++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ CAROL HEFNER WINS OCPAC ENDORSEMENT
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE & AGENDA RE-FOCUS
++ DANGER AHEAD - 2011, WILL STATES CALL FOR A CON CON?
++ CLEAN UP - ILLIGIMATE JUDICAL NOMINATING COMMISSION
++ THE PASSING OF A GREAT AMERICAN - BILL STEMMONS
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, December 29th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. The first part of
our program will feature one of Oklahoma’s treasures, Mr. Jim Garling.
Jim moved from Norman to Guthrie about 8 or so years ago and began
performing on some occasions with Byron Berline, 2 time national
fiddle champion. Jim teaches guitar lessons and developed a love for
Western Swing and Cowboy Music. Too few Oklahoman’s know about the
singing cowboy museum located in Gene Autry Oklahoma. It is located in
an old school house, where each school room is dedicated to a
different singing cowboy. Also, a couple of old Gene Autry movies are
shown every day in the gym. During the fall, there is a music festival
on the grounds dedicated to this nearly lost form of music. Jim will
do a few songs and a sampling of cowboy poetry. In addition we will
have 2 mystery speakers, each taking 6 or 7 minutes to speak. Jim is
going to close our meeting for us with the song Happy Trails To You.
This meeting will be a lot of fun. We haven’t had a meeting like this
since Kyle Dillingham performed for us several years ago. I am also
going to propose changing our by-laws to return to the last Wednesday
in March for the election of officers rather than during our awards
banquet. We changed our by-laws last year to move that to the awards
banquet and I just don’t believe it will fit well with a fun event
like an awards banquet. We will have some discussion on this subject
then our members will vote to change it or leave it alone.
++ CAROL HEFNER WINS OCPAC ENDORSEMENT
This past Wednesday, Carol Hefner, Kenny Goza and Greg Treat went
through our interview process and then our members voted to give Carol
our endorsement. I was not surprised she won, just a little surprised
she won on the first ballot with nearly 65% of the vote. Each of these
3 candidates have some areas where they stand very strong. However,
Carol takes a strong position on nearly every issue. In addition, she
is very personable, passionate and an excellent communicator.
She also comes across as a person who is kind, but will not be pushed
around by the lobbyists or the good ole boys who have for too long
bullied weak lawmakers into bad votes. Because there is not a run-off
in the Republican primary, I believe Carol will win this special
election, especially given the higher name ID and the fact that she is
working very hard and has sufficient finances.
Based on what I have read about Mr. Brawley, his wanting not to give
much attention at this time to social or side issues, but focus on the
economic issues would have made it hard for him to have done well at
OCPAC. Mr. Dobbs also takes that position to some degree and he
clearly stated at the high noon club forum that he is in favor of
corporate welfare. Corporate welfare is an incentive for economic
development from the central planning philosophy, but it is the enemy
of reducing taxes and regulations. You can’t give millions of dollars
away and have a low tax base at the same time.
++ OCPAC PERFORMANCE UP-DATE & AGENDA RE-FOCUS
As the year draws to an end I wanted to give a summary of our past
performance. We quit taking new memberships for 2010 somewhere around
the middle of October. We ended up with 287 dues paying members, which
went along with the 217 dues paying members during 2009. The combined
dues for those two years raised $44,300 and our PAC expenses were less
than $400. After we made our final campaign contribution in early
October we had about $17 in the bank.
We endorsed and or contributed to 35 candidates this election cycle,
with 20 of them being elected. When it comes to candidates we
contributed to for the first time, 13 of those candidates out of 19
won their elections. All 7 of the conservative incumbents we supported
won their reelections. All told, over the past 6 election cycles, we
have now contributed to 92 different candidates, based on the outcome
of the January 11th special election either 50 or 51 of them will have
won their elections.
For the 2000 election cycle, we raised $4,000, in 2002 it was $8,400,
2004 saw us raising $24,000, it was $31,000 in 2006, $33,00 for 2008
and then $44,000 for 2010. Since we are all volunteers in our efforts,
none of our dues goes for salaries and as such we have earned the
trust and respect of so many of our members who contribute to this
effort. On behalf of the OCPAC officers, our most humble thanks for
the support.
We have 25 families or single donors who have us draft their checking
accounts on a monthly basis for either $15 or $30 per month. As such
that accounts for nearly $600 per month, which forms the base of about
$7,000 per year or $14,000 for an election cycle. That is huge in our
efforts and a special thanks to those folks. Assuming those folks
continue, along with the people who have already joined for next year,
we now already have 82 dues paying members for 2011 and have already
raised over $5,000 before the end of the year. Again, thanks so much.
As of this Friday, everyone’s membership will expire except those
having their checking accounts drafted or those who have paid their
dues over the past couple of months with the intent of them applying
to 2011. If you have not joined as yet, please consider doing so at
this time.
When we first started OCPAC, the Democrats were in control of both the
House and Senate. Today, with super majorities held by Republican in
both the House and Senate, Democrats have little relevance in state
government. As such, I believe our efforts need to shift to electing a
more conservative group of Republicans. While we will always look for
and support those truly conservative Republicans in general election
races, I believe we will use a larger amount of our PAC funds to
defeat RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and replace them with
conservative Republicans.
As such, as soon as next year’s session is over, redistricting is done
and the conservative index is out, we will probably select a couple of
liberal Republican House members and a couple in the Senate as our
targets. At that time we will begin a year long effort using robotic
phone calls and direct mail pieces into the Republican households in
their districts to inform those voters about the liberalism of their
personal lawmaker. We will also suggest for one or more true
conservatives in the district to decide to run against them in 2012.
Possible targets will be Doug Cox in the House and Patrick Anderson in
the Senate. We might also include a lawmaker who would sponsor really
bad legislation such as eliminating the requirement for a 60% super
majority for school bond elections, or perhaps legislation for
Oklahoma to call for a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) to amend
the U.S. Constitution.
Therefore, if you are faint at heart and still think our fight is only
against liberal Democrats, you might want to pause before you join
OCPAC. Because we are going to try and replace liberals with
conservatives, regardless of what designation they have by their
names. Instructions on how to become a dues paying member will follow
my sign off. Thanks again for all the support.
++ DANGER AHEAD-2011, WILL STATES CALL FOR A CON CON?
Any conservative or constitutionalist, closely watching the
performance of the federal government, should be very concerned,
knowing that the federal government is gravely ill, even terminal if
corrective action is not taken and the soo. With such concern and
frustration, people often look for ways to take shortcuts in an effort
to fix the problems.
One of the ideas to solve our problems, is a movement calling on the
various states to issue a call for a Constitutional Convention (Con
Con), with the intention of amending our U.S. Constitution. Article 5,
Section 8 of the Constitution delineates the 2 different methods to
amend our Constitution. The method that has been used for all 27 of
the current Amendments is for Congress to pass a proposed amendment
and submit it to the states for ratification. A 75% supermajority of
the states is needed under our current Constitution for ratification.
The other method is for 2/3rds of the states to issue a call for a
constitutional convention. This has only occurred once in our history.
Following our War of Independence our fledgling new country was being
governed under the Articles of Confederation. There were a few
deficiencies that existed, so the various states convened a
Constitutional Convention to tighten up those loose ends. However,
once the convention was convened, those delegates threw out the
Articles of Confederation and crafted what is now known as our
Constitution.
Some of those great minds and men of high character warned us about
the dangers of doing so again, as once convened, there would be no
guarantee of it not becoming a runaway or rogue convention. Since that
early time several U.S. Supreme Court Justices have warned that such a
convention could not be limited to a single issue, or a particular
group of issues. In other words, we could see the brilliance of those
great men thrown out the window and something very inferior put in
place, something that might not require a super majority or even a
simple majority for ratification purposes. Even respected contemporary
minds like Jude Robert Bork on the right and Harvard Professor Larry
Tribe on the left have also warned that a Con Con can’t be limited to
the purpose in which it is convened.
As a result, a week ago Wednesday, former Senator Randy Brogdon, and
current Representatives Charles Key, Mike Ritze and I went to the
Capitol where a couple of digital cameras and sound equipment were set
up. There in the House Lounge, we filmed about 40 minutes of questions
and answers, so the John Birch Society can edit it down to about 10 to
15 minutes to produce a new DVD to educate lawmakers all over the
nation as to the dangers of calling for a Con Con. It should be ready
for distribution to lawmakers as well as showing on the internet in
short order.
This is important as several organizations or entities have been
preparing model legislation to be introduced into all 50 states during
this year’s legislative sessions. This will be a very dangerous time
for the future of our nation. We in Oklahoma must stay alert and make
sure our legislature does not go down this foolish road. It was just 2
years ago that we rescinded all of Oklahoma’s previous calls for a Con
Con.
++ CLEAN UP THE ILLEGITIMATE JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION
Tomorrow, Tuesday the 28th, the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Committee
(JDC) will meet to try and rail road through 3 names so Governor Henry
can appoint yet another liberal Justice to the State Supreme Court.
These liberal members of the court will become his greatest legacy
other than being known as the Governor that opened the gates to the
flood of gambling that currently flourishes throughout the state.
Last week, citizen watch dog and Constitutionalist Jerry Fent filed a
motion to stay this action by the JDC. The grounds for his stay were
primarily based on the fact that the Constitution requires for there
to be 2 members on the JDC from each congressional district, which
would mean the commission should have 10 members, plus an 11th so
there would be an odd number. The 11th person is selected by the
members of the JDC.
However, following the redistricting which occurred 10 years ago
following the 2000 census, we failed to reduce the number from 12
members plus 1 down to 10 members plus 1. Therefore, the make-up of
the JDC is unconstitutional. In addition, with passage of State
Question 752 on November 2nd of this year, we amended our Constitution
to add two more members, one selected by the Senate President Pro-Tem
and the other selected by the Speaker of the House. Neither of those 2
have been appointed at this time.
Fent’s motion was tough because it challenged the validity of all
sitting Justices on the Court today since 2001 and even challenged SQ
752 since it calls for there to be15 members on the JDC, which was
again based on 6 congressional districts plus 3 members rather than
the current number of 5 congressional districts.
Retiring Chief Justice Rudolph Hargrave denied Mr. Fent’s motion last
week. Hargrave had a chance to do the right thing, to slow down the
process and allow Mr. Fent’s challenge be heard on its merits, but he
chose not to do so. Therefore Hargrave’s LEGACY will be known as a
person who wasn’t interested in doing right by the constitution, but
rather as a person willing to take the heat off of his colleagues so
the rail road job could be completed. This is not a man that deserves
honor, but scorn and shame.
Earlier today, December 27th, State Senator Clark Jolley filed another
motion contesting the matter on a little different grounds. Hopefully
there will be an honorable member of the court who will do the right
thing and determine that this matter on its merits before the decision
is made to put the next person on the court. What I believe is at
stake here is an attempt to get the son of the largest trial lawyer
law firm in the state (last name is Bell) or to get Jari Askins on the
court.
Askins was a judge in Stephens County, what she isn’t saying is that
she was a special judge (appointed for overflow or minor cases) rather
than a district judge, handling the more important cases. Askins’
qualifications to sit as a Supreme Court Justice pales in comparison
to some of the others who have submitted their names.
The Good ole boy cronyism is how we get bad government. Of the 13
members of the JDC, Governor Henry has appointed 6 of them. I suspect
all 6 of those will vote for Askins and Bell to be 2 of the 3 names
forwarded on Tuesday, unless they realize they are being watched!
++ THE PASSING OF A GREAT AMERICAN, BILL STEMMONS
On Sunday afternoon, December 19th I attended the memorial service for
long time activist Bill Stemmons. Most of those in attendance were
friends of Bill from high school days forward who have been involved
in government and politics. Bill was a registered parliamentarian and
served in that function for the legislature, at state or county
conventions and for the corporate world, for their need to know how to
conduct stock holder meetings. He also taught at the college level and
even one home school cooperative of which I am aware.
