CHARLIE’S PICKS PART 2

++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ CHARLIE’S PICKS PART 2
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ WHAT IS KTOK TRYING TO DO WITH THE AFTERNOON SHOW?
++ IS IT TIME TO RETHINK OUR TURNPIKES SYSTEM?
++ WILL TOM TANCREDO BE COLORADO’S NEXT GOVERNOR?


++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, October 20th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our first speaker
will be Bill Shappard, founder and President of Sooner Polling,
located in OKC. Bill will discuss the polls for statewide races and
perhaps give us a peek into understanding how a good pollster goes
about their business. Our main speaker this week will be Mark Lerner.
Mark has recently written a book and produced a DVD about the whole
issue of the bio-metric facial identification movement. They are both
titled: YOUR BODY IS YOUR ID. Many may not know that following 9-11
Mark was an advocate for this system, but eventually saw its dangers
and now is one of the leading experts in opposition to the creation of
this international identification system. If you are concerned about
the “Big Brother” surveillance society we are sliding into, then you
need to arm yourself with important understanding on this issue.

++ CHARLIE’S PICKS PART 2

Just for everyone’s information, my goal is to have part 2 of
Charlie’s Picks out by Wednesday evening, October 27th. I don’t
believe I can get them out any sooner and already many people are
asking me about many different races. I can’t take the time to respond
to anyone personally with such information as I need the time to work
on putting the final list out through the OCPAC e-mail. Thanks for
your understanding.

++ ANNOUNCEMENTS

* TUESDAY EVENING - EDMOND AREA - I made a mistake in last week’s
e-mail about the John Doak meet and greet fundraiser. It was not last
Tuesday evening, but this Tuesday, October 19th as a come and go from
6:30 until 8:00 p.m. in the Home of Jim and Joy Harlin, 1501 Deason
Drive, in Edmond. RSVP is appreciated but not required: call (405)
562-1193 or e-mail jharlin@cox.net.

* WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON - HOLDENVILLE AREA - There will be a meet
and greet event on behalf of Dr. Charles Thompson, candidate for the
2nd Congressional district. The event is a come and go and will be
held from 4:30 until 6:30 at the First United Bank in Holdenville. If
you live anywhere near Holdenville, please take a few minutes to meet
Charles and find out what a fine conservative he happens to be. It is
getting close to election day and this will be a great opportunity for
folks in the area.

* THURSDAY MORNING - OKC AREA - The professional and business
chapter of the John Birch Society will meet this Thursday morning at
the Character Training Center, 520 West Main in downtown OKC. Besides
a brief update of recent advancements achieved by the Society, State
Representative Jason Murphy (R-Guthrie) will discuss the 11 state
questions and perhaps give us a peek at some of his ideas for
legislation for the 2011 session. Breakfast buffet is served at 7:15
and the meeting will begin at 7:40. The fellowship and discussion
before the meeting begins is always good, so arrive at 7:15 and
participate. Everyone is welcome.

++ WHAT IS KTOK TRYING TO DO WITH THE AFTERNOON SHOW?

With the passing of the very popular Mark Shannon it was certainly
wise to wait some time before settling on a permanent talk show host
for the afternoon show. The management settled on one of Mark’s old
sidekicks known as the Eggman. When they were co-hosts on a music
program many years gone by, Mark and the Eggman would yuk it up with
shallow humor between songs. While it took some time, Shannon made the
successful transition to conservative talk radio and I would say the
last year he was on air, became a forceful purveyor of important
information with his clever and bombastic humor.

However, I don’t hold out much hope for the Eggman ever making the
transition to conservative talk programming or perhaps KTOK doesn’t
want him to? Remember, the first objective of anyone on radio is to
attract as many listeners and hold them for as long as possible. When
a program does that, the advertisers will follow and the station will
stay on air with a profit.

To be honest I probably listened more to Mark Shannon in 3 days than
the total amount of time I have listened to the Eggman over the past 3
months or so. The Eggman is not very conservative, he is not very deep
and he isn’t even very funny. Even though he used to live here, he
seems to have very little historical knowledge of what goes on in
Oklahoma. I have tried to listen to his program but when he has shows
about your favorite restaurant, favorite canceled TV shows, how much
are your old records worth, your favorite fair food and on and on, I
look for other programming.

When the Eggman took calls on SQ 744 a few days back, it held my
attention and some value went forth on the air. However, we are in an
election cycle, there are 10 other questions and many candidates who
could be interviewed. I listen to national conservative programming
all day long and while I understand local people want an opportunity
to express their thoughts on national issues, we desperately need
local issues blended in to know what is going on in Oklahoma.

