MARY FALLIN, UNLIKELY TO APPEAR BEFORE OCPAC MEMBERS

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++ THE HYPOCRISY OF THE OKLAHOMAN?

++ TIM POPE, FAREWELL, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN MARY FALLIN - UNLIKELY TO

++ APPEAR BEFORE OCPAC MEMBERS SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE, MAYBE WIN A

++ SHOTGUN REPRESENTATIVE STELLE, BEWARE OF FASCISTS OCPAC MEMBERSHIP

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, February 24th will be held at Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. We are one week away from beginning the interview process for candidates running for state wide races as well as congressional candidates. Therefore, we will show the particular Glen Beck program that I believe was so exceptional as far as getting to the core of the problems in America today. With the commercials removed, it will take 40 minutes, except I want to stop it and comment at 2 or 3 points. I believe they need emphasis as they are very important.

Every time I mention Glen Beck’s name, I get e-mails from the Beck detractors, people who are worried that Beck is nothing more than a “pied piper” leading the newly awakened conservatives and the disaffected Republicans back into the camp of the “neo-cons”. It is my hope that concerned conservatives, liberty lovers, and Republicans will someday mature to the point that we can glean good information when it is available from sources with whom we may have some level of disagreement. Beck is not perfect and neither are any of the rest of us. He does though, bring many important issues to the table in a format that really plants deeply into our hearts and minds, if that is, we are open to truth.

++ THE HYPOCRISY OF THE OKLAHOMAN?

On February 13th, the Oklahoman’s editorial page ran what was at least the 3rd editorial in recent weeks about what I would suggest are their priorities, and the suggestion that most other legislation is not important. The editorial on the 13th was titled “Plenty of legislative tangents”. It started with what I presume to be their priority by saying “As the state copes with historic revenue challenges, one legislator wants…” then it mentions several pieces of legislation and toward the bottom states; “It’s a waste of time and ought to be jettisoned.”

The general tone of these editorials is that the important task ahead of the legislature today is the budget crisis and the need to get the economy back on track. It appears that these issues are what matters most to the Oklahoman and much of the rest of the legislation is little more than a diversion from the important business of government. While the budget and the economy are important, I of course disagree. I believe there are many other matters that are very important, especially the 2nd and 10th Amendment issues, pro life legislation as well as others. Truth is, lawmakers dealing with these so called tangent issues will not prevent the budget from being developed and other important issues regarding the economy. They are going to be dealt with as they always are. What would the Oklahoman have the lawmakers do with their time, sit and twiddle their thumbs while they wait upon the Speaker, the Budget Chairman, and the Senate President Pro-Tem work out a deal with the Governor then vote as they are told to make it appear as it is a representative process?

Then along comes last Thursday’s issue of the Oklahoman with a picture on the front page of State Senator Todd Lamb (R-OKC) standing right next to the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball team’s mascot, Rumble the Bison. Senator Lamb was taking up time presenting a resolution to Rumble in honor of his first birthday, oh how sweet. A similar resolution was also read in the House chamber. Now folks, I don’t give a flip about that little waste of time, unless it takes away from other important legislation, such as the legislation the Oklahoman thinks are tangents. What bothers me, is that I haven’t seen the Oklahoman complain about such frivolity taking up time from the important business of the legislature. Could the reason be, that the Thunder and its mascot are owned in part by one of the members of the family that owns the Oklahoman? Therefore, what might be another word for hypocrisy? Could the spelling of that word go something like this:

the OKLAHOMAN?

++ TIM POPE, FAREWELL, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN!

The large crowd that attended Tim’s funeral on Monday was a testament to the number of people Tim had inspired and touched. I believe it was one of the longer funerals I had ever attended, but people attending didn’t mind a bit as we had an opportunity to reminisce as we heard so many heart warming stories from two of his daughters, a young man mentored by Tim, his attorney Steven Jones and his pastor.

Most of us knew Tim in the context of politics, but it was evident his real priorities were the Lord, the love of his life and soul mate, LaDonna, his 3 daughters and beloved grandchildren. Jones explained his belief that the prosecution of Tim by the AG’s office was intended to destroy such a skilled consultant as Tim. But Jones was quick to add that Tim was never one to give up. With persistence, Tim was always one who kept forging ahead.