Though Bill never married, he was truly a people person. While in
college he got involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and spent the
rest of his life as a true witness and encourager to those struggling
through life, as was evident from the testimonies of several who spoke
during his memorial service.
Bill volunteered countless hours working on campaigns, especially on
behalf of Mike Huckabee in his run for President in 2008. At his own
expense, Bill took time off and spent several months in Iowa as
volunteer for Huckabee. Former Governor Huckabee was most generous in
his accolades for Bill upon hearing of his passing. At 63, Bill has
gone on the be with the Lord, no longer having to fight the cancer
that ravaged his earthly flesh. Those of us who knew him will truly
miss him and Oklahoma is a little worse off without him.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Time sensitive announcement...
There is a very time sensitive announcement of which I didn’t find out
about until 24 hours ago. A week ago Monday, during the Edmond
sustainability meeting, the advocates announced they would have
another meeting in January and that it would be a public forum.
It was just announced that they will have such a meeting tonight,
Thursday the 16th at the Edmond Library, 6:30 p.m. There will be a
speaker and comments and questions will be taken.
If you live in Edmond and care about this issue, you need to go
tonight. I speculate that there will not be a meeting in January.
Anyone asking about such a meeting next January will be told that they
had the public forum meeting on December 16th. There is a good chance
the motive is to have this meeting on short notice (and shortly before
Christmas) so opposition will not have time gather and organize.
Again, that is why you need to attend tonight.
Let me explain why Edmond’s City Government is much like a crack
cocaine USER. In the drug war, we focus on the dealers and
distributors of illegal drugs as evil and the end users as the
victims. However, we all know if there weren’t users, there would not
be dealers and drug lords. In the same way, our federal government is
bankrupt and running 1.5 TRILLION deficits over the past 2 years. The
federal government would not be bankrupt if it weren’t for cities like
Edmond with their hands out for federal grants, acting like crack
heads after the crack cocaine of federal dollars (there is a million
federal dollars for this project and that is just the start). Shame on
Edmond, they need to wean themselves off the drug of federal grants
and learn to stand on their own two feet.
One more thing, unlike federal fuel fees collected off of each gallon
of gas or diesel purchased and then sent to the federal highway trust
fund and then sent back to cities, counties and states to be used to
for roads and bridges, these funds are NOT, I repeat, NOT our tax
dollars that we have paid into the federal government. These funds
wasted on these sustainability projects come from borrowed or, now
more so than ever, from newly printed fiat currency. Again, shame on
Edmond and every other city and town which goes after these deficit
creating dollars. These crack heads in city government have the
attitude that Washington is little more than a huge swimming pool full
of money and any time they want some, all they need to do is get a big
bucket and dip some out for city or town.
Charlie Meadows (a recovering grant loving financial crack head)
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
about until 24 hours ago. A week ago Monday, during the Edmond
sustainability meeting, the advocates announced they would have
another meeting in January and that it would be a public forum.
It was just announced that they will have such a meeting tonight,
Thursday the 16th at the Edmond Library, 6:30 p.m. There will be a
speaker and comments and questions will be taken.
If you live in Edmond and care about this issue, you need to go
tonight. I speculate that there will not be a meeting in January.
Anyone asking about such a meeting next January will be told that they
had the public forum meeting on December 16th. There is a good chance
the motive is to have this meeting on short notice (and shortly before
Christmas) so opposition will not have time gather and organize.
Again, that is why you need to attend tonight.
Let me explain why Edmond’s City Government is much like a crack
cocaine USER. In the drug war, we focus on the dealers and
distributors of illegal drugs as evil and the end users as the
victims. However, we all know if there weren’t users, there would not
be dealers and drug lords. In the same way, our federal government is
bankrupt and running 1.5 TRILLION deficits over the past 2 years. The
federal government would not be bankrupt if it weren’t for cities like
Edmond with their hands out for federal grants, acting like crack
heads after the crack cocaine of federal dollars (there is a million
federal dollars for this project and that is just the start). Shame on
Edmond, they need to wean themselves off the drug of federal grants
and learn to stand on their own two feet.
One more thing, unlike federal fuel fees collected off of each gallon
of gas or diesel purchased and then sent to the federal highway trust
fund and then sent back to cities, counties and states to be used to
for roads and bridges, these funds are NOT, I repeat, NOT our tax
dollars that we have paid into the federal government. These funds
wasted on these sustainability projects come from borrowed or, now
more so than ever, from newly printed fiat currency. Again, shame on
Edmond and every other city and town which goes after these deficit
creating dollars. These crack heads in city government have the
attitude that Washington is little more than a huge swimming pool full
of money and any time they want some, all they need to do is get a big
bucket and dip some out for city or town.
Charlie Meadows (a recovering grant loving financial crack head)
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
PROPERTY TAX ELECTIONS TODAY
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ OK’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION SHOULD VOTE NO
++ PROPERTY TAX ELECTIONS TODAY
++ LAST MONDAY, A HISTORIC EVENING OF SORTS
++ TID BITS
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, December 15th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this
week will be Mrs. Jo Joyce. Jo will be talking about the Oklahoma
Sponsoring Committee (OSC), which according to Jo, is little more than
a front group for Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Area Foundation. When Mark
Shannon was on air, he kept his listeners up to speed on this
organization. Unfortunately, since his passing, we no longer have
LOCAL talk radio on air in the afternoons worth listening to.
Therefore, Jo will educate us on this organization as well as their
next efforts. In an e-mail she says: “The OSC is not content with
‘high jacking the social ministries of the church’. Now they are
infiltrating the public schools.” That statement reflects the fact
that the OSC is showing the film, “A COMMUNITY CONCERN” at Taft Middle
School on Friday, January 18th at 7:00 p.m.. This should be a very
educational and interesting meeting for us.
++ OK’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION SHOULD VOTE NO
The so called tax cut extension compromise between the Republicans and
President Obama is a horrible pot of witches brew that should be voted
down. Once defeated, better legislation should be the first order of
business passed out of the House early next year. Estate taxes are an
attack on private property right out of Karl Marx’s Communist
Manifesto. To raise them to 55% would mean many family owned farms
would have to be sold to corporate farming interests by family members
after mom and pop pass away. Many small businesses would have to be
sold or the doors closed by family members after the principle owners
pass away.
Just as bad is the two year reduction in payments into the social
security system. 2010 is the first year in a long time that the trust
fund has had to pay out more in benefits than it takes in through
payments. To reduce its revenue stream will put it far deeper into the
red. I am all for phasing out socialist security through a soft
landing approach (responsibly it would take 60 to 70 years and
everyone will suffer a small amount) but this idea has nothing to do
with such a plan and will simply add a tremendous amount to the
deficit and as such the national debt. This is just a gimmick to
borrow or print more money to flush into our system.
Then finally, any extension of unemployment benefits should be the
final extension and only a part of the package to get Democrat support
in the Senate for passage. It should be phased down in monthly amounts
toward the end of, perhaps 9 months, and paid for by spending cuts. No
other additional spending should occur. If we really want to get our
economy back on track, any tax cuts should be corporate and business
tax cuts. That will lower the cost of doing business in America and as
such create jobs.
++ PROPERTY TAX ELECTIONS TODAY
Property tax and municipal elections will be held across many parts of
the state today. Edmond wants 29 million, much of it for a new
swimming pool, and the Mid-Del school system wants an almost
unbelievable 190 million. The citizens are simply going to have to
decide if they want to spend that kind of money in uncertain times.
They are also going to have to consider if these new expenditures will
really do any good when it comes to school bonds? If the supporters of
these bond packages tell the citizens their property taxes will not
increase, please don’t necessarily believe them. If it is true, then
understand that a vote against such a proposal will produce a property
tax DECREASE if the measure fails.
++ LAST MONDAY EVENING, A HISTORIC TIME OF SORTS
This past Monday, somewhere between 75 to 80 citizen activists braved
the cold in Bartlesville to send a message to the Republican House
members. They were present for a retreat and caucus meeting on Tuesday
morning to determine their agenda for this year’s legislative session.
An even larger group of conservative activists attended a meeting in
Edmond that was billed as a public forum. These citizens were there to
express their opposition to Edmond’s sustainability programs, which
are an extension of the UN’s Agenda 21 Conference, intended to bring
unified land use controls and much more on a global basis. At the same
time, some members of the John Birch Society’s Lawton chapter attended
the city council meeting where they successfully challenged the city
council not to amend the city charter without a vote of the people as
is required by the document itself.
Here is why I believe this was a historic time of sorts. For the past
3 years Oklahoma citizens have been waking up to the problems in
America. They have been studying our U.S. Constitution, history and
learning the principles of good government. On last Monday evening,
these well informed citizens, moved beyond being just educated
learners to citizen activists. Even more importantly, they had to
divide their numbers to appear at 3 different locations at the same
time, and yes, they had enough numbers to make an impact at all three
of those locations. May I suggest the following analysis for the
Bartlesville and Edmond meetings.
We took a bus and several personal vehicles from the OKC area and
arrived in Bartlesville just shortly after 5:00 p.m. Already there
were several from Bartlesville and those who had caravanned from the
Tulsa area. Very importantly, we had good press coverage from a
varitty of newspapers, TV, radio and blog coverage (google Ron Black’s
400 pound gorilla rant). You can also see a video from a 912 member
out of Tulsa, just click on to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADh_Y8d0quo.
Also, many of the lawmakers, especially the more conservative members
stopped on their way into the community center to visit, check out our
signs and shake hands with some of our folks.
With the decline in newspaper readership in recent years, the Tulsa
World and the Oklahoman sometimes share stories to cut down on the
number of reporters on the old payroll. The front page article in the
Oklahoman on Tuesday morning was by World reporter Randy Krehbiel. The
article was titled, “GOP dinner draws Republican protesters.”
The first 3 paragraphs of the article went like this: “The small man
in the Santa suit arrived by church bus, bringing not toys but a
bullhorn and a hand-lettered sign. He also brought a list, and it
will be checked far more than twice. That’s why many of the House
Republicans arriving for a dinner Monday evening at Bartlesville
Community Center made sure to tell this Santa they intended to be
very, very nice.
Further in the body of the article was the best word picture we could
hope for. The paragraph really portrayed the struggle between
Oklahoma’s elites who seem to care mostly about our image as far as
how we fare in the eyes of progressives in New York City, San
Francisco, Boston and etc. They also intend to make sure our economy
is strong and their pockets are lined with wealth. On the other side
of this struggle we have those well balanced conservative grassroots
activists, who love to see people obtain wealth fairly, through
inheritance or most especially hard work. But we are opposed
government owned businesses, corporate welfare or government created
advantages over competitors as a means to obtaining such wealth.
The paragraph went like this: “If the protesters outside the community
center symbolized one side of that struggle, the HIGH POWERED
LOBBYISTS (emphasis mine) dinning with the GOP caucus inside
symbolized the other.” I believe this word picture is what drives many
Oklahoman’s crazy to realize they vote for lawmakers to do one thing
when they get to the Capital, only to have their will subverted by
those shiny shoed lobbyists from the state chamber and other special
interests paying for the wine, cheese and caviar during the reception
and the steaks and lobster during the banquet (I don’t know what they
ate, I was gladly outside in the cold).
Of course that whole event occurred to encourage the Republican
lawmakers to be well rounded, not divided. We want them to come up
with free market solutions to create an environment conducive for
brilliant and hard working entrepreneurs to succeed. That will
stimulate our economy and create demand for more people to fill an
ever increasing number of jobs.
More people working will create more revenues for government and if
lawmakers will cut un-needed government programs, programs in which
government should not be involved and eliminate waste and
inefficiencies, then those new revenues will allow us to eliminate
business taxes and eventually the personal income tax. Those lower
costs for doing business in Oklahoma will just keep adding to the
number of jobs created in our state as we will become more competitive
in a national and global market place.
