PROTECTING CHRISTIANS FROM HATE CRIMES

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

++ ACTION ITEM

++ PROTECTING CHRISTIANS FROM HATE CRIMES TULSA BEACON NEWSPAPER -

++ SETTING THE PACE OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday April 7th will be held at Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. The restaurant is exactly 2 miles North of the Capitol building on the West side of Lincoln. We will interview the 2 Republican challengers to incumbent Congressman Tom Cole of the 4th Congressional District. Attending will be R.J. Harris of Norman and Jeff Pritchard of Mustang. All dues paying members as of March 24th who are in attendance will be given a ballot to vote for one of these two candidates or vote not to make an endorsement. Last week our members voted to endorse Nathan Dahm with 52% of the vote. Kenneth Rice and “no endorsement” each received 24% of the vote. That was the closest vote so far this year as far as needing a run-off. We want to congratulate Nathan Dahm for his strong showing during our interview process. Though many Republicans in the district want to see Representative John Sullivan replaced, it will be a difficult task as John has good political skills and is voting very conservative at this time.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

+ MONDAY - OKC AREA - A new group is forming called BREAK FREE

FOR LUNCH (B.F.F.L.). This is a Christian lunch group that will meet each Monday at the Character Inn Conference Center 520 W. Main in downtown OKC. The meeting is from 12 noon until 12:50 p.m. with the food line opening at 11:30 a.m. Lunch for this first meeting is free if you call (405) 526-0001 or go on line at www.breakfreeforlunch.com . The thrust for the group is that the Bible is not an irrelevant or outdated manuscript. The Bible is an ageless, life-shattering message full of principles that apply directly to your life, work and business. These truths, when applied to your life and work, hold the POWER to forever alter you and the level of success you can enjoy.

The featured topic for Monday, April 5th will be, CONDUCTING BUSINESS WORRY & ANXIETY FREE. The speaker will be Dr. Herman Reece, DDS. Dr.

Reece is a metro director of Christian Business Men Connection OKC, a division of CBMC/USA and CBMCI, an international ministry to the Marketplace. Dr. Reece worked as an oral maxillofacial surgeon for 25 years before becoming a metro director with CBMC. On top of that, if my memory serves me correctly he surgically removed my 4 impacted wisdom teeth around 1970 just in case anyone cares. Bottom line, this will be a weekly luncheon to meet fellow believers who want to live out their faith in the work place as well as the other areas of life.

If you can’t make it this Monday, try it next week.

+ MONDAY - GUTHRIE - Senator Coburn will host a town hall meeting

at City Hall from 3 until 4:00 p.m. I urge conservatives to attend and petition for conservative issues during the question and answer time.

Coburn deserves thanks for holding up an extension of unemployment benefits if congress isn’t willing to cut spending somewhere else rather than just keep tacking more dollars on to our national debt.

Liberals say it isn’t compassionate to stop these welfare benefits as it causes people to suffer. Truth is, these benefits have already been extended for almost 2 years. It really is time for some people to get a job at a fast food restaurant or cleaning rooms at a hotel etc. if that is all that is available.

One of the news programs interviewed a lady in Stroud that was tearing up at the thought of these benefits not being extended. Her husband was injured in an industrial accident and lost a good job. They had 4 kids, 2 or 3 of which looked old enough to work, perhaps at the busy McDonalds on the Turnpike near the Stroud exit. Perhaps she should work or work a couple of jobs until they can get on their feet again.

Does this sound hard and uncompassionate?

May I suggest any of these financial problems today will pale in comparison to the hardships that will exist when our economy collapses due the unbearable weight of debt brought on by decades of fiscal irresponsibility. I have been saying for a long time that the longer we wait to begin to deal with our lack of fiscal responsibilities, the more painful it will be. The time to start is NOW. Any future help these folks receive, should come from the private sector who might be willing to help out on the CONDITION that every reasonable effort is already being made by the members of this family to solve their own problems. Senator Coburn, please don’t cave in, stand your ground on the tough issues.