His pastor told of their many conversations and what he thought was Tim’s unusual practice of naming the farm animals of which he so much enjoyed. We were informed he named his pig, “pork n beans”, his cow “MW” for medium well and the most unusual name of all, the donkey of which Tim had named “Drew”. I rather thought the pastor was a little too politically correct as the Biblical word for such an animal is “ass”.

For those of us who knew Tim in a political context, may we be inspired to never give up, to keep fighting for the things in which we believe and to always have the kind of courage Tim had in the face of powerful enemies. That is why Tim will never be forgotten by the many who knew and loved him and considered him as a friend.

In the e-mail last week I had mentioned donations could be made to the Tim Pope Memorial fund at any branch of the Chase Bank. Because of homeland security rules, those donations could not be received before this past Friday. If you want to help his family in this difficult time, please drop by and donate to the fund. There have been so many times Tim helped people he believed in at cost or even for no charge.

This is an opportunity to return some of that help to his family.

++ MARY FALLIN, UNLIKELY TO APPEAR BEFORE OCPAC MEMBERS

My first contact with the Fallin campaign occurred at the state convention last year. I explained we had to have the interviews done before filing date as we would be busy working on the conservative index and interviewing candidates from filing date through the first week in October. I was told the congressional calendar for 2010 wasn’t available as yet and that is certainly understandable. I had hoped we might have Mary last Wednesday as she was in town. However, she had appointments during noon of last week. I was told she might be able to come sometime in March or perhaps during the Easter break, which could have been either March 31st or April 7th.

However, I received a call last week that Mary could only come sometime late in July. Unfortunately that is unacceptable to us. I was then told maybe June 2nd, which would be the Wednesday before filing.

However, that date couldn’t be guaranteed. Sorry folks, I schedule people all the time. If a date is open you put it on the calendar and that is it, done, finished. I have to believe the Fallin campaign simply doesn’t want to come for an interview process before the members of OCPAC. I had already agreed that she wouldn’t have to appear at the same time as Senator Brogdon.

In a related matter, I have previously mentioned attending for the first time the State of the State speech by Governor Henry, given on February 1st. I ended up sitting next to a young lady that turned out to be the campaign chairman for Drew Edmondson’s effort to become the next Governor. I asked the lady several questions, one of which was the following:

I mentioned that Steve Largent resigned his seat in Congress so he could campaign all over the state meeting the people of Oklahoma. Then I mentioned that Congressman Istook decided not to resign and therefore did not devote full time to the election effort. Therefore I asked, did the Edmondson campaign consider it an advantage for them since Mary has decided not to resign? I thought her answer was interesting. She indicated that since Mary decided not to resign, it sent a strong signal that she isn’t very interested in meeting the people of Oklahoma. If on the other hand, she did resign this late in the race, it would indicate she didn’t take her responsibilities as a U.S. Representative seriously, something she was elected to do. The Edmondson campaign manager indicated it was a choice she would not want to have to make.

At first I didn’t know what to think about such an answer, but as I have pondered it for a while, it does seem that Mary is more interested in meeting in scheduled appointments with potential donors rather than getting out and appearing in public meetings, especially if Senator Brogdon is to be at the same location. Whether it be the recent Second District GOP meeting, the Tulsa Rally, Clouds Over America, the Liberty Conference last weekend, the state committee meeting or at the OCPAC meeting, she just doesn’t seem to want to be around the grass roots Republicans in Oklahoma.

That strategy may be costing her support. At the recent rally in Tulsa, in the straw poll for governor, Senator Brogdon received 68 percent of the vote while Representative Fallin received only 23 percent according to a front page article in the Tulsa Beacon. One must take into consideration that Brogdon is from the Tulsa area and that was not a scientific poll. However, it is a measure of the support of grass roots activists, who often do the leg work in campaigns.

We have set up April 14th for the day Senator Brogdon and Robert Hubbard, the other Republican running for governor to appear before OCPAC members. If the Fallin campaign can re-arrange their schedule, I will keep April 21st open or try to re-schedule any other previous Wednesday for her to appear. I really do want her to come. We will not extend a date beyond April 21st. If she doesn’t appear, she will NOT be eligible to receive any campaign donations from OCPAC in the general election, even if she didn’t receive our endorsement. The irony of it all, if our members voted to contribute, the amount might be more than she is able to raise by missing one of our luncheons.

++ SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE AND PERHAPS WIN A SHOTGUN

I keep forgetting to mention a membership promotion for the newly formed Second Amendment organization known as OK2A. The basic membership is only $17.76. Well well, that membership amount reminds me of an important date in American history. Of course they have some higher membership levels of which you can check out by logging on to www.ok2a.org If you log on and join by the end of February, you will have an entry ticket thrown into a hopper for the drawing of a New England Firearms 12 gauge, 3 inch turkey gun.

The drawing will be on March 1st. The winner must be a resident of the state of Oklahoma, present a valid Oklahoma Driver’s license, and be legally eligible to purchase a firearm. There are a couple of higher levels to join which come with additional entries. Now please pay close attention as this is the most important part. If you join at any level, tell them “Charlie sent you” as that will create an entry for me as well as the one for yourself. I sure would like to win that shotgun.

++ REPRESENTATIVE STELLE, BEWARE OF FASCISTS

In the news on Monday were stories about some group of doooo-goodie egalitarians who are pushing the state legislature to pass laws prohibiting smoking in all public places. While it is a strong word, I shall refer to them as the smoking fascists. In recent years the legislature has passed ever more restrictions upon restaurants and other places regarding where people can and can’t smoke.

If we understand the proper role of government in regulating behavior, government should stay out of the regulation business when it affects only ourselves, except for cases of immorality. Therefore, I would have no problem with government regulating smoking in public places where people of necessity had to be such as government buildings or public use places where all people have access. However, when it comes to regulating smoking on private property or in places of business where people have an option to access them, then government begins to abandoned liberty and starts practicing fascism.

In recent years the legislature has made it illegal for people to smoke in restaurants or government has required a restaurant to spend thousands of dollars to enclose special sealed off smoking areas with separate ventilation systems. I eat out a lot and can only think of two restaurants that have these separate rooms. Now, this group of fascists wants to not only eliminate these places to smoke, but they want to eliminate smoking in bars which have so far been left alone.

Enough is enough already.

I dare say, if all these laws regarding restaurants were removed tomorrow, most would stay non-smoking as the majority of the public wants a smoke free place to eat. I personally have never smoked and very much dislike the smell associated with the practice. However, I am opposed to government passing these kinds of laws and taking away a person’s liberty to smoke on private property if the property owner wants to allow it. If a restaurant wants to allow smoking, I can take my business elsewhere, to a restaurant that won’t allow it.

Perhaps as a compromise Representative Kris Steele, soon to be Speaker Steele, has offered legislation to provide tax credits (subsidies) for businesses to eliminate smoking in their places of business.

Representative Steele, please understand you don’t have to bow your little head and placate every unreasonable special interest control group that comes to the Capitol. Furthermore, many of the people paying taxes don’t want you to give our tax dollars away to some business or bar owner to satisfy a bunch of radical smoking fascists.

If you are not giving our tax dollars away, then you are exempting those business people from paying for their share of the cost of government.

We are not going to stop people from smoking. If we continue with this foolishness we will drive ever more people away from patronizing privately owned restaurants and bars to eating and drinking in the tribally owned casinos. Not only will the state lose the revenue from people spending their money in these non taxed business locations, more may pick up the habit of gambling and then the temptation will be for the state to spend money to fix their gambling addictions.

Representative Steele, please don’t placate fascists.

++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP

While the pace of new members has slowed down, we are continuing to grow and increase our numbers. By joining with us at OCPAC we have an opportunity to increase the quality of lawmakers in Oklahoma, at least from a conservative point of view. If you have not joined as yet, please consider doing so. Instructions on how to join will follow the sign off.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

TIM POPE’S FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ TIM POPE’S FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our noon luncheon for Wednesday, February 17th will be held at Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Jenni White and Julie McKinzy will be our speakers this week. They recently founded the organization, Reform Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE). They will talk about the agenda and objectives of the organization as well as discuss their recent trip to St. Louis to attend Donna Hearn’s Education Policy Conference. I believe that conference it the best event in America when it comes to a conservative perspective on education.

++ ANNOUNCEMENT

The first ever Oklahoma Liberty Conference will occur this coming Friday and Saturday, February 19th and 20th. The location will be the Metro Tech Spring Lake Conference Center, 1900 Spring Lake Drive in OKC. The hours are 9:00 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. on Friday and 9:00 a.m.
until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. There is a very minimal cost of $6 in advance or $8 at the door to attend one or both days of the conference. Sheriff Richard Mack from Arizona will be the key note speaker and will be speaking 5 different times during the conference.
There is an additional cost of $12 to hear Sheriff Mack speak with that money going to a fund to purchase bullet proof vests for Oklahoma county sheriff deputies.