Implementing those ideas will not consume the whole legislative
session, in fact only a small part of the session. The rest of the
time, social and moral issues must be addressed to add to the value of
living in Oklahoma. Reports now public from certain sources such as
Ron Black’s blog as to what went on in the caucus meeting are
encouraging. Many of the issues, for which we care, such as
immigration reform, 10th Amendment, 2nd Amendment, defense of home
schooling rights, promotion of Judeo-Christian Values and a pledge to
ban any tax increases were all approved, though sometimes through
contentious debates, with Speaker elect Steele on one side and the
majority siding with the conservatives on the other side.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre debate occurred when Representative
Terrill wanted to include the phrase “To promote traditional Judeo-
Christian values” in the agenda. Speaker-elect Steele, a Methodist
minister, made a motion to strike that terminology and replace it with
a more vacuous phrase such as “Oklahoma values” or “traditional
values”. Representative Jeff Hickman (R-Dacoma, a former aide to King
David Boren with a lifetime conservative score of a 56) seconded the
motion. However, in the end, the majority voted with Terrill and the
conservatives and against Kris Steele. While these reports are
encouraging, we must trust but verify. The State Chamber also has
strong influences over the Senate, they will also have to be
encouraged to govern like conservative Republicans, not Democrats
dressed like elephants, but better known as RINOs.
One last thing, many have e-mailed asking about the message on my hand
lettered sign. I blew up a picture of the Elephant on our membership
form to symbolize conservative Republicans and a picture of a RINO
which is actually a donkey with elephant ears pinned on the back of
the donkey ears and an elephant’s trunk attached to the end of the
donkeys nose to symbolize those who are really, Republicans In Name
Only. Next to the elephant picture, I had the words “elephants make
hay” a farming term meaning they are doing really well. Next to the
RINO picture I had the words: “RINOs deserve Lumps of Coal and
Reindeer Droppings in their Christmas Stockings.” That was Santa’s
Yule Tide greeting for all the Republican lawmakers. Each of them will
have to make their own minds up as to which animal they best
represent!
Now for the Edmond meeting on sustainability. Though a Democrat web-
site accused me of showing up to disrupt the meeting with bully
tactics, that didn’t happen as I was in Bartlesville, though with the
folks in Edmond in spirit. It is not unusual for the Dems to get such
things wrong. I did know that 15 or so people had met prior to the
meeting to discuss the event and prepare some handouts and as such I
mentioned the event in the special e-mail sent out on the 3rd. I
simply suggested to our readers that they would probably appreciate
others attending for support.
The police and the Edmond Sun reported about 200 in attendance, 4
times the expected number based on the number of chairs the organizers
first put out. It was billed as a public forum and when the attendees
found out the organizers didn’t want to discuss the issue, but rather
break down into small groups to come up with ideas for implementation,
that’s when things began to denigrate.
Those wanting a public forum didn’t want to participate in the little
game of ideas, knowing the proponents already know what they want to
do for the most part. Eventually, the meeting was adjourned with the
suggestion that they would have a public forum sometime in January.
While I have a Guthrie address, I actually live closer to Edmond and
in fact used to have an Edmond address where I currently live. For the
most part, I work, shop, eat, attend church and do business in Edmond.
I also was on the editorial board for the Edmond Sun, writing two
columns each month, for a little over a year, before the time burden
was just too great for me to continue. With all that said, I have some
strong opinions about the city and its governance.
Edmond is a clean city and an attractive city. While it is still a
university town and has been a bedroom community for OKC, it has
outgrown that distinction and transitioned into becoming a community
of its own. It has a lot of parks and plenty of shopping outlets and
restaurants for a city of its size (guessing about 80,000
people).
However, Edmond has its drawbacks. Number one has to be the traffic
congestion, exacerbated by the ever more busy railroad tracks which
run right up the middle of town with only 2 underpasses to allow
traffic to flow unhindered from East to West. The city of Edmond is
not very friendly toward businesses, but with such a large and
affluent consumer base, many businesses put up with the excessive
regulations and go ahead and jump through the hoops.
The city has suffered from an excessive amount of influence from the
greenies and has wasted untold tax payer dollars on art, public
transportation and planter boxes rather than middle turn lanes down
the center of some of its busiest streets. The city pays huge fees for
consultants to do studies and make recommendations, so much so that I
wonder whether or not there is anyone in city government capable of
making quality decisions about the direction and future of the city
without an expensive consultant or study.
Some of what is on the sustainability agenda is common sense and could
be accomplished through a more frugal attitude with taxpayer dollars
by city officials. Here is hoping that the number of people apposing
the UN having any kind of influence over citizens and property will
grow and be supported vigorously.
++ TIDBITS
* In the old Soviet Union, few things worked well so they operated on
the five year plan. Approximately every 5 years the people were so fed
up that they would about be ready to rise up in rebellion. At that
time the government would step in and demonize some bureaucrat, send
him off to another area or a gulag and bring in a new bureaucrat. They
would put a little window dressing on the program and the people would
calm down to see if the new changes would work. Of course they didn’t
improve to any degree and as such the people would become restless and
about to boil over during the next 5 years until the process was
repeated.
With that in mind, the Oklahoma City School Board took the BOLD step
last night to change the school calendar to something called year
round school. This window dressing has nothing to do with needed
reforms, will have little effect on learning and show virtually no
academic improvement. If the plan stays in place (other places have
tried this and then abandoned it) over the next 5 years, I predict
Carl Springer will be replaced by that time.
Here is what it will do. It will put more pressure on families to
squeeze in their Summer vacation time and more importantly, high
school kids will have less time to work summer jobs to learn some job
skills, discipline and what it means to interface with the public in
general rather than just their peers. It will also hurt some seasonal
businesses and tourism which rely on students and teachers for labor.
* This past Saturday morning about 60 leaders and activists from
around the state gathered to discuss how legislative leadership kills
good legislation. Identified during that meeting was a systemic
problem which allows for nearly dictatorial power by leadership rather
than elected lawmakers being allowed to offer and have their
legislation heard. Under the current system, lawmakers have a real
problem representing the ideas of the people who elected them. As such
some ideas to reform they system wee discussed and will be fleshed out
and fine tuned in the next few weeks.
To understand what a problem this is creating, I have obtained
permission to reprint a couple of e-mails I received from a couple of
Tulsa activists. I don’t mind accurate labels being attached to
people, but I think some of the name calling is not that effective.
However, please see the level of anger over this issue of dictatorial
power as it is used by leadership.
“I am Dave Bell, Precinct 25 Chairman for Republican Party that is in
House District 77. Eric Proctor is my State representative. I do not
intend to help the GOP to find someone to replace or run against him.
He is a Democrat but he is honest and that is more then I can say for
all the State’s GOP leadership. I also intend to help him get
reelected if that is his call, he has all my support. My humble advice
is remove Eric from the GOP hit list now before your lose more people
now then you are going to later when people find out how crooked the
GOP leaders truly are in Oklahoma. Most Sincerely.”
Dave Bell
Precinct 25 Chariman
Billie Bell
Co-Chair.
Following is a response from another Republican activist. Both of
these men are retired troopers.
“I agree Dave. Eric Proctor is way better than ANY of the liberal
Chamber-pimped RINO maggot scumbags that attempt to call themselves
members of the Party of Reagan. The GOP can leave Eric alone and focus
on the incestuous scum that are now on their next attempt to trash our
RIGHTS like they did last year.
In my opinion, it is now Open Season on this cesspool of
unConstitutional basTERDS that are attempting to sell us out AGAIN
like ‘Insurance salesman’ Benge, Tad the Nad, Party Pooper Pam
Peterson, Okla Gun Control czar Sue Tibbs, and Sex-crazed cradle-
robbing Sullivan did.
The Day of Reckoning Cometh dude!!!”
Dan Howard
The reference to Sullivan is the alleged affair he had sometime after
being elected to office which produced a bitter divorce from his wife.
He recently re-married and they are soon expecting a child, though I
don’t know if this is the woman with whom he is alleged to have had
the affair. Many people make bad decisions or mistakes and we should
always hope they get things turned around and do better. However, it
is surprising to me that Speaker-elect Steele, a Methodist minister,
would appoint someone with such recent moral problems as floor leader?
* In a related subject over the past 2 years I have began to see how
leadership passes down the baton to leadership much like what exists
and of course it is not the conservatives that get into leadership.
Quite possibly the race for the next Speaker is already on or will be
very soon. In 2008, DURING the session, (you know when lawmakers are
so busy with improving the economy that they don’t have time for
anything else) I was asked to meet, first with Ken Miller and then
with Kris Steele to hear them out as to why each of them would make
the best next Speaker. I decided not to get involved in that contest
as each of their scores on the Conservative Index were much the same
and therefore I didn’t see much of an ideological difference between
the two of them. The race begins when one of the possible new Speaker
candidates begins to distribute and collect pledge cards from their
fellow members (the newly elected freshmen are prized catches). Two
years ago, Kris Steele won that race and Ken Miller decided to run for
State Treasurer with its paycheck nearly 3 times the size of a State
Representative and he would therefore not have to sit under the
victor.
Sources, tell me the two most likely establishment candidates wanting
to replace Steele are Dan Sullivan, Steele’s appointment for the floor
leaders position and Jeff Hickman, Steele’s appointment as Speaker Pro-
Tem. Neither of these fellows are conservative with Sullivan’s
lifetime Conservative Index score of a 62, same as Kris Steele’s
score, and Hickman has a lifetime average of a paltry 56. Hopefully,
conservatives have their eye on the ball and are looking for someone
more conservative that can win and provide a more conservative style
of leadership.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
++ OK’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION SHOULD VOTE NO
++ PROPERTY TAX ELECTIONS TODAY
++ LAST MONDAY, A HISTORIC EVENING OF SORTS
++ TID BITS
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, December 15th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this
week will be Mrs. Jo Joyce. Jo will be talking about the Oklahoma
Sponsoring Committee (OSC), which according to Jo, is little more than
a front group for Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Area Foundation. When Mark
Shannon was on air, he kept his listeners up to speed on this
organization. Unfortunately, since his passing, we no longer have
LOCAL talk radio on air in the afternoons worth listening to.
Therefore, Jo will educate us on this organization as well as their
next efforts. In an e-mail she says: “The OSC is not content with
‘high jacking the social ministries of the church’. Now they are
infiltrating the public schools.” That statement reflects the fact
that the OSC is showing the film, “A COMMUNITY CONCERN” at Taft Middle
School on Friday, January 18th at 7:00 p.m.. This should be a very
educational and interesting meeting for us.
++ OK’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION SHOULD VOTE NO
The so called tax cut extension compromise between the Republicans and
President Obama is a horrible pot of witches brew that should be voted
down. Once defeated, better legislation should be the first order of
business passed out of the House early next year. Estate taxes are an
attack on private property right out of Karl Marx’s Communist
Manifesto. To raise them to 55% would mean many family owned farms
would have to be sold to corporate farming interests by family members
after mom and pop pass away. Many small businesses would have to be
sold or the doors closed by family members after the principle owners
pass away.
Just as bad is the two year reduction in payments into the social
security system. 2010 is the first year in a long time that the trust
fund has had to pay out more in benefits than it takes in through
payments. To reduce its revenue stream will put it far deeper into the
red. I am all for phasing out socialist security through a soft
landing approach (responsibly it would take 60 to 70 years and
everyone will suffer a small amount) but this idea has nothing to do
with such a plan and will simply add a tremendous amount to the
deficit and as such the national debt. This is just a gimmick to
borrow or print more money to flush into our system.
Then finally, any extension of unemployment benefits should be the
final extension and only a part of the package to get Democrat support
in the Senate for passage. It should be phased down in monthly amounts
toward the end of, perhaps 9 months, and paid for by spending cuts. No
other additional spending should occur. If we really want to get our
economy back on track, any tax cuts should be corporate and business
tax cuts. That will lower the cost of doing business in America and as
such create jobs.