+ TUESDAY - OKC AREA - Mr. John McManus, President of the John

Birch Society will be in OKC, at the Character Inn Conference Center, 520 West Main this Tuesday evening starting at 7:30 p.m. He is on a national speaking tour with the topic: Stealing The American Dream - How Illegal Immigration Affects You! American citizens need to be concerned about the effects of illegal immigration and amnesty on jobs, taxes, health care, border security, voter fraud, and the national debt.

Mr. McManus will reveal how illegal immigration affects you and your family in all of these ways, then present constitutional solutions to these problems. Come find out how you can play a vital role in solving the problem of illegal immigration and blocking any new amnesty legislation. The cost at the door for adults is $10 and $5 for students. Advanced reservations are not required.

+ THURSDAY - MOORE AREA - The Sooner Republican Assembly meeting

will be held Thursday evening, 6:00 p.m. at Earls Rib Palace in Moore (call 329-6041 for location). The main speaker will be Peter Rudy with Oklahomans For Responsible Government www.ofrg.org . He will be speaking on State Question 744 which will be on the ballot in November. This is the most dangerous state question ever to be voted on in the State of Oklahoma. It MUST MUST MUST be defeated. If it passes, it would bankrupt the state of Oklahoma and give control of state government to the teacher unions. There is a web site set up for its defeat www.stop744.com , please check it out.

In addition to the speaker, at the end of the meeting they have a bully pulpit where a person can get on the agenda to speak for a minute or so about different subjects. When you arrive, check with John Greening to be on the bully pulpit.

+ THURSDAY - THE VILLAGE (okc area) - Oklahomans for Sovereignty

and Free Enterprise www.ok-safe.org will have their monthly meeting for central Oklahoma. The location is the Village Library, 10307 North Penn with the meeting time from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The subject matter covered this month will be a review of the Legislature’s performance and a review of the House Limited Government Vote Summary. There is no charge to attend.

++ ACTION ITEM

One of the important 10th Amendment and privacy issue pieces of legislation this year is HB 2569 also known as legislation to protect us from having radio frequency identification CHIPS implanted into our drivers licenses. Representative Wesselhoft is the House author and Senator Dan Newberry is the Senate sponsor. The bill has passed the House and is over in the Senate and expected to pass into law.

However, along comes a former Republican State Representative Jim Dunlap, now a lobbyist for HID Global, the company wanting the contract to implant these chips into our drivers licenses. He is wanting to amend the bill to allow for a choice in this matter. I would normally be in favor of a choice, but not in this case. This represents the “camel’s nose under the tent” as the old saying goes, first the nose, then the hump and then the whole camel is in the tent with you. Janet Napolitano, the head of homeland security is already on record saying she wants it mandated for all drivers licenses to have this tracking devise implanted into them.

I wonder just how big government should become to satisfy people like Dunlap, or is he just whoring his lobbyists talents for a paycheck? I believe it was Dunlap who pressured Senator Brogdon to back off of his efforts to get the State of Oklahoma to opt out of the Federal Government’s REAL ID program about 3 years ago. Thankfully, Senator Brogdon didn’t back down and we passed that legislation, along with many other states which caused that big government program to be NULLIFIED.

Please call Senator Newberry’s office and ask him to advance HB 2569 without the choice amendment. Since there is no fiscal impact, he can request it to go straight to the floor and not go through conference.

Senator Newberry’s direct office number is (405) 521-5600 or you can call toll free at 1 (800) 865-6490 and ask to be connected to Senator Newberry’s office. His actions will indicate whether or not Newberry will become a warrior for the grass-roots conservatives, or whether or not he will be an easy mark for big government lobbyists.