Following is the tentative list of speakers, times and subjects, Friday the 19th:

MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM

9:15 to 9:50 Kirk Shelly
10:00 to 10:50 Thomas Kiene & Matt Pinnell (GOP Activist training) 11:00 to 12:00 Sheriff Mack
12 to 12:40 Lunch
1 to 1:30 Mark Lerner (Real ID)
1:40 to 2 (Oath Keepers)
2 to 3 Sheriff Mack
3 to 3:50 Citizen Involvement (OK-SAFE)
4 to 4:20 Legislative Matters
4:20 to 5 Alan Cobb (Americans for Prosperity) 5:20 to 6 Kenneth Rice (Socialism and why it doesn’t work)
6 to 6:40 Dinner
6:40 to 7 Oklahoma Second Amendment Association
7 to 8 Sheriff Mack
8 to 9 Oath Keepers

AUDITORIUM

9:20 to 10 Kenneth Rice Reasons for the numerical order of the Bill of Rights 10 to 10:50 citizen involvement (OK-SAFE)
11 to 12 Open Time Slot
12 to 12:40 Break
1:40 to 1:30 Kirk Shelley
1:30 to 1:40 break
1:40 to 2 legislative matters
2 to 3 Kenneth Rice (What is the free market?)
3 to 3:50 Catherine Bleish (Liberty Restoration Project) And John Bush of Texans for Accountable Government
4 to 4:20 Jenni White of ROPE (do you know what your child is
learning)
4:20 to 5 Thomas Kiene & Cheryl Williams GOP precinct activist training
5 to 5:20 break
5:20 to 6 Mark Lerner (Real ID)
6 to 6:40 Dinner
6:40 to 7 legislative matters
7 to 8 citizen involvement (OK-SAFE)
8 TO 9 Thomas Kiene & Cheryl Williams GOP precinct activist training

Saturday Morning the 20th

CONFERENCE ROOM

9:10 to 9:50 Kenneth Rice (exposing rules for radicals) 10 to 10:50 Senator Randy Brogdon
11 to 12 Sheriff Mack
12 to 12:40 lunch
12:40 to 1 R.J. Harris
1 to 1:50 Thomas Kiene & Cheryl Williams GOP precinct activist training
2 to 2:40 State Representative Charles Key 2:40 to 3 legislative matters
3 to 3:50 Sheriff Mack
4 to 4:50 Kenneth Rice reasons for the numerical order of the Bill of Rights

AUDITORIUM

9:15 to 9:45 Senator Steve Russell
9:45 to 10 Catherin Bleish (Liberty Restoration Project) 10 to 10:50 citizen involvement (OK-SAFE)
11 to 12 Mark Lerner (Real ID)
12 to 12:40 Lunch
12:40 to 1 Legislative Matters
1 to 1:30 State Representative Jason Murphey 1:30 to 1:50 John Bush (Texans For Accountable Government)
2 to 2:50 Kirk Shelley
3 to 3:50 Catherine Bleish & John Bush
4 to 4:50 Stuart Jolly (Americans for Prosperity)

As you can see there are a lot of options as many of these presentations will be given at different times so people can have choices around their schedules. There is some very important information that will be disseminated at this conference, so make every effort to attend.

+ SATURDAY - OKC - This past week the city of Oklahoma City
declared nearly 700 acres in the core to shore area as blighted for the purpose of eventually using eminent domain proceedings to take people’s property, partly for public use, but for the most part so some other person or entity can own it. Many of the business owners in the area met with city officials before the MAPS III vote last year and they were told they would be able to make their own deals with developers and that eminent domain wouldn’t be used. Now these business owners realize what a bunch of LIARS the bunch at city hall happen to be with the exception of Councilman Brian Walters, the only decent person on the Council in my opinion.

Mr. Louis Morgan, owner of City Carbonic called me this past week for opinions about how to proceed as far as standing up for their property rights. One of the things they plan to do is band together in their fight and as a result there will be a meeting at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday the 20th at his place of business, Southwest 4th and Hudson. Using eminent domain for the proposed park which was voted on in MAPS III is a proper use of such. However using it to take one person’s property so that another person can own it is EVIL and totally contrary to the principles upon which this nation was founded as described in the Declaration of Independence. If you can attend this Saturday, please do so to support these property owners.