++ PROPERTY TAX ELECTIONS TODAY
Property tax and municipal elections will be held across many parts of
the state today. Edmond wants 29 million, much of it for a new
swimming pool, and the Mid-Del school system wants an almost
unbelievable 190 million. The citizens are simply going to have to
decide if they want to spend that kind of money in uncertain times.
They are also going to have to consider if these new expenditures will
really do any good when it comes to school bonds? If the supporters of
these bond packages tell the citizens their property taxes will not
increase, please don’t necessarily believe them. If it is true, then
understand that a vote against such a proposal will produce a property
tax DECREASE if the measure fails.
++ LAST MONDAY EVENING, A HISTORIC TIME OF SORTS
This past Monday, somewhere between 75 to 80 citizen activists braved
the cold in Bartlesville to send a message to the Republican House
members. They were present for a retreat and caucus meeting on Tuesday
morning to determine their agenda for this year’s legislative session.
An even larger group of conservative activists attended a meeting in
Edmond that was billed as a public forum. These citizens were there to
express their opposition to Edmond’s sustainability programs, which
are an extension of the UN’s Agenda 21 Conference, intended to bring
unified land use controls and much more on a global basis. At the same
time, some members of the John Birch Society’s Lawton chapter attended
the city council meeting where they successfully challenged the city
council not to amend the city charter without a vote of the people as
is required by the document itself.
Here is why I believe this was a historic time of sorts. For the past
3 years Oklahoma citizens have been waking up to the problems in
America. They have been studying our U.S. Constitution, history and
learning the principles of good government. On last Monday evening,
these well informed citizens, moved beyond being just educated
learners to citizen activists. Even more importantly, they had to
divide their numbers to appear at 3 different locations at the same
time, and yes, they had enough numbers to make an impact at all three
of those locations. May I suggest the following analysis for the
Bartlesville and Edmond meetings.
We took a bus and several personal vehicles from the OKC area and
arrived in Bartlesville just shortly after 5:00 p.m. Already there
were several from Bartlesville and those who had caravanned from the
Tulsa area. Very importantly, we had good press coverage from a
varitty of newspapers, TV, radio and blog coverage (google Ron Black’s
400 pound gorilla rant). You can also see a video from a 912 member
out of Tulsa, just click on to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADh_Y8d0quo.
Also, many of the lawmakers, especially the more conservative members
stopped on their way into the community center to visit, check out our
signs and shake hands with some of our folks.
With the decline in newspaper readership in recent years, the Tulsa
World and the Oklahoman sometimes share stories to cut down on the
number of reporters on the old payroll. The front page article in the
Oklahoman on Tuesday morning was by World reporter Randy Krehbiel. The
article was titled, “GOP dinner draws Republican protesters.”
The first 3 paragraphs of the article went like this: “The small man
in the Santa suit arrived by church bus, bringing not toys but a
bullhorn and a hand-lettered sign. He also brought a list, and it
will be checked far more than twice. That’s why many of the House
Republicans arriving for a dinner Monday evening at Bartlesville
Community Center made sure to tell this Santa they intended to be
very, very nice.
Further in the body of the article was the best word picture we could
hope for. The paragraph really portrayed the struggle between
Oklahoma’s elites who seem to care mostly about our image as far as
how we fare in the eyes of progressives in New York City, San
Francisco, Boston and etc. They also intend to make sure our economy
is strong and their pockets are lined with wealth. On the other side
of this struggle we have those well balanced conservative grassroots
activists, who love to see people obtain wealth fairly, through
inheritance or most especially hard work. But we are opposed
government owned businesses, corporate welfare or government created
advantages over competitors as a means to obtaining such wealth.
The paragraph went like this: “If the protesters outside the community
center symbolized one side of that struggle, the HIGH POWERED
LOBBYISTS (emphasis mine) dinning with the GOP caucus inside
symbolized the other.” I believe this word picture is what drives many
Oklahoman’s crazy to realize they vote for lawmakers to do one thing
when they get to the Capital, only to have their will subverted by
those shiny shoed lobbyists from the state chamber and other special
interests paying for the wine, cheese and caviar during the reception
and the steaks and lobster during the banquet (I don’t know what they
ate, I was gladly outside in the cold).
Of course that whole event occurred to encourage the Republican
lawmakers to be well rounded, not divided. We want them to come up
with free market solutions to create an environment conducive for
brilliant and hard working entrepreneurs to succeed. That will
stimulate our economy and create demand for more people to fill an
ever increasing number of jobs.
More people working will create more revenues for government and if
lawmakers will cut un-needed government programs, programs in which
government should not be involved and eliminate waste and
inefficiencies, then those new revenues will allow us to eliminate
business taxes and eventually the personal income tax. Those lower
costs for doing business in Oklahoma will just keep adding to the
number of jobs created in our state as we will become more competitive
in a national and global market place.
Implementing those ideas will not consume the whole legislative
session, in fact only a small part of the session. The rest of the
time, social and moral issues must be addressed to add to the value of
living in Oklahoma. Reports now public from certain sources such as
Ron Black’s blog as to what went on in the caucus meeting are
encouraging. Many of the issues, for which we care, such as
immigration reform, 10th Amendment, 2nd Amendment, defense of home
schooling rights, promotion of Judeo-Christian Values and a pledge to
ban any tax increases were all approved, though sometimes through
contentious debates, with Speaker elect Steele on one side and the
majority siding with the conservatives on the other side.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre debate occurred when Representative
Terrill wanted to include the phrase “To promote traditional Judeo-
Christian values” in the agenda. Speaker-elect Steele, a Methodist
minister, made a motion to strike that terminology and replace it with
a more vacuous phrase such as “Oklahoma values” or “traditional
values”. Representative Jeff Hickman (R-Dacoma, a former aide to King
David Boren with a lifetime conservative score of a 56) seconded the
motion. However, in the end, the majority voted with Terrill and the
conservatives and against Kris Steele. While these reports are
encouraging, we must trust but verify. The State Chamber also has
strong influences over the Senate, they will also have to be
encouraged to govern like conservative Republicans, not Democrats
dressed like elephants, but better known as RINOs.
One last thing, many have e-mailed asking about the message on my hand
lettered sign. I blew up a picture of the Elephant on our membership
form to symbolize conservative Republicans and a picture of a RINO
which is actually a donkey with elephant ears pinned on the back of
the donkey ears and an elephant’s trunk attached to the end of the
donkeys nose to symbolize those who are really, Republicans In Name
Only. Next to the elephant picture, I had the words “elephants make
hay” a farming term meaning they are doing really well. Next to the
RINO picture I had the words: “RINOs deserve Lumps of Coal and
Reindeer Droppings in their Christmas Stockings.” That was Santa’s
Yule Tide greeting for all the Republican lawmakers. Each of them will
have to make their own minds up as to which animal they best
represent!
Now for the Edmond meeting on sustainability. Though a Democrat web-
site accused me of showing up to disrupt the meeting with bully
tactics, that didn’t happen as I was in Bartlesville, though with the
folks in Edmond in spirit. It is not unusual for the Dems to get such
things wrong. I did know that 15 or so people had met prior to the
meeting to discuss the event and prepare some handouts and as such I
mentioned the event in the special e-mail sent out on the 3rd. I
simply suggested to our readers that they would probably appreciate
others attending for support.
The police and the Edmond Sun reported about 200 in attendance, 4
times the expected number based on the number of chairs the organizers
first put out. It was billed as a public forum and when the attendees
found out the organizers didn’t want to discuss the issue, but rather
break down into small groups to come up with ideas for implementation,
that’s when things began to denigrate.
Those wanting a public forum didn’t want to participate in the little
game of ideas, knowing the proponents already know what they want to
do for the most part. Eventually, the meeting was adjourned with the
suggestion that they would have a public forum sometime in January.
While I have a Guthrie address, I actually live closer to Edmond and
in fact used to have an Edmond address where I currently live. For the
most part, I work, shop, eat, attend church and do business in Edmond.
I also was on the editorial board for the Edmond Sun, writing two
columns each month, for a little over a year, before the time burden
was just too great for me to continue. With all that said, I have some
strong opinions about the city and its governance.
Edmond is a clean city and an attractive city. While it is still a
university town and has been a bedroom community for OKC, it has
outgrown that distinction and transitioned into becoming a community
of its own. It has a lot of parks and plenty of shopping outlets and
restaurants for a city of its size (guessing about 80,000
people).
However, Edmond has its drawbacks. Number one has to be the traffic
congestion, exacerbated by the ever more busy railroad tracks which
run right up the middle of town with only 2 underpasses to allow
traffic to flow unhindered from East to West. The city of Edmond is
not very friendly toward businesses, but with such a large and
affluent consumer base, many businesses put up with the excessive
regulations and go ahead and jump through the hoops.
The city has suffered from an excessive amount of influence from the
greenies and has wasted untold tax payer dollars on art, public
transportation and planter boxes rather than middle turn lanes down
the center of some of its busiest streets. The city pays huge fees for
consultants to do studies and make recommendations, so much so that I
wonder whether or not there is anyone in city government capable of
making quality decisions about the direction and future of the city
without an expensive consultant or study.
Some of what is on the sustainability agenda is common sense and could
be accomplished through a more frugal attitude with taxpayer dollars
by city officials. Here is hoping that the number of people apposing
the UN having any kind of influence over citizens and property will
grow and be supported vigorously.
++ TIDBITS
* In the old Soviet Union, few things worked well so they operated on
the five year plan. Approximately every 5 years the people were so fed
up that they would about be ready to rise up in rebellion. At that
time the government would step in and demonize some bureaucrat, send
him off to another area or a gulag and bring in a new bureaucrat. They
would put a little window dressing on the program and the people would
calm down to see if the new changes would work. Of course they didn’t
improve to any degree and as such the people would become restless and
about to boil over during the next 5 years until the process was
repeated.
With that in mind, the Oklahoma City School Board took the BOLD step
last night to change the school calendar to something called year
round school. This window dressing has nothing to do with needed
reforms, will have little effect on learning and show virtually no
academic improvement. If the plan stays in place (other places have
tried this and then abandoned it) over the next 5 years, I predict
Carl Springer will be replaced by that time.
Here is what it will do. It will put more pressure on families to
squeeze in their Summer vacation time and more importantly, high
school kids will have less time to work summer jobs to learn some job
skills, discipline and what it means to interface with the public in
general rather than just their peers. It will also hurt some seasonal
businesses and tourism which rely on students and teachers for labor.
* This past Saturday morning about 60 leaders and activists from
around the state gathered to discuss how legislative leadership kills
good legislation. Identified during that meeting was a systemic
problem which allows for nearly dictatorial power by leadership rather
than elected lawmakers being allowed to offer and have their
legislation heard. Under the current system, lawmakers have a real
problem representing the ideas of the people who elected them. As such
some ideas to reform they system wee discussed and will be fleshed out
and fine tuned in the next few weeks.
To understand what a problem this is creating, I have obtained
permission to reprint a couple of e-mails I received from a couple of
Tulsa activists. I don’t mind accurate labels being attached to
people, but I think some of the name calling is not that effective.
However, please see the level of anger over this issue of dictatorial
power as it is used by leadership.
“I am Dave Bell, Precinct 25 Chairman for Republican Party that is in
House District 77. Eric Proctor is my State representative. I do not
intend to help the GOP to find someone to replace or run against him.
He is a Democrat but he is honest and that is more then I can say for
all the State’s GOP leadership. I also intend to help him get
reelected if that is his call, he has all my support. My humble advice
is remove Eric from the GOP hit list now before your lose more people
now then you are going to later when people find out how crooked the
GOP leaders truly are in Oklahoma. Most Sincerely.”
Dave Bell
Precinct 25 Chariman
Billie Bell
Co-Chair.
