worlds largest fly in.

– SARAH PALIN, McCAIN’S VP CHOICE
This past Friday morning, less than 12 hours following Obama’s acceptance speech, John McCain stole the media attention from Obama as news began to leak out that he was choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. Strategically, McCain’s timing was a brilliant move. First reports indicate Palin is one of the most conservative people to be nominated for President or in her case Vice President since Ronald Reagan. Governor Palin is pro-life, pro second amendment, against the invasion of illegal aliens, pro-energy production (maybe), a mother of 5, married to her high school sweetheart, a sportsman, a strong communicator and seems to be very accomplished at everything she puts her hand to. She is obviously juggles her duties of being a mom, while at the same time managing many other affairs. Convincing conservatives she can do the same juggling act as Vice President will be her biggest challenge with pro-family advocates. As vice president, she could probably arrange her schedule to give as much time and attention to her family as she does as a Governor. However, if something should happen to McCain and she would take over as President, the family would of necessity be relegated to a second priority. I don’t know how social conservatives will handle that if they think that deeply.She is quite capable of thinking and communicating outside of the box which should allow her to make the plagiarist, Joe (never had an original thought) Biden, look like the mental midget he happens to be. That debate between the two of them may actually be worth watching. I listened to a variety of syndicated talk radio shows on Friday and heard a common thread among the listeners who called in. By and large, they were “EXCITED” with McCain’s choice and are now changing from politically “listless” to highly motived. Many conservatives who may not have been planning on voting, have now changed to a position of contributing to the campaign as well as working for the ticket. That will be the most valuable aspect to McCain’s choice.While Governor Palin is the director of an oil and gas compact headquartered in Oklahoma, there is one issue which may call to question her conservative credentials, at least to some degree. When McCain introduced her, he indicated she had stood up to “big oil,” the popular whipping boy and evil enemy of the left. What does that mean? Is she for the increased production of oil or against it? Here may lie the problem. A gallon of gasoline produced from a barrel of oil coming out of Alaska is generally the most expensive gasoline produced in America. Not just because of the high production costs in Alaska, but because of excessive state taxes on that product. Two weeks ago, I heard Neal Bortz read an article about a major oil company shelving plans to expand exploration in Alaska and I believe it was also Conoco-Phillips mentioned in the article that had decided to shelve plans to build or expand a refinery in Alaska because of excessive taxation. The problem is, Alaska doesn’t just tax the petroleum industry to fund its proper government services, they PRACTICE the Obama plan. They tax big oil and give the proceeds to the people of Alaska. I am not sure on the amount but I believe it is $1,200 each year to every Alaskan household. This isn’t conservatism, but just another socialist re-distribution of wealth thievery scheme. To be fair, Governor Palin inherited this policy when elected. I doubt she could have been elected if she did not favor the practice, as canceling welfare programs from people used to sucking on the government teat is most difficult. However, one report I saw his that she pushed to increase taxes on “big oil” four fold. If true, that is not even close to being conservative. Remember, any time you raise taxes on businesses, they must raise their prices to consumers or diminish the production of their products or services. The nation desperately needs to dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil by producing more of our own resources. However, the tax policies and “robin hood” give away scheme of such a key state like Alaska will hinder that effort.

– THE ETHICS COMMISSION REPRIMANDS LANCE CARGILL AND OTHERS
There is still more to be learned about what happened, but it appears State Representative Mike Reynolds (R-OKC) may have been correct about his criticism regarding former House Speaker Lance Cargill (R-Harrah) and others. Following a very long investigation, the ethics commission issued a reprimand to Cargill and folks affiliated with the Oklahoma COUNTY Republican party. Supposedly the evidence has been turned over to authorities for possible prosecution. When channel 9 News was featuring the controversy, they pictured at least 3 lawmakers who may be implicated, Lance Cargill, Greg Piatt (R-Ardmore) and Trebor Worthen (R-OKC). As a point of interest, all 3 chose not to run for re-election, though none of them were term limited.At the heart of the matter is a law which prohibits a lawmaker from contributing campaign funds they received for their campaign to another candidate. Lawmakers like to amass large war chests before elections to scare off challengers. When an influential and powerful lawmaker raises a half million dollars for a re-election effort and only needs $15,000 or so to fend off a weak challenger, then what does that lawmaker do with the rest of the money, especially when there are other candidates who desperately need money? The temptation to find a way to circumvent the law and get money to where it is needed is huge. I believe prominent lawmakers may have worked hard to find a way to re-distribute funds to candidates needing money. The money funneled to candidates, may then add increased pressure on candidates, if elected, to be loyal to the desires of those prominent lawmakers on certain measures rather than voting for the good of their constituents or the people of Oklahoma. That loyalty may give certain prominent lawmakers the power to become a “deal maker” when dealing behind closed doors with the Governor’s office or the opposition party. Theoretically, that loyalty might also allow prominent and powerful lawmakers to promise huge benefits to the wealthy power brokers in the state, in exchange for large contributions to political PACs and or certain candidates suggested by prominent lawmakers. If that were the case, then only the Governor and a handful of powerful lawmakers run the state with a majority of the rest of the lawmakers being little more than puppets on a string.