++ TIM POPE’S FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

Tim’s funeral will be next Monday, February 22nd, 10:00 a.m. at the Bridge Assembly of God Church on Highway 152 in Mustang. The internment will be at Rest Haven Cemetery in South OKC. Following the internment a dinner will be served at the Bridge Assembly of God Church with everyone welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers you may make contributions at any branch of the Chase Bank to the Tim Pope Memorial Fund. Since Tim recently had to declare bankruptcy, so those funds will be very helpful for his family.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

THE PASSING OF TIM POPE

Sometime Sunday afternoon, former conservative State Representative Tim Pope passed away of a heart attack. Tim was 52 years old and had been married to his wonderful wife LaDonna for many years. They have 3 daughters, all adults with some grandchildren.

I probably first met Tim around 1988 as he was running for House District 98 which encompassed Mustang, parts of Yukon and a little area South of the South Canadian River. He was the first Republican ever elected to that seat. Tim served from 1989 through 2002 before deciding to run for State Labor Commissioner in 2002. He had a lifetime conservative rating of 87 on the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper’s Conservative Index, an impressive accomplishment for anyone in office that many years. There have probably not been more than a dozen lawmakers score that high over the past 30 years.

Tim was an aggressive conservative lawmaker who was always willing to speak his mind. Several years ago he took the moral high ground when it came to exposing the homosexual agenda, which resulted in him being a target of the hateful homosexuals long before State Representative Sally Kern was elected to office. Anyone that is outspoken and aggressive like Tim will have both detractors as well as those of us who liked him and respected him for his courage and willingness to mix it up, rather than play life cautiously, hiding behind the issues of the day.

Tim once ran in a special election for Congress, an election which was ultimately won by current Congressman Frank Lucas. With the election of George W. Bush and his taking office in 2001, everyone thought that then Governor Frank Keating would wind up with an appointment to the Bush administration and that then Lt. Governor Mary Fallin would assume the responsibilities of Governor and make it very difficult for anyone the defeat her in the next election cycle. Insiders suggest then Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau made a decision to run for Lt.

Governor and Tim decided to run for Labor Commissioner rather than seek re-election to the legislature.

When Governor Keating failed to receive an appointment to the Bush administration, that backed every thing up and caused a deep rift between Reneau and Tim, formerly close friends who were now both running for Labor Commissioner. Tim believed he wasn’t receiving fair treatment from Pat McGuigan, head of the editorial board at the Oklahoman. Therefore Tim complained to Eddie Gaylord, suggesting that McGuigan had crossed an acceptable line. I believe the complaint resulted in McGuigan no longer working at the Oklahoman.

Following his years of service in the legislature, Tim did political consulting work and coached several of his clients to victory, many times against the more well financed establishment candidates in Republican primaries as well as victories against Democrats. He was hard hitting and was well equipped for the rough and tumble world of politics, a competition which is both a science as well as an art.

In an effort to inform citizens of Jim Roth’s county commissioner district, Tim sent out a robotic phone call suggesting Roth was using his position to advance the homosexual agenda. The robo call stated a couple of facts then asked citizens to call one of two phone numbers if they agreed or disagreed with Commissioner Roth’s agenda. That phone call ended up by having Attorney General Drew Edmondson file a legal action against Tim seeking what I believe was a $10,000,000 judgment against Tim.

The complaint was not that Tim misrepresented any facts, but that he violated the no call laws by not including his phone number in the script. That suit finally ended up in some level of state court where the Edmondson machine was willing to settle for what I believe was a $5,000 fine. Tim, still believing he had done nothing wrong appealed in federal court to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver where the case was thrown out. The Court declared the law that was supposedly broken was to apply to commercial calls and not political calls which, by the way, is the purest meaning of the First Amendment’s free speech provision.

Tim was elected to serve as President of the Oklahoma Republican Assembly (OKRA) a state affiliate of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. It was during his tenure as President that he formed a PAC which decided to help Brent Rinehart win the election against then County Commissioner Cornet, a rather liberal Republican.

Rinehart won the primary and went on to win in the general election against the Democrat. If I remember correctly, Tim was accused by AG Edmondson of violating campaign finance laws by taking money from three contributors for the PAC which was then used to help elect Rinehart.