Following is a response from another Republican activist. Both of
these men are retired troopers.
“I agree Dave. Eric Proctor is way better than ANY of the liberal
Chamber-pimped RINO maggot scumbags that attempt to call themselves
members of the Party of Reagan. The GOP can leave Eric alone and focus
on the incestuous scum that are now on their next attempt to trash our
RIGHTS like they did last year.
In my opinion, it is now Open Season on this cesspool of
unConstitutional basTERDS that are attempting to sell us out AGAIN
like ‘Insurance salesman’ Benge, Tad the Nad, Party Pooper Pam
Peterson, Okla Gun Control czar Sue Tibbs, and Sex-crazed cradle-
robbing Sullivan did.
The Day of Reckoning Cometh dude!!!”
Dan Howard
The reference to Sullivan is the alleged affair he had sometime after
being elected to office which produced a bitter divorce from his wife.
He recently re-married and they are soon expecting a child, though I
don’t know if this is the woman with whom he is alleged to have had
the affair. Many people make bad decisions or mistakes and we should
always hope they get things turned around and do better. However, it
is surprising to me that Speaker-elect Steele, a Methodist minister,
would appoint someone with such recent moral problems as floor leader?
* In a related subject over the past 2 years I have began to see how
leadership passes down the baton to leadership much like what exists
and of course it is not the conservatives that get into leadership.
Quite possibly the race for the next Speaker is already on or will be
very soon. In 2008, DURING the session, (you know when lawmakers are
so busy with improving the economy that they don’t have time for
anything else) I was asked to meet, first with Ken Miller and then
with Kris Steele to hear them out as to why each of them would make
the best next Speaker. I decided not to get involved in that contest
as each of their scores on the Conservative Index were much the same
and therefore I didn’t see much of an ideological difference between
the two of them. The race begins when one of the possible new Speaker
candidates begins to distribute and collect pledge cards from their
fellow members (the newly elected freshmen are prized catches). Two
years ago, Kris Steele won that race and Ken Miller decided to run for
State Treasurer with its paycheck nearly 3 times the size of a State
Representative and he would therefore not have to sit under the
victor.
Sources, tell me the two most likely establishment candidates wanting
to replace Steele are Dan Sullivan, Steele’s appointment for the floor
leaders position and Jeff Hickman, Steele’s appointment as Speaker Pro-
Tem. Neither of these fellows are conservative with Sullivan’s
lifetime Conservative Index score of a 62, same as Kris Steele’s
score, and Hickman has a lifetime average of a paltry 56. Hopefully,
conservatives have their eye on the ball and are looking for someone
more conservative that can win and provide a more conservative style
of leadership.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
ANNOUNCEMENTS & GARY BEASLEY’S PASSING
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS & GARY BEASLEY’S PASSING
++ SPEAKER-ELECT STEEL’S RESPONSE
++ THE SENATOR HARRY COATES SAGA
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, December 8th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. We will spend some
time discussing the “Do The Right Thing Tea Party” demonstration and
some possible ongoing efforts to try and keep Republicans focused on
EVERY important issue, not just on the important economic issues. As a
guest speaker we will have Mr. Robert Dani, founder and leader of the
High Noon Club, which meets every Friday 12 noon, at H&H gun range in
OKC. I attended this past Friday for my 2nd time and am so glad to see
another vibrant club growing and getting involved to make Oklahoma a
better place. It is billed as a citizens forum for Political Issues. I
want Bob to tell us how the club came about, what they are doing today
and what might be part of their future vision. In addition, if we have
time I want to show a fairly new DVD produced by the John Birch
Society titled: AMERICAN TYRANNY STEP BY STEP - SAVING OUR REPUBLIC.
This excellent production will chronicle some of the commonalities
with all tyrants and more specifically some of the things Adolph
Hitler did once he came to power in an attempt to solidify his power.
The DVD will show some of the parallels between Hitler and President
Obama as his regiments of anti-Americans have worked to solidify their
power. The similarities are shocking.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
** Early last week, Gary Beasley’s wife sent me an e-mail to let me
know that Gary had passed away. I probably first met Gary in about
1986 as we were both getting involved in Logan County Republican party
politics. At the time Gary lived in Crescent where he operated a metal
reclamation business with his father.
Gary was very helpful to me when I ran for the State Senate in 1990
against Enoch Kelley Haney from Seminole. He was also one of the first
to attend the Wednesday lunch bunch, which eventually became a
debating society and then turned into OCPAC.
If my memory serves me correctly, Gary had been an anti-war, anti-
American hippy who moved to Belise in Central America. Somewhere
during that time, he had his eyes opened and became a true American
patriot. He had a love in his heart for the nation of Israel and saw
their value as an American ally. He was always articulate in pointing
out the evils and dangers of Islam. In recent years, Gary’s health had
declined as he had been restricted to using a cane or wheelchair and
could only occasionally attend OCPAC meetings. I always enjoyed
hearing Gary’s voice when he would call in to national radio programs,
always expressing his points succinctly. Oklahoma lost a great
citizen. Please pray for Gary’s widow and his family.
** THURSDAY EVENING - MOORE AREA - The Sooner Republican Assembly
will have their Christmas dinner starting at 6:00 p.m. It will be held
at Earls Rib Palace in Moore. No reservations are needed as you can
order off the menu. Pastor Dan Fisher will be speaking about the 7
lies we’re being told about America.
** THURSDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - The Tulsa area Republican
Assembly will have their monthly meeting this Thursday evening with
the meal starting at 6 and the meeting starting at 7:00 p.m. The
location is the Golden Corral, at 71st and Mingo, just west of Highway
169. Speaking will be Dan Sullivan, the next House Majority floor
leader. Hopefully those in attendance will ask him if he will support
efforts to re-claim our God given rights to bear arms.
** THURSDAY EVENING - ENID AREA - The Oklahoma Council of Public
Affairs (OCPA) and we the people are hosting a dinner event featuring
Cato Institute scholar Timothy Sandefur, author of THE RIGHT TO EARN A
LIVING: ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND THE LAW. The event begins at 6:00 p.m.,
is open to the public and the dinner is free. However, seating is
limited so you must RSVP to Chelsea@ocpacthink.org or call (405)
602-1667. The location will be the Advance Food Complex, 5110
Enterprise Blvd. in Enid (corner of East Willow and North 54th) Mr.
Sandefur is an attorney who specializes in protecting businesses from
abusive government overreach and most especially the improper use of
eminent domain.
++ SPEAKER-ELECT STEEL’S RESPONSE
The timeline, Thanksgiving day the upsetting article appears in the
Oklahoman, later that day Representative Terrill issued a press
release calling on Speaker-elect Kris Steele to issue a statement
clarifying and repudiating certain aspects of the article. On Tuesday
the 30th I sent out the weekly OCPAC e-mail announcing that the
Oklahoman had not printed Terrill’s press release, so I published it.
The next day the Oklahoman did an article which included an interview
with Representative Terrill. This past Wednesday, Representative
Steele issued a response to clarify his positions, but still left many
concerned about certain issues. Steele’s response was published
yesterday, in Sunday’s Oklahoman as a point of view.
First, let me say the tone of the response was good, it even had some
well thought out verbiage regarding the economy. As an example he
said: “I believe our agenda must take a balanced approach that
focuses on conservative solutions to fiscal and social policy.” Well
stated in my opinion. He went on to say: “ Because the national
recession has left many jobless and created a $600 million state
shortfall, it is clear we must enact sensible reforms that ALLOW
(emphasis mine) Oklahomans to reach their economic potential and grow
our state economy.” Steele continued, “My hope is to ESTABLISH AN
ENVIRONMENT (emphasis mine) in Oklahoma that is conducive to job
growth, job creation and job enhancement. That focus must include
lawsuit reform, workers’ compensation reform, restructuring of the tax
code and similar policies.”
Those 3 paragraphs are excellent if he really understands what he said
as well as what he didn’t say and if he really means what he said.
Note, he didn’t use the words “economic development”, as anytime a
government official at any level uses those words, it convey a message
that it is the GOVERNMENT’S responsibility to develop the economy. If
that is your philosophy, then you believe in fascist (government
doesn’t own, but controls the means of production of goods and
services) capitalism or the words economic development may also stand
for socialist (government owning and controlling the means of
production of goods and services) capitalism.
In either of those two systems, government will pick the winners and
those who get the special privileges or opportunities. In socialist
capitalism, the government will actually own and operate businesses,
thus competing against private entities who will always be at a
disadvantage in that competition.
When Representative Steele uses words like “allow” and “establish an
environment”, those words are as strong as it gets when it comes to
private or free market capitalism. In a free market economy,
government will keep regulations at a bare minimum and businesses will
NOT be taxed. Businesses consider taxes to be overhead and thus
increase the price of their goods and services to cover that overhead
and thus the consumer always pays for business taxes through higher
prices for those goods or services. Politicians love that, because as
they tax businesses, the consumer isn’t cognizant of the amount of
taxes imbedded in the price of a product or service and thus some of
the real cost of government is hidden from the citizens.
In a real free market economy, if consumers aren’t willing to purchase
certain products or support certain services, then they go away. On
the other hand, sharp businessmen may figure out a way to convince
enough in the marketplace to buy or hire products or services to pay
all overhead and have some left over for themselves which is called
profit. Free market economies always see the best and brightest
business rise to the top. In central planned economies, it may be more
likely that the well connected rise to the top and not necessarily the
best business man delivering the best product or service at the most
reasonable price.
Another positive statement in his response was: “We must defend our
constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, defend
against federal government overreach, and guard against those who
intentionally break the law and pose a threat to public safety.” An
additional strong statement was: “Although some may not realize it,
being polite and civil is not the same thing as being weak.” I fully
agree.
However, there were some things he said, which I have a hard time
reconciling with his actions. First off he stated: “In addition, we
must reform education so Oklahoma children from all corners of the
state can excel in college and thrive in the work force after they
graduate.” With the election of Janet Barresi and the effort of school
choice advocates, the conditions better exist today than ever before
for some badly needed school reforms.
However, Speaker-elect Steele appointed Ann Coody (R-Lawton) Chairman
of Common Education committee and Jabar Shumate (D-Tulsa) as Vice-
Chair. While Shumate is a liberal Democrat, when it comes to education
he is very reform minded. He understands that perhaps one of the best
ways out of the hood is a good education and that school choice is one
of the best hopes to allow children to escape the teacher union
controlled drop out factories in the inner city schools.
On the other hand, while Representative Coody is a nice person, she is
a retired educator of 39 years and in my opinion is so engrained into
the system as to be an impediment to real reform. I made this clear to
Steele a year an a half ago and he either forgot, disagrees or has a
different opinion. It will be interesting to see just how much real
education reform we can get past Coody in the powerful position in
which Steele has placed her.
Steele said we must defend our constitutional rights to bear arms, but
then chose Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa) to sit in the all powerful floor
leader’s position. As we live today, our rights to bear arms are
greatly infringed. During the session earlier this year, Sullivan was
a huge impediment toward “restoring” those rights. In addition Sue
Tibbs (R-Tulsa) was also a big problem earlier this year and now
Steele has appointed Tibbs to be Chairman of the powerful Public
Safety committee, the committee in which all second amendment issues
will most likely survive or fail.
And while Steele tried to diminish conservative’s and Christian’s
concerns by proclaiming he is pro-life, he failed to mention several
serious problems such as where he stands on the invasion of illegal
aliens, the growing threats from the expansion of Sharia Law and the
advancing agenda of the homosexual community. The abortion issue is
vital and we as Christians must never go to sleep or turn our backs on
this issue. However, God has a perspective on all issues and we need
to pay more attention to these other issues than we have in the
past.