I have talked with a lot of people who tell me they no longer listen
as the programming is just too boring. May I suggest a couple of other
options. At 4:00 p.m., the same time the Eggman goes on air, 1520 AM
provides the Neil Bortze program. Bortze is not a social conservative,
but there is no one on air better at making complicated economic and
fiscal issues understandable. He is also the author of The Fair Tax
books. From time to time he promotes the book, THE LAW - THE CLASSIC
BLUEPRINT FOR A FREE SOCIETY, by Frederic Bastiat. In my opinion,
other than the Bible, this is the most important book you will ever
read and Bortze does an excellent job of explaining the principles in
the book.

A couple of other options are Paul Blair’s Bible preaching and
teaching program heard weekdays on KQCV 800 AM from 4:30 till 5:00
p.m. Also from 5:00 until 6:00 p.m. there is a very informative
financial investment show out of the Enid station at 960 AM. Gary
Cauldbaum is the host and over the years I have learned a lot from his
program.

Of course, if you are one of those who enjoy an eclectic bowl of
porridge, kind of a cross between Antiques Road Show, corny and
irrelevant humor, on air garage sale along with a dash of goober
feeding mush, keep listening to the Eggman. He will need all the
listeners he can keep to prevent his program from falling near the
bottom in the ratings. In the mean time, somebody let me know if
things change with the afternoon show on KTOK as I may not know when
that will occur since I no longer listen.

++ IS IT TIME TO RETHINK OUR TURNPIKE SYSTEM?

This past week OKC’s News 9 ran a special Impact Report on our
turnpike system. Part of the program reminded everyone that the
turnpike commissioners had raised rates last year claiming a need to
do so to replace lost revenues since traffic was down. A survey has
suggested that the Will Rogers Turnpike was thought to be the worst
interstate road in America.
Turnpike authorities admitted it needed improvement, but then News 9
revealed the authority was spending many millions of dollars
rebuilding or remodeling the restaurants on the turnpikes. The
restaurants and gas stations weren’t paying for the work on their
facilities, but the turnpike authority was doing so. News 9 also
revealed several million was spent for new cruisers for the Highway
patrol.

Then there was a news story late this past week about a 300 car
funeral procession from Texas that was going to use the H.E. Bailey
Turnpike to go to Lawton to bury a fallen soldier in the national
cemetery in Lawton. The thought of these cars having to stop and pay
tolls was so embarrassing that the head of the turnpike authority and
the head of the transportation department paid the tolls out of their
own pockets.

Here is a thought, lets say the authority raises $100 million annually
in turnpike fees. Those fees go to pay off the bonded indebtedness,
maintain and repair the turnpike road miles, pay for all the costs of
the state troopers who patrol the turnpikes, pay the employees in the
toll booths, pay the salaries of the people who have to keep up with
the turnpike devices and man the phones to handle all the mistakes
that occur as well as keep up the expensive equipment working at the
many entrances and exits.

I believe we have something over 800 miles of turnpike roads. No one
in their right mind would expect for the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation (ODOT) to be able to maintain and repair that many
additional miles of roads if we took the toll gates down and turned
them into free roads. ODOT struggles to keep their current road
responsibilities up to par. However, if we increased the fuel fees
enough to raise the same amount as the turnpikes generate, would we be
better off to take the toll booths down and use the additional
revenues raised from higher fuel fees to pay off the bonded
indebtedness and have the necessary monies to take care of the
additional road miles?

Would an additional 5 cents per gallon on gas and 10 cents a gallon on
diesel be enough to match the revenues from the turnpikes (currently
there is a 17 cents per gallon fee on gas and 14 cents per gallon on
diesel). Truckers should be happy as it might save them more that the
expensive turnpike fees they have to pay now. It would improve
efficiency as we wouldn’t have to waste money on expensive equipment
and wages for people who man the booths. I would like to hear some
feedback on such an idea. Is it time to eliminate the unneeded
overhead?

++ WILL TOM TANCREDO BE COLORADO’S NEXT GOVERNOR?

About 6 or 7 years ago, OCPAC sponsored a banquet to honor Ron
McWhirter and Steve Byas for their 25 years of successfully publishing
the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper. Our keynote speaker was then
Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo. Tancredo was the most effective
warrior in Congress against the invasion of illegal aliens. He was
also a presidential candidate in 2008 but failed to get enough
traction to win the nomination.

About 3 to 4 months ago he jumped into the Colorado Governor’s race as
an independent when the Republicans nominated a mealy mouthed,
spineless RINO (Republican In Name Only) to represent the party.
Tancredo’s clear message of fiscal responsibility, and getting tough
on the invasion of illegal aliens is resonating with the voters. A
Rassmussen poll just released a couple of days ago showed the Democrat
Hickenlooper has dropped to 42%, Tancredo has risen to 38% and the
limp Republican has fallen to a paltry 10% in the polls. Keep an eye
on this race as it may be one of the biggest upsets of the season. By
the way, Bay Buchanan, sister of Pat Buchanan is Tancredo’s campaign
manager. We have also had Bay Buchanan as a speaker at OCPAC during
years gone by.

Don’t miss this week’s meeting, it will be most interesting.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com