The problem was that each of those 3 contributors had already given the maximum of $5,000 to Rinehart’s campaign. I had always believed if Tim did not know they had given the full amount or if he did not promise them it would be used for the Rinehart race when he was soliciting the contributions, there would have been no violation of the law. The legal wrangling went on for several years and Tim finally pleaded guilty, agreeing to pay a small fine. The real damage was the near $200,000 in legal expenses which caused Tim to have to declare bankruptcy.

I personally believe Tim never intended to break any law. I believe he was so aggressive that it was more likely that he may have gotten careless in his efforts to work for one of his clients or perhaps it was a friend. I have never seen the evidence in the case so I have no opinion on the validity of the case.

With that conviction it made Tim somewhat radio active as far as consulting for candidates knowing any opponent would use that against a candidate who would hire Tim. The sad thing is that AG Edmondson was successful in taking out, at least temporarily, one of the best conservative consultants in the state. I visited with Tim for a while on Monday, the first of February while down at the Capitol and he expressed his desire to get some time between his fight with Edmondson and when he could use his skills again to help elect conservatives to office.

There were a couple of times I didn’t want to see one of his candidates elected to office and it would always cause a little friction between Tim and me, as he was always loyal and working hard for his client. But Tim was not one to hold a grudge and we would soon find ourselves working together on an issue or on behalf of some other good candidate.

While Tim was not currently a member of OCPAC he has been a member during several past years. I considered Tim one of the good guys, a friend and am really going to miss him. I believe the funeral will be on Monday, February 22nd. Oklahoma has lost one of its better citizens. Please keep LaDonna and the other members of the family in your prayers.

++ ACTION ITEM

Monday morning HB 2943 by State Representative Sally Kern is scheduled to be heard at 9:30 a.m. in one of the 4th floor conference rooms by the Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety & Judiciary. The committee is Chaired by State Representative Randy Terrill. This is another very important piece of legislation designed to allow for a religious exemption from having a bio-metric picture and data base linking associated with our drivers licenses. The legislation still requires a photo, but it would be a low resolution photo, much like a Polaroid photo. At issue is this continued move toward a surveillance society with BIG BROTHER (government) being able to track and know as well as share your personal information about law abiding citizens to an international audience.

This law would allow Christians with deeply held beliefs about not becoming a part of a system that no man can function, buy or sell without being enrolled in such a big brother system to opt out. This is a very serious issue to many alert Christians, especially given the understanding that in the House version of health care reform in Washington, there was a provision found on pages 1000 through 1007 for a requirement that every citizen in America would be required to have a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip implanted in them within

3 years of passage of the health care reform legislation.

Representative Kern’s legislation would help prevent big brother from violating privacy rights for law abiding citizens.

One of the superficial objections to the legislation would be the increased costs to the state to implement the law as it would require tag agents to acquire additional cameras for those with religious exemptions. However, this objection is easily overcome as anyone WANTING to use the religious exemption would have an additional fee for their drivers licenses to cover any additional costs to the state.

This legislation is just one more 10th Amendment-privacy-liberty issues which flies in the face of an ever growing federal government.

If you can attend the meeting please do so. Following are the names of the members of the committee, please call their offices early on Monday morning and ask them to support HB 2943. The House switchboard number is (405) 521-2711. Just give the receptionist the name of the lawmaker and you will be put through to that office.

Randy Terrill, Chairman (R-Moore)

Mark McCullough, Vice Chair (R-Sapulpa)

Mike Christian (R-South Central OKC)

Rex Duncan (R-Sand Springs)

Mike Sanders (R-Kingfisher)

Fred Jordan (R-Tulsa)

Daniel Sullivan (R-Tulsa)

Jason Nelson (R-Central Northwest OKC)

Scott Inman (D-Del City)

Ryan Kiesel (D-Seminole)

Richard Morrissette (D-South OKC)

Paul Roan (D-Tishomingo)

Glen Bud Smithson (D-Sallisaw)

Please call asap as this is very important legislation that needs to keep going forward. Your calls last week really made a difference in the health care freedom of choice act which passed out of committee.

Thanks for your time and attention.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

Sarah in the Spotlight

++ 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 soonerteaparty@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.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

Important Action Item

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 chrisbenge@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
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com

JOHN McCAIN AND PATRICK HUGHES MONDAY’S TEA PARTY AND 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

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com