On Wednesday, December 1st the Oklahoman had a front page article on
the Business section titled: “Oklahoma ready for a fight”. Oh really,
has legislative leadership and the Oklahoma business community finally
grown a spine and are they truly over their cowardice? The article is
about new regulations the TYRANTS at the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) are about to impose on Oklahoma’s 6 coal fired power
plants. Supposedly to clean up a problem which basically doesn’t exist
or if it does, it wouldn’t be caused by our power plants, but rather
those in Texas.
In the article, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
Director Steve Thompson said officials are not optimistic the U.S. EPA
will approve the state’s plan to reduce emissions that affect
visibility in federal wildlife areas. If the EPA slaps these excessive
new regulations on the State of Oklahoma it will mean a huge increase
in electric utility rates for consumers and our businesses alike. It
will really hinder having an environment for a vibrant economy. These
“fighters” are hoping newly elected AG Scott Pruitt will be willing to
go into the courts on behalf of Oklahoma.
I hope Pruitt will take the feds on and believe he will. However,
during this year’s legislative session, Representative Sally Kern (R-
OKC & Bethany) authored a bill to allow Oklahoma citizens to amend
our constitution to establish the Oklahoma DEQ and the Corporation
Commission to be have the final say on all environmental issues. House
leadership (of which Steele was a part) wouldn’t stand behind Sally
during this year’s session and Thompson was against the measure along
with some of Oklahoma’s major corporations.
The reason? Sally was told that since the Obama administration didn’t
like Oklahoma (because every county voted for McCain) they were
fearful that if we stood up to them in this manner, the feds might
punish Oklahoma businesses, especially those in the energy industry,
by not allowing them to sell their products outside the state under
the justification of the interstate commerce clause in the U.S.
Constitution.
That fear of the feds is why I suggest the terms “spineless” and
“cowards.” If we would alter our State Constitution to reflect our
superior “states rights authority” we might have to go to the courts
on that issue. On the other hand, we might really push back and just
ignore an unconstitutional order coming out of a federal court on this
issue and just see how far the feds would push it.
In the mean time, as I said a few weeks ago in one of these e-mails,
the newly elected Republican majority in the U.S. House of
Representatives have enormous power to protect the states in this
regard. Since all funding and spending bills must originate in the
U.S. House they could simply cut the EPA’s budget in half or
completely de-fund this liberal bastion of excessive power. Nothing
like being out of a job or missing their paychecks to explain to
nameless faceless bureaucrats what is acceptable and what is not.
I liked much of what Kris Steele has said, but the proof will come in
the pudding, which will soon be made known. We are looking for action
more than just words.
++ THE SENATOR HARRY COATES SAGA
Of all the elections for the good guys this year, none disappointed me
more than seeing Harry Coates, the liberal State Senator from Seminole
slither to victory over a good and Godly man, Tim Clem. Oh, I was
plenty disappointed that Randy Brogdon failed to beat Mary Fallin in
the gubernatorial primary, but I always knew it was an up-hill battle
for Randy and the odds were against him. Even at that, he did very
well and came within a little over 4 and a half percentage points of
forcing a run-off, an event of which I feel confident would have gone
in Randy’s favor.
However, I really believed Tim Clem had a very good chance of beating
Coates, winner of OCPAC’s RINO Award in 3 of the past 8 years with
Coates also finishing as runner-up on 2 other occasions. The saddest
thing of all was that information of his alleged affair with the
Republican lobbyist Haley Atwood was exposed by her husband the day
after the filing period ended in a meeting where he served on the
staff of governor Henry but we couldn‘t figure a way to use that
information in a proper manner.
I tried to call hubby Atwood at his home phone number and was
surprised to receive a call from Haley the next day wanting to know
why I wanted to talk with her husband? She put me on notice that the
rumors of the affair were a private matter and that they would handle
it privately. Because of Oklahoma’s invasion of privacy laws, I
couldn’t reveal too much in the e-mails without putting myself at some
risk of legal action. I did tip off one of the local TV stations and
gave as much information as possible to an investigative journalist in
hopes he could break the story. I even gave him the tip to look into a
trip to Colorado where Harry and Haley were both present at the same
time and to check on contribution records or lobbying contracts.
However, nothing came of this until this past week when the Oklahoman
broke the story big time. Besides the Atwoods getting a divorce,
Harry’s wife of 39 years is bound to be suffering, and who knows if
their marriage will survive. About the only good that came out of the
whole affair so far is that Harry had to drop out of his bid to become
the next Senate President Pro-Tem.
As a point of interest, shortly after the election I was contacted by
Stu Phillips, editor of the Seminole Producer. He wanted to know if I
had any of the campaign literature that Harry had sent out? He was
particularly interested in anything that had Harry and his wife
together. I believe that Lance Cargile was the campaign consultant for
Harry and had put together a slick piece with Harry and his wife
sitting at “Pops” in Arcadia, supposedly having a good time. Another
picture showed them walking hand in hand, oh so lovely, but apparently
such a false presentation of reality.
The voters should have elected Tim Clem on the issues, with this
affair as just one more reason they should have turned him out.
Unfortunately, there just weren’t many people who knew about it and as
always, all elections are first and foremost about the quality and
character of the voters. Secondly, elections are about the candidates.
If you have a majority of poor quality voters, then your have poor
quality lawmakers. Fairly simple, but it is the way our founders set
the system up and it works.
The contract to build and or operate a new juvenile center should
probably be re-bid, making sure all bidders meet the same standards
when it comes to secure beds and that Coates or Atwood didn’t use any
undue influence in the process. It is hoped that kids who are put in
these centers can be reformed. However, most of them are very angry
and rebellious and as such they are dangerous to themselves as well as
others. Many of them, perhaps most, will go on to fill our prisons or
get a needle in their arm as they grow older regardless of our efforts
to reform them, but for now they must be controlled.
In the past, Coates has often appeared to me to be an arrogant bully.
He is the definition of a RINO, a distinction in which he seems to
revel. He is an embarrassment to the Republican party and if he has
gained any humility through these events, he should resign his
position. Not that he probably cares about my opinion, but I also
suggest he humble himself, repent before God and cry out to be fully
restored in that relationship. Hopefully he and his wife will find a
way to restore their marriage.
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP
This Wednesday will be the deadline to join OCPAC for anyone wanting
to vote to determine which candidate we might endorse and support in
the up-coming special election to replace Todd Lamb for the Senate
district #47 seat.
To be able to vote in any OCPAC election, our by-laws require a member
to have their dues paid 2 weeks prior to any vote and they must be
present to vote on all candidate endorsements. If you are a dues
paying member for 2010 (there are 287 in that category) you will
qualify. All memberships being paid since the middle of October are
for 2011. As long as you pay or your dues or your membership check is
postmarked by this Wednesday, December 8th, you will also be eligible
to vote on the 22nd. We have already had a good number of people join
since we stopped taking additional memberships for the 2010 calendar
year. Thanks to everyone who is supporting our efforts in this
particular way. Instructions to join are below.
I look forward to seeing everyone this afternoon for the trip to
Bartlesville and/or Wednesday for our meeting.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS & GARY BEASLEY’S PASSING
++ SPEAKER-ELECT STEEL’S RESPONSE
++ THE SENATOR HARRY COATES SAGA
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, December 8th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. We will spend some
time discussing the “Do The Right Thing Tea Party” demonstration and
some possible ongoing efforts to try and keep Republicans focused on
EVERY important issue, not just on the important economic issues. As a
guest speaker we will have Mr. Robert Dani, founder and leader of the
High Noon Club, which meets every Friday 12 noon, at H&H gun range in
OKC. I attended this past Friday for my 2nd time and am so glad to see
another vibrant club growing and getting involved to make Oklahoma a
better place. It is billed as a citizens forum for Political Issues. I
want Bob to tell us how the club came about, what they are doing today
and what might be part of their future vision. In addition, if we have
time I want to show a fairly new DVD produced by the John Birch
Society titled: AMERICAN TYRANNY STEP BY STEP - SAVING OUR REPUBLIC.
This excellent production will chronicle some of the commonalities
with all tyrants and more specifically some of the things Adolph
Hitler did once he came to power in an attempt to solidify his power.
The DVD will show some of the parallels between Hitler and President
Obama as his regiments of anti-Americans have worked to solidify their
power. The similarities are shocking.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
** Early last week, Gary Beasley’s wife sent me an e-mail to let me
know that Gary had passed away. I probably first met Gary in about
1986 as we were both getting involved in Logan County Republican party
politics. At the time Gary lived in Crescent where he operated a metal
reclamation business with his father.
Gary was very helpful to me when I ran for the State Senate in 1990
against Enoch Kelley Haney from Seminole. He was also one of the first
to attend the Wednesday lunch bunch, which eventually became a
debating society and then turned into OCPAC.
If my memory serves me correctly, Gary had been an anti-war, anti-
American hippy who moved to Belise in Central America. Somewhere
during that time, he had his eyes opened and became a true American
patriot. He had a love in his heart for the nation of Israel and saw
their value as an American ally. He was always articulate in pointing
out the evils and dangers of Islam. In recent years, Gary’s health had
declined as he had been restricted to using a cane or wheelchair and
could only occasionally attend OCPAC meetings. I always enjoyed
hearing Gary’s voice when he would call in to national radio programs,
always expressing his points succinctly. Oklahoma lost a great
citizen. Please pray for Gary’s widow and his family.
** THURSDAY EVENING - MOORE AREA - The Sooner Republican Assembly
will have their Christmas dinner starting at 6:00 p.m. It will be held
at Earls Rib Palace in Moore. No reservations are needed as you can
order off the menu. Pastor Dan Fisher will be speaking about the 7
lies we’re being told about America.
** THURSDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - The Tulsa area Republican
Assembly will have their monthly meeting this Thursday evening with
the meal starting at 6 and the meeting starting at 7:00 p.m. The
location is the Golden Corral, at 71st and Mingo, just west of Highway
169. Speaking will be Dan Sullivan, the next House Majority floor
leader. Hopefully those in attendance will ask him if he will support
efforts to re-claim our God given rights to bear arms.
** THURSDAY EVENING - ENID AREA - The Oklahoma Council of Public
Affairs (OCPA) and we the people are hosting a dinner event featuring
Cato Institute scholar Timothy Sandefur, author of THE RIGHT TO EARN A
LIVING: ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND THE LAW. The event begins at 6:00 p.m.,
is open to the public and the dinner is free. However, seating is
limited so you must RSVP to Chelsea@ocpacthink.org or call (405)
602-1667. The location will be the Advance Food Complex, 5110
Enterprise Blvd. in Enid (corner of East Willow and North 54th) Mr.
Sandefur is an attorney who specializes in protecting businesses from
abusive government overreach and most especially the improper use of
eminent domain.
++ SPEAKER-ELECT STEEL’S RESPONSE
The timeline, Thanksgiving day the upsetting article appears in the
Oklahoman, later that day Representative Terrill issued a press
release calling on Speaker-elect Kris Steele to issue a statement
clarifying and repudiating certain aspects of the article. On Tuesday
the 30th I sent out the weekly OCPAC e-mail announcing that the
Oklahoman had not printed Terrill’s press release, so I published it.
The next day the Oklahoman did an article which included an interview
with Representative Terrill. This past Wednesday, Representative
Steele issued a response to clarify his positions, but still left many
concerned about certain issues. Steele’s response was published
yesterday, in Sunday’s Oklahoman as a point of view.
First, let me say the tone of the response was good, it even had some
well thought out verbiage regarding the economy. As an example he
said: “I believe our agenda must take a balanced approach that
focuses on conservative solutions to fiscal and social policy.” Well
stated in my opinion. He went on to say: “ Because the national
recession has left many jobless and created a $600 million state
shortfall, it is clear we must enact sensible reforms that ALLOW
(emphasis mine) Oklahomans to reach their economic potential and grow
our state economy.” Steele continued, “My hope is to ESTABLISH AN
ENVIRONMENT (emphasis mine) in Oklahoma that is conducive to job
growth, job creation and job enhancement. That focus must include
lawsuit reform, workers’ compensation reform, restructuring of the tax
code and similar policies.”