++ PROTECTING CHRISTIANS FROM HATE CRIMES

Please understand what hate crimes legislation is really all about. It is an attempt to make criminal what a person thinks in their heart or the words they speak with their mouth or happen to write. The groups advocating for hate crimes have been racial minorities, homosexuals and of course white liberals and progressives. The main thrust today is to apply hate crimes toward homosexuality. Advocates use the death of the homosexual Mathew Sheppard as the martyred poster boy proving the need for hate crimes legislation to apply toward homosexuals.

Never mind that Mathew Sheppard, of Casper Wyoming, wasn’t beaten to death for his homosexuality, but rather the motive was robbery by two guys spaced out on drugs for several days. Regardless, it was a horrible crime, of which they were convicted and received harsh punishment from the State of Wyoming. The only time hate crimes come into play other than real crimes with real punishments is regarding speech, and supposed intent.

In Europe, Canada and to a lesser degree in the U.S., hate crimes are aimed primarily at pastors who expose the sin of homosexuality. They have also been used when a Caucasian has engaged in an argument or disagreement with a person of a racial minority.

When pastors, Christians or Caucasians are penalized in these cases it sends a strong message for these people to keep their mouths shut.

Cautious or perhaps cowardly pastors, Christians and others learn to keep their thoughts to themselves for fear of problems. When that occurs, racial minorities, homosexuals and liberals are emboldened to become even more aggressive toward screaming racism or hate crimes even when no racism or real crime has occurred.

A recent example of such foolish implications occurred in the State Senate when Senator Brogdon was debating on behalf of his Health Care Freedom of Choice Act. During the debate he made a statement something like, the federal government has no more business telling us where to get our health care from than where to eat fried chicken. The ultra liberal Senator Tom Adelson (D-Tulsa) jumped on Senator Brogdon, trying to imply he was using a racial stereotype about black folks and fried chicken and then the obvious attempt to imply his opposition to federal health care was because President Obama is black. That wasn’t enough, as sources tell me that Adelson went over to the black caucus in the House and urged them to see Brogdon’s comments as racist and really make an issue of it. The whole issue is silly and humorous, as long as one doesn’t mind being falsely labeled or implied that you are a racist, when you really don’t have a racist bone in your body.

At the beginning of session State Senator Steve Russell (R-OKC &

Mustang) introduced legislation to protect Christians and especially Pastors from federal hate crimes legislation which has now been passed in Washington. Last week, America’s most radical TV talk show host, Keith Oberman, dubbed Senator Russell as the worst person in America and referred to him as one of the religious nut cases in Oklahoma.

Oberman ought to be glad the thought police haven’t come for him as yet because there is plenty of evidence he has a lot of hate in his heart toward Christians, especially in Oklahoma.

Then, I believe on Wednesday of last week the homosexual community lobbied the legislature and one of the news channels interviewed a homosexual that was beaten up, according to him, because he is gay. In his own pathetic way, he explained why hate crimes should be applied to homosexuality. Truth is, if he was an innocent victim, laws are already in place to punish those who assaulted him. Hate crime laws would not have protected him from the beating any more than existing laws.

Senator Russell’s legislation had some problems with wording that have now been worked out with law enforcement and the District Attorneys.

In the difficulties of getting legislation passed, Senator Russell had to borrow a shell bill (SB 1965) from another Senator to keep the legislation moving. That Senator had secured State Representative Wes Hilliard (D-Sulphur) to be the house sponsor for the shell bill that now had language Hilliard didn’t want to sponsor. I talked with Hilliard last Thursday and he indicated (Republican House leadership) didn’t want the legislation to go forward. Wanting to wash his hands of the hot potato, he gave up his sponsorship to State Representative Mike Shelton, (D-OKC) which is an obvious attempt to kill the bill as Shelton may be the biggest proponent of anyone in the legislature for hate crimes legislation.

Now is the time to get Senator Russell’s legislation passed, not only to protect pastors and Christians from the thought police, but to be another push back against an out of control federal government. I will attempt to find out if leadership really is opposed to this legislation or if they support it. Once we find a target, I will let everyone know who to contact to get this legislation moving again.