– AMTRACK, AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOONDOGGLE!
I have been opposed to the expansion of Amtrack into Oklahoma from day one and the evidence of that poor decision keeps mounting. My first problem with Amtrack is that it is a business totally owned by the federal government. In a free market society, as envisioned by our founding fathers, government would never own a business. My second problem with Amtrack is that there is no “market” for passenger rail service, at least outside of congested cities, primarily in the Northeast. If there was a market, BNSF or some other rail company would offer that service. Unfortunately, when no market exists, government often steps in to try and make a market. In this case at an enormous expense to the taxpayers.Now for the particulars about Amtrack. If a person wants to ride from OKC to Fort Worth and back they will pay about $48 for a ticket as well as a travel agent fee for arranging the ticket. However, the actual cost per rider to operate the train for the round trip and back, depending on the number of riders, ranges from about $400 to $450 per rider. At the low end, that means the taxpayers pay $350 for every person who rides the train round trip. Most riders on Amtrack are doing so for the entertainment, not as a part of vital transportation. Therefore the taxpayers are forced to pay a huge subsidy for the entertainment of a few. About 3 or 4 years ago, Amtrack was threatening to discontinue the Heartland (crawler) flyer if the state didn’t come up with an annual subsidy of several million dollars. So in the name of “economic development” the business geniuses in the marble pork pen at 23rd and North Lincoln decided to add a state subsidy to Amtrack, above the already huge federal subsidy. The reason I INSIST it is an economic boondoggle is that more people board the train in Oklahoma to go spend their money in Texas than board the train in Texas to come to Oklahoma. Thus, to those who have ears to hear and understand, there is a giant sucking sound of money leaving Oklahoma to end up in Texas to circulate around in their economy rather than staying here to circulate around in Oklahoma. Here is more evidence of my allegation. Recently the Edmond City Counsel PASSED a resolution supporting the extension of Amtrack to Edmond and points North. The Oklahoman’s Edmond reporter asked for e-mail responses to the idea of Amtrack coming to Edmond. They were all positive, but one deserves being re-printed here for all to see and understand how ignorant the financial wizards at the Capitol were when they decided to throw state dollars down the black hole known as Amtrack rather than to use that money for roads and bridges. Please read closely and think about what I have written above: “ANGIE DEAN of Edmond said she’s ‘fallen in love’ with riding the train. ‘As of last year, when I coordinated a Girl Scout train trip for almost 100 kids and adults to Gainsville, Texas, to do some back-to-school shopping, I have decided to make it an annual event. So, in August, my mom, sister-in-law, niece, her friend, my daughter and I will be heading back down to Gainsville for the tax-free weekend to do some more shopping and have some fun girl time.”Just think, 100 riders at a subsidy of $350 each only cost the taxpayers $35,000. All that so a few people could have some fun spending their money in Texas rather than Oklahoma. Without Amtrack, how many of these kids and parents from the Edmond area do you think would have gone to Texas to do their shopping? Probably not many, but if they did, it would be because they wanted to take a little trip, not to save money by buying their clothes in Texas. At today’s high prices for fuel, there would be no savings on a trip to shop in Texas, unless you lived really close to Gainsville or maybe Denison. Going to Texas to spend their money is their business as long as they take the trip on their own dime and not on the backs of the taxpayers. Also notice how our sales tax holiday in Oklahoma did nothing to keep these Oklahomans at home. I have always said, people don’t go to Texas to save money, especially at today’s high price for fuel, but rather for the fun of the trip. To use the force of government to subsidize their entertainment is to practice legalized plunder. In my opinion their actions make them become little more than petty thieves, as they dip their hands into our pockets to have some fun riding a train.

– IS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAN BOREN REALLY A CONSERVATIVE?
Boren is a member of the representatives in Washington calling themselves blue-dog Democrats, meaning he is supposed to be more conservative than the rest of the Democrats. Being from Oklahoma, Boren claims to support the oil and gas industry. However, as of about 3 weeks ago, he still had not signed the “discharge petition” which would force Nancy Pelosi to allow a vote on drilling in prime areas laden with oil to help make us more energy dependent and lower the price of gasoline and diesel fuel.In addition, I was just informed that Congressman Boren has also not signed the discharge petition to force Speaker Pelosi to allow a vote on the “Broadcaster Freedom Act.” This act, if passed, would legislatively prohibit the “fairness doctrine” from being re-instated and keep the government from controlling or shutting down religious broadcasting and conservative talk radio. I want to urge the folks who live in his district to contact one or more of Boren’s offices and tell them you want him to support these discharge petitions. Since he may be a candidate for Governor in 2010, he might even be responsive to Oklahomans no matter where they live. I will give his contact numbers with office his office numbers first and fax number second. Washington: (202) 225-2701 & (202) 225-3038, Muskogee:(918) 687-2533 & (918) 686-0128, Claremore: (918) 341-9336 & (918) 342-4806, and McAlester: (918) 423-5951 & (918) 423-1940.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

charliemeadows@peoplepc.com