Those 3 paragraphs are excellent if he really understands what he said
as well as what he didn’t say and if he really means what he said.
Note, he didn’t use the words “economic development”, as anytime a
government official at any level uses those words, it convey a message
that it is the GOVERNMENT’S responsibility to develop the economy. If
that is your philosophy, then you believe in fascist (government
doesn’t own, but controls the means of production of goods and
services) capitalism or the words economic development may also stand
for socialist (government owning and controlling the means of
production of goods and services) capitalism.
In either of those two systems, government will pick the winners and
those who get the special privileges or opportunities. In socialist
capitalism, the government will actually own and operate businesses,
thus competing against private entities who will always be at a
disadvantage in that competition.
When Representative Steele uses words like “allow” and “establish an
environment”, those words are as strong as it gets when it comes to
private or free market capitalism. In a free market economy,
government will keep regulations at a bare minimum and businesses will
NOT be taxed. Businesses consider taxes to be overhead and thus
increase the price of their goods and services to cover that overhead
and thus the consumer always pays for business taxes through higher
prices for those goods or services. Politicians love that, because as
they tax businesses, the consumer isn’t cognizant of the amount of
taxes imbedded in the price of a product or service and thus some of
the real cost of government is hidden from the citizens.
In a real free market economy, if consumers aren’t willing to purchase
certain products or support certain services, then they go away. On
the other hand, sharp businessmen may figure out a way to convince
enough in the marketplace to buy or hire products or services to pay
all overhead and have some left over for themselves which is called
profit. Free market economies always see the best and brightest
business rise to the top. In central planned economies, it may be more
likely that the well connected rise to the top and not necessarily the
best business man delivering the best product or service at the most
reasonable price.
Another positive statement in his response was: “We must defend our
constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms, defend
against federal government overreach, and guard against those who
intentionally break the law and pose a threat to public safety.” An
additional strong statement was: “Although some may not realize it,
being polite and civil is not the same thing as being weak.” I fully
agree.
However, there were some things he said, which I have a hard time
reconciling with his actions. First off he stated: “In addition, we
must reform education so Oklahoma children from all corners of the
state can excel in college and thrive in the work force after they
graduate.” With the election of Janet Barresi and the effort of school
choice advocates, the conditions better exist today than ever before
for some badly needed school reforms.
However, Speaker-elect Steele appointed Ann Coody (R-Lawton) Chairman
of Common Education committee and Jabar Shumate (D-Tulsa) as Vice-
Chair. While Shumate is a liberal Democrat, when it comes to education
he is very reform minded. He understands that perhaps one of the best
ways out of the hood is a good education and that school choice is one
of the best hopes to allow children to escape the teacher union
controlled drop out factories in the inner city schools.
On the other hand, while Representative Coody is a nice person, she is
a retired educator of 39 years and in my opinion is so engrained into
the system as to be an impediment to real reform. I made this clear to
Steele a year an a half ago and he either forgot, disagrees or has a
different opinion. It will be interesting to see just how much real
education reform we can get past Coody in the powerful position in
which Steele has placed her.
Steele said we must defend our constitutional rights to bear arms, but
then chose Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa) to sit in the all powerful floor
leader’s position. As we live today, our rights to bear arms are
greatly infringed. During the session earlier this year, Sullivan was
a huge impediment toward “restoring” those rights. In addition Sue
Tibbs (R-Tulsa) was also a big problem earlier this year and now
Steele has appointed Tibbs to be Chairman of the powerful Public
Safety committee, the committee in which all second amendment issues
will most likely survive or fail.
And while Steele tried to diminish conservative’s and Christian’s
concerns by proclaiming he is pro-life, he failed to mention several
serious problems such as where he stands on the invasion of illegal
aliens, the growing threats from the expansion of Sharia Law and the
advancing agenda of the homosexual community. The abortion issue is
vital and we as Christians must never go to sleep or turn our backs on
this issue. However, God has a perspective on all issues and we need
to pay more attention to these other issues than we have in the
past.
On Wednesday, December 1st the Oklahoman had a front page article on
the Business section titled: “Oklahoma ready for a fight”. Oh really,
has legislative leadership and the Oklahoma business community finally
grown a spine and are they truly over their cowardice? The article is
about new regulations the TYRANTS at the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) are about to impose on Oklahoma’s 6 coal fired power
plants. Supposedly to clean up a problem which basically doesn’t exist
or if it does, it wouldn’t be caused by our power plants, but rather
those in Texas.
In the article, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
Director Steve Thompson said officials are not optimistic the U.S. EPA
will approve the state’s plan to reduce emissions that affect
visibility in federal wildlife areas. If the EPA slaps these excessive
new regulations on the State of Oklahoma it will mean a huge increase
in electric utility rates for consumers and our businesses alike. It
will really hinder having an environment for a vibrant economy. These
“fighters” are hoping newly elected AG Scott Pruitt will be willing to
go into the courts on behalf of Oklahoma.
I hope Pruitt will take the feds on and believe he will. However,
during this year’s legislative session, Representative Sally Kern (R-
OKC & Bethany) authored a bill to allow Oklahoma citizens to amend
our constitution to establish the Oklahoma DEQ and the Corporation
Commission to be have the final say on all environmental issues. House
leadership (of which Steele was a part) wouldn’t stand behind Sally
during this year’s session and Thompson was against the measure along
with some of Oklahoma’s major corporations.
The reason? Sally was told that since the Obama administration didn’t
like Oklahoma (because every county voted for McCain) they were
fearful that if we stood up to them in this manner, the feds might
punish Oklahoma businesses, especially those in the energy industry,
by not allowing them to sell their products outside the state under
the justification of the interstate commerce clause in the U.S.
Constitution.
That fear of the feds is why I suggest the terms “spineless” and
“cowards.” If we would alter our State Constitution to reflect our
superior “states rights authority” we might have to go to the courts
on that issue. On the other hand, we might really push back and just
ignore an unconstitutional order coming out of a federal court on this
issue and just see how far the feds would push it.
In the mean time, as I said a few weeks ago in one of these e-mails,
the newly elected Republican majority in the U.S. House of
Representatives have enormous power to protect the states in this
regard. Since all funding and spending bills must originate in the
U.S. House they could simply cut the EPA’s budget in half or
completely de-fund this liberal bastion of excessive power. Nothing
like being out of a job or missing their paychecks to explain to
nameless faceless bureaucrats what is acceptable and what is not.
I liked much of what Kris Steele has said, but the proof will come in
the pudding, which will soon be made known. We are looking for action
more than just words.
++ THE SENATOR HARRY COATES SAGA
Of all the elections for the good guys this year, none disappointed me
more than seeing Harry Coates, the liberal State Senator from Seminole
slither to victory over a good and Godly man, Tim Clem. Oh, I was
plenty disappointed that Randy Brogdon failed to beat Mary Fallin in
the gubernatorial primary, but I always knew it was an up-hill battle
for Randy and the odds were against him. Even at that, he did very
well and came within a little over 4 and a half percentage points of
forcing a run-off, an event of which I feel confident would have gone
in Randy’s favor.
However, I really believed Tim Clem had a very good chance of beating
Coates, winner of OCPAC’s RINO Award in 3 of the past 8 years with
Coates also finishing as runner-up on 2 other occasions. The saddest
thing of all was that information of his alleged affair with the
Republican lobbyist Haley Atwood was exposed by her husband the day
after the filing period ended in a meeting where he served on the
staff of governor Henry but we couldn‘t figure a way to use that
information in a proper manner.
I tried to call hubby Atwood at his home phone number and was
surprised to receive a call from Haley the next day wanting to know
why I wanted to talk with her husband? She put me on notice that the
rumors of the affair were a private matter and that they would handle
it privately. Because of Oklahoma’s invasion of privacy laws, I
couldn’t reveal too much in the e-mails without putting myself at some
risk of legal action. I did tip off one of the local TV stations and
gave as much information as possible to an investigative journalist in
hopes he could break the story. I even gave him the tip to look into a
trip to Colorado where Harry and Haley were both present at the same
time and to check on contribution records or lobbying contracts.
However, nothing came of this until this past week when the Oklahoman
broke the story big time. Besides the Atwoods getting a divorce,
Harry’s wife of 39 years is bound to be suffering, and who knows if
their marriage will survive. About the only good that came out of the
whole affair so far is that Harry had to drop out of his bid to become
the next Senate President Pro-Tem.
As a point of interest, shortly after the election I was contacted by
Stu Phillips, editor of the Seminole Producer. He wanted to know if I
had any of the campaign literature that Harry had sent out? He was
particularly interested in anything that had Harry and his wife
together. I believe that Lance Cargile was the campaign consultant for
Harry and had put together a slick piece with Harry and his wife
sitting at “Pops” in Arcadia, supposedly having a good time. Another
picture showed them walking hand in hand, oh so lovely, but apparently
such a false presentation of reality.
The voters should have elected Tim Clem on the issues, with this
affair as just one more reason they should have turned him out.
Unfortunately, there just weren’t many people who knew about it and as
always, all elections are first and foremost about the quality and
character of the voters. Secondly, elections are about the candidates.
If you have a majority of poor quality voters, then your have poor
quality lawmakers. Fairly simple, but it is the way our founders set
the system up and it works.
The contract to build and or operate a new juvenile center should
probably be re-bid, making sure all bidders meet the same standards
when it comes to secure beds and that Coates or Atwood didn’t use any
undue influence in the process. It is hoped that kids who are put in
these centers can be reformed. However, most of them are very angry
and rebellious and as such they are dangerous to themselves as well as
others. Many of them, perhaps most, will go on to fill our prisons or
get a needle in their arm as they grow older regardless of our efforts
to reform them, but for now they must be controlled.
In the past, Coates has often appeared to me to be an arrogant bully.
He is the definition of a RINO, a distinction in which he seems to
revel. He is an embarrassment to the Republican party and if he has
gained any humility through these events, he should resign his
position. Not that he probably cares about my opinion, but I also
suggest he humble himself, repent before God and cry out to be fully
restored in that relationship. Hopefully he and his wife will find a
way to restore their marriage.
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP
This Wednesday will be the deadline to join OCPAC for anyone wanting
to vote to determine which candidate we might endorse and support in
the up-coming special election to replace Todd Lamb for the Senate
district #47 seat.
To be able to vote in any OCPAC election, our by-laws require a member
to have their dues paid 2 weeks prior to any vote and they must be
present to vote on all candidate endorsements. If you are a dues
paying member for 2010 (there are 287 in that category) you will
qualify. All memberships being paid since the middle of October are
for 2011. As long as you pay or your dues or your membership check is
postmarked by this Wednesday, December 8th, you will also be eligible
to vote on the 22nd. We have already had a good number of people join
since we stopped taking additional memberships for the 2010 calendar
year. Thanks to everyone who is supporting our efforts in this
particular way. Instructions to join are below.
I look forward to seeing everyone this afternoon for the trip to
Bartlesville and/or Wednesday for our meeting.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Sunday, December 5, 2010
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
The regular weekly e-mail will be out a little
later, but I wanted this stand alone e-mail for those planning on
going to Bartlesville, tomorrow on Monday evening, December the 6th.
About 6 or 7 hours after I sent the special OCPAC e-mail out last
Friday, Speaker-elect Kris Steele sent an e-mail to all the members of
the House Republican caucus with an announcement regarding a change of
location for the banquet on Monday evening. The reason given was due
to more participation than originally planned.
Therefore, we will NOT be gathering outside of the Phillips Building
at 5:00 p.m., but rather outside of the Bartlesville Community Center
at the intersection of Adams and Cherokee which is still in downtown
Bartlesville. The time to start our demonstration will still be 5:00
p.m.
Sometimes those in government do things which make the citizens quite
upset. While it is important to hold them accountable, and we try to
do so, it is also helpful to use some humor if possible. Therefore, I
intend to wear a Santa costume with an appropriate Yule Tide greeting
for all Republican House members, whether they be true conservatives
or those dubious RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).