++ TULSA BEACON NEWSPAPER - SETTING THE PACE

Anyone reading my e-mails for any length of time know my preference toward the Tulsa Beacon being the best weekly newspaper in the state.

Though it can’t cover the daily news like the Oklahoman or Tulsa World, the stories it brings to print are some of the most important in the state and the syndicated and local editorials and columns are by far better than either of the two larger newspapers in the state.

Two years ago almost no one was talking about states rights, 10th Amendment issues or the states nullification movement. The Tulsa Beacon is aflame with this information and providing leadership regarding the states rights movement which is on the verge of becoming a ground swell movement.

As an example, the above the fold front page of the April 1 issue has articles about Coburn, Brogdon and Mike Ritze and their efforts to push back against an out of control federal government. Below the fold was an article about a State House candidate who had a concrete example of how the federal government hurts small businesses and causes jobs to be driven off shore rather than help to create an environment for business success. The other article was about how the federal take over of the student loan program, which was contained in the federal health care legislation, would become a risk to private and Christian colleges. The article drew heavily from the expertise of Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

Then inside the paper were columns titled “USA needs a constitutional reawakening” by Dr. Walter Williams, “Heading for a European welfare state” by Mona Charen, “The beginning of the rebirth of freedom” by David Limbaugh, “Increased immigration is growing the Democrat Party”

by Pat Buchanan, “Obama has a grudge against America” by David Limbaugh, and “Separatism and secessionism are under discussion” also by Pat Buchanan.

Then local columns were, “It takes guts to stand up to Washington” by Senator Randy Brogdon, “It’s time to limit the size of government” by Brandon Dutcher, “Now to the next Round” by Dan Keating. Following is an excerpt from Keating’s article: “As the Investor’s Business Daily article entitled, ’Liberty or Debt,’ stated, ’the second coming of King George III seeks to impose the leftist mandate of national health insurance on the unwilling American people, the states are once again in revolt. This time they’re unwilling to be colonies of an imperial federal government determined to spend and tax us into bankruptcy while treating the Constitution as if it were bird cage liner’…”.

Then there was the article “States’ rights issues” by Robert McDowell and “Stop the growth of the federal government” by Guthrie State Representative Jason Murphey.

I only mentioned about half the columns in the paper as there are many more excellent ones to read on a broader range of issues. I highly recommend the paper and wouldn’t be without it and yes, I do pay for my subscription which is only $35 dollars per year if you live in Tulsa County and $40 for those of us who live outside of Tulsa County.

To subscribe contact Charles Biggs at (918) 523-4425 or log on to www.tulsabeacon.com.

While the Beacon is in the lead on the 10th Amendment issues, perhaps the Oklahoman is catching on. The secondary editorial in Sunday’s paper was titled: Powerful wave building against Washington’s reach.

The last paragraph of the editorial was as follows: “Obama, Waxman and other liberal Democrats haven’t acknowledged it, but there’s a powerful wave building outside Washington against its spending, its reach, its arrogance. Woe to those who continue looking the other way.”

That wave is building and if the citizens are ready to do more than just see the Republicans in charge again so things can return to the way they were, we are on the verge of something big in Oklahoma as well as America. What we must hope for is a desire to learn of the ideas of our founding fathers and the economic principles of free enterprise which made this nation great and prosperous as well as the necessity of Christian morality to a free society. By returning to those ideas we can reverse America’s decline in almost any measurement one would want to use.

++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

Memberships continue to come in. Now through the end of April we are under a matching membership challenge. For every new member, we have a donor willing to contribute $50. This is a great time to join and please remember, there are no salaries associated with OCPAC as we are all volunteers. Therefore, unlike so many other PACs, almost all of your dues are used to elect conservative candidates to office or to try and hold them accountable for the conservative rhetoric they espouse when they want our votes. To join, please fill out the form below.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charliemeadows7@gmail.com