If you live in central Oklahoma and want to caravan with us, be sure
and arrive at the Turner turnpike parking lot on the East side of I-35
at the 122nd street exit (across I-35 from the Loves and the
Crackerbarrel Restaurant) . We will depart at 2:00 p.m sharp. We have
a bus and a couple of vans going, so there will be some seating for
the ones who get there first. Others will need to bring their own
vehicles. Please make this a priority and come if you can.
You are welcome to make your own signs, I will have some extra for
those who may not have time to make their own.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
later, but I wanted this stand alone e-mail for those planning on
going to Bartlesville, tomorrow on Monday evening, December the 6th.
About 6 or 7 hours after I sent the special OCPAC e-mail out last
Friday, Speaker-elect Kris Steele sent an e-mail to all the members of
the House Republican caucus with an announcement regarding a change of
location for the banquet on Monday evening. The reason given was due
to more participation than originally planned.
Therefore, we will NOT be gathering outside of the Phillips Building
at 5:00 p.m., but rather outside of the Bartlesville Community Center
at the intersection of Adams and Cherokee which is still in downtown
Bartlesville. The time to start our demonstration will still be 5:00
p.m.
Sometimes those in government do things which make the citizens quite
upset. While it is important to hold them accountable, and we try to
do so, it is also helpful to use some humor if possible. Therefore, I
intend to wear a Santa costume with an appropriate Yule Tide greeting
for all Republican House members, whether they be true conservatives
or those dubious RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).
If you live in central Oklahoma and want to caravan with us, be sure
and arrive at the Turner turnpike parking lot on the East side of I-35
at the 122nd street exit (across I-35 from the Loves and the
Crackerbarrel Restaurant) . We will depart at 2:00 p.m sharp. We have
a bus and a couple of vans going, so there will be some seating for
the ones who get there first. Others will need to bring their own
vehicles. Please make this a priority and come if you can.
You are welcome to make your own signs, I will have some extra for
those who may not have time to make their own.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Friday, December 3, 2010
There are some time sensitive announcements...
1) The recent article in the Oklahoman (Thanksgiving day) suggested
that Speaker-elect “Steele and other Republican leaders are
increasingly favoring priorities shared by several in the state
business community who would prefer Oklahoma be in the national
spotlight for economic reasons rather than legislators SQUABBLING
(emphasis mine) over immigration, weapons or social issues.”
Because of this expressed attitude, a decision has been made to go to
Bartlesville Monday evening, December 6th to conduct a demonstration
the evening before the House Republicans meet for their annual
retreat. If you care about 1 or more of the following issues:
abortion, the rising homosexual agenda, the growing threats from
radical Muslims and Sharia Law, the ever expanding big brother privacy
invasion laws, irrational 2nd Amendment restrictions, the invasion of
illegal aliens, Tenth Amendment issues and personal liberty in
general, then you really need to make every effort to re-arrange your
priorities and try to get to Bartlesville. This is a critical time to
let your voice be heard. It might be dubbed, The Do the Right Thing
TEA PARTY! Following is our schedule:
THE GOAL - Wherever you are coming from, “BE” in downtown
Bartlesville in front of the Phillips Building (the tallest downtown
building) across from the rear of the Hilton Garden Inn at 5:00 p.m.,
next Monday, December 6th. We will end our demonstration around 7:00
p.m.
WHAT TO BRING - Dress for cool weather and bring tasteful signs.
(Some suggestions at the end of this e-mail). You may want to bring
some snacks.
CARAVAN SCHEDULE FROM THE OKC AREA - I believe we have at least 1
bus and 2 vans which will depart from the Turner Turnpike parking lot
(I-35 and NE 122nd) at 2:00 p.m. sharp. First come first serve for
seating in these vehicles. Be prepared to bring your own vehicle or
ride with someone else if all seating is filled. Depending on time, we
might stop for fast food, otherwise we should be back around 9:30 p.m.
or a little later.
2) Over the past 2 or 3 years we have had a couple of meetings about
“Sustainable Development” which is a global movement to eventually
control and regulate all the land and every action on the globe. This
movement came out of the UN sponsored Agenda 21 Conference, first
revealed at the UN’s Earth Summit in 1992. The working name is
Sustainable Development. The Agenda 21 document can be found on the
ICLEI website at iclei.com. An understanding of the evils of this
movement can be found on the www.ok-safe.org website or www.sovereignty.net
web site.
With that brief background in mind, The city of Edmond will hold a
forum for public comments, also on Monday evening, as they are just
beginning to head down this path of excessive control and wasteful
spending. I know there will be a few well informed citizens on this
issue in attendance at this forum and they would really appreciate the
support of others.
The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will be held at Edmond’s
Downtown Community Center, I believe it is just North of the Police
Station. We have been educating ourselves for a long time, it is time
for good citizens to step forward and let our voices be heard.
++ 3) The controversial but excellently produced documentary Maafa
21 will be shown tonight, Friday the 3rd on the campus of The
University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). The showing will begin at 7:00
p.m. and the location will be room 101 in the Education Building. This
production documents the Black Genocide in the 21st Century. It is
open for students and the general public.
Thanks for your time and attention. Following will be some suggestions
for demonstration messages.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND - RINOs ARE THE ONES DIVIDING OUR HOUSE
WE VOTED FOR ELEPHANTS - NOT RINOs
DON’T STEELE OUR CONSERVATIVE VICTORY
A GOOD ECONOMY “PLUS” CONSERVATIVE SOCIAL ISSUES WILL MAKE OKLAHOMA A
BETTER PLACE
STAND UP FOR SOCIAL ISSUES - DON’T BE PUPPETS AND MINONS OF THE STATE
CHAMBER AND THE OKLAHOMAN
STOP THE SHARIA LAW AGENDA
ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE LAWBREAKERS WHO TAKE JOBS FROM CITIZENS AND CONSUME
TAX DOLLARS - DON’T WAIT ON THE FEDS, SOLVE THIS PROBLEM IN OUR STATE.
HALT THE GROWING BIG BROTHER SURVAILANCE STATE
REMOVE THE RESTRICTIONS FROM OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO PROTECT OURSELVES
BY BEARING ARMS
PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE INNOCENT, MAKE ABORTION DIFFICULT AND ILLEGAL
LET THE FREE MARKET PAY FOR ART, NOT THE TAXPAYERS
STOP THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA - ITS SINFUL, IMMORAL AND LIBERAL
PROTECT OUR SOVEREIGNTY AND LIBERTY FROM THE OVER REACH OF THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT.
READ THE 10TH AMENDMENT - STAND UP FOR OKLAHOMA
THE PRIMARY ELECTIN CYCLE FOR SOME OF YOU MAY START THE DAY AFTER THE
SESSION ENDS!!!
WE WANT REPRESENTATION, NOT DICTATORIAL LEADERSHIP - STOP BLOCKING
GOOD LEGISLATION
I am sure your creative minds can come with additional or better sign
slogans than these. Don’t trust my spelling!
that Speaker-elect “Steele and other Republican leaders are
increasingly favoring priorities shared by several in the state
business community who would prefer Oklahoma be in the national
spotlight for economic reasons rather than legislators SQUABBLING
(emphasis mine) over immigration, weapons or social issues.”
Because of this expressed attitude, a decision has been made to go to
Bartlesville Monday evening, December 6th to conduct a demonstration
the evening before the House Republicans meet for their annual
retreat. If you care about 1 or more of the following issues:
abortion, the rising homosexual agenda, the growing threats from
radical Muslims and Sharia Law, the ever expanding big brother privacy
invasion laws, irrational 2nd Amendment restrictions, the invasion of
illegal aliens, Tenth Amendment issues and personal liberty in
general, then you really need to make every effort to re-arrange your
priorities and try to get to Bartlesville. This is a critical time to
let your voice be heard. It might be dubbed, The Do the Right Thing
TEA PARTY! Following is our schedule:
THE GOAL - Wherever you are coming from, “BE” in downtown
Bartlesville in front of the Phillips Building (the tallest downtown
building) across from the rear of the Hilton Garden Inn at 5:00 p.m.,
next Monday, December 6th. We will end our demonstration around 7:00
p.m.
WHAT TO BRING - Dress for cool weather and bring tasteful signs.
(Some suggestions at the end of this e-mail). You may want to bring
some snacks.
CARAVAN SCHEDULE FROM THE OKC AREA - I believe we have at least 1
bus and 2 vans which will depart from the Turner Turnpike parking lot
(I-35 and NE 122nd) at 2:00 p.m. sharp. First come first serve for
seating in these vehicles. Be prepared to bring your own vehicle or
ride with someone else if all seating is filled. Depending on time, we
might stop for fast food, otherwise we should be back around 9:30 p.m.
or a little later.
2) Over the past 2 or 3 years we have had a couple of meetings about
“Sustainable Development” which is a global movement to eventually
control and regulate all the land and every action on the globe. This
movement came out of the UN sponsored Agenda 21 Conference, first
revealed at the UN’s Earth Summit in 1992. The working name is
Sustainable Development. The Agenda 21 document can be found on the
ICLEI website at iclei.com. An understanding of the evils of this
movement can be found on the www.ok-safe.org website or www.sovereignty.net
web site.
With that brief background in mind, The city of Edmond will hold a
forum for public comments, also on Monday evening, as they are just
beginning to head down this path of excessive control and wasteful
spending. I know there will be a few well informed citizens on this
issue in attendance at this forum and they would really appreciate the
support of others.
The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will be held at Edmond’s
Downtown Community Center, I believe it is just North of the Police
Station. We have been educating ourselves for a long time, it is time
for good citizens to step forward and let our voices be heard.
++ 3) The controversial but excellently produced documentary Maafa
21 will be shown tonight, Friday the 3rd on the campus of The
University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). The showing will begin at 7:00
p.m. and the location will be room 101 in the Education Building. This
production documents the Black Genocide in the 21st Century. It is
open for students and the general public.
Thanks for your time and attention. Following will be some suggestions
for demonstration messages.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND - RINOs ARE THE ONES DIVIDING OUR HOUSE
WE VOTED FOR ELEPHANTS - NOT RINOs
DON’T STEELE OUR CONSERVATIVE VICTORY
A GOOD ECONOMY “PLUS” CONSERVATIVE SOCIAL ISSUES WILL MAKE OKLAHOMA A
BETTER PLACE
STAND UP FOR SOCIAL ISSUES - DON’T BE PUPPETS AND MINONS OF THE STATE
CHAMBER AND THE OKLAHOMAN
STOP THE SHARIA LAW AGENDA
ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE LAWBREAKERS WHO TAKE JOBS FROM CITIZENS AND CONSUME
TAX DOLLARS - DON’T WAIT ON THE FEDS, SOLVE THIS PROBLEM IN OUR STATE.
HALT THE GROWING BIG BROTHER SURVAILANCE STATE
REMOVE THE RESTRICTIONS FROM OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO PROTECT OURSELVES
BY BEARING ARMS
PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE INNOCENT, MAKE ABORTION DIFFICULT AND ILLEGAL
LET THE FREE MARKET PAY FOR ART, NOT THE TAXPAYERS
STOP THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA - ITS SINFUL, IMMORAL AND LIBERAL
PROTECT OUR SOVEREIGNTY AND LIBERTY FROM THE OVER REACH OF THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT.
READ THE 10TH AMENDMENT - STAND UP FOR OKLAHOMA
THE PRIMARY ELECTIN CYCLE FOR SOME OF YOU MAY START THE DAY AFTER THE
SESSION ENDS!!!
WE WANT REPRESENTATION, NOT DICTATORIAL LEADERSHIP - STOP BLOCKING
GOOD LEGISLATION
I am sure your creative minds can come with additional or better sign
slogans than these. Don’t trust my spelling!
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