++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 29th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Speaking briefly
this week will be Peter Hodges. He recently attended the political
event in Minneapolis Minnesota. Peter is one of the conservative
Catholics working to get the local Oklahoma Sponsoring Committee (with
links to Saul Alinsky) out of the local Catholic parishes. We may have
some speakers at OCPAC in the future as a result of contacts made by
Peter while in Minnesota. Our main speaker will be Lori Coats,
director for Oklahoma’s Agri-tourism for that part of Oklahoma west of
I-35. So you don’t know anything about Agri-tourism? Well that is
exactly the reason for having Lori come to explain, what it is, where
its located and how to participate. She will have about a 30 minute
power point presentation and enough hand-outs for everyone in
attendance.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* MONDAY EVENING - OKLAHOMA COUNTY - Come meet Darrell Sorrels,
possibly the next County Sheriff for Oklahoma County. Many folks
believe Democrat Sheriff John Wetsel has been in office long enough
and possibly Republican Darrell Sorrels will be just the man to
replace the existing Sheriff. The meeting will be held Monday evening
June 27th, at the Edmond Library (10 South Boulevard) from 6:30 to
8:00 p.m.
Darrell has served the citizens in Oklahoma County as a professional
law-enforcement officer for over 20 years. He is currently a special
deputy for the U.S. Marshal Service. He has earned an Advanced Law
Enforcement Certification with the State of Oklahoma and is currently
a state certified law enforcement instructor. Darrell is a devoted
husband, father, grandfather and perhaps more important, a serious
Christian. Darrell attends First Southern Baptist Church in Del City
and calls himself a Constitutional Conservative Christian.
Following is his pledge to the voters: “I am committed to the citizens
and taxpayers of Oklahoma County to reduce government spending. I am
led to serve as a conservative voice for the citizens and a proactive
leader in law enforcement. I will keep my word to uphold, defend,
protect, preserve, and obey the Constitution of the United States of
America. The founders of America pledged their lives, their fortunes,
and their sacred honor to establish liberty here in the USA. To keep
it, we the people must do likewise. To ensure the trust of our
citizens, we must train our law enforcement professionals in Character
First and Police Dynamics.”
For further information e-mail darrell.sorrels@att.net of call (405)
942-0262. I have gotten to know Darrell over the past several months
and believe he would be an exceptional Sheriff. Please take some time
to attend Monday evening to meet Darrell and make your own decision.
* TUESDAY EVENING - KONAWA - A new tea party has started meeting
in Konawa which is in the Southeastern part of Seminole County, near
the Pottawattamie county line. The location will be the American
Legion Hall in Konawa with the times being from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m.
Speaking at this month’s meeting will be Tony Lauinger, head of
Oklahomans For Life. Tony is also on the board of the National Right
To Life organization. Also speaking will be freshman State Senator
Ralph Shortey. Senator Shortey will be speaking about his experience
in the legislature this year, all that happened and things that he
learned. For the folks in this area, please get out and support these
developing tea parties, they are making a difference in the rural
areas of Oklahoma.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
TAX RE-STRUCTURE, GREAT NEWS, MAYBE
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ TAX RE-STRUCTURE, GREAT NEWS, MAYBE
++ HB 1804 GETS APPROVAL OF STATE SUPREME COURT
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 22nd will be held at
Italiano’ restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This week the owners
of the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper will present to our members the
final bills for consideration to make up this year’s Conservative
Index. All of our dues paying members as of 06-08-11 and who are
present at our meeting will be given a ballot to vote for the most
important bills to be used in this year’s index. Our debate on the
bills presented to us will center around those bills that are the most
significant to be used. This will be the 33rd year for the
Conservative Index. Our members have served as somewhat of a focus
group to determine the most important ones for the past 12 to 14
years.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* TUESDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - Tuesday evening, June 21st the
Tulsa Area Republican Assembly will have Mayor Dewey Bartlett as their
speaker. The location is the Golden Corral, 71st street and Mingo,
with folks gathering at 6 for dinner and the formal meeting will begin
at 7:00 p.m.. The club recently had a speaker that wanted to oust
Mayor Bartlett. During this meeting the Mayor will have a chance to
tell of any positive changes and make a case for his efforts.
* TUESDAY MORNING - OKC AREA - I mentioned in last week’s e-mail
the lawsuit filed by Oklahoma’s taxpayer watch-dog, Jerry Fent. Mr.
Fent is suing Mary Fallin, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, et al,
over the unconstitutional diversion of funds intended for roads and
bridges to other uses. Oral arguments will be presented to a Referee
in the State Supreme Court Chamber at the Capitol this Thursday, June
21st at 10:30 a.m.
Republicans need their hands slapped for continuing the same kind of
shell games played by the Democrats when they were in power. I know
its late notice, but if you care about good government and have some
time this Today, please attend this meeting to show support for Mr.
Fent and the Constitutional governance of Oklahoma.
* THURSDAY EVENING - OKC & EDMOND - Members of the group
Governing Edmond Locally (GEL) will meet, 7:00 p.m., at Molly Jenkins’
conference room, 10802 Quail Plaza Dr. in OKC. This group has done an
excellent job of educating citizens as well as folks in authority
regarding the U.N.’s Agenda 21 and its sustainability movement. If you
want to educate yourself on this issue and make a difference, please
attend this meeting. This past Wednesday Glen Beck did a program on
this issue which will give a huge boost to groups like GEL.
* JULY 28TH & 29TH - CENTRAL OKLAHOMA - This is the first
announcement regarding this Year’s Reclaiming America for Christ
Conference to be held on the above dates at Trinity Baptist Church in
Yukon. Session #1 will be from 6:15 until 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night
the 28th. Session #2 will be held Friday afternoon the 29th from 1:30
p.m. until 5:00 p.m. and session #3 will be held from 6:15 until 10:00
p.m.
Keynote speakers this year will be Dr. Bob Cornuke, President of the
Bible Archaeology, Search & Exploration (BASE) Institute and Dr. G.
Thomas Sharp, President of Creation Research Institute. Also speaking
this year will be pastor Dan Fisher, pastor Paul Blair, Matt Barber of
the Liberty Counsel legal ministry, Congressman James Lankford,
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma State Representative
Sally Kern and Jenni White, President of Restore Oklahoma Public
Education (ROPE).
Please put this on your calendar for now. I will give more details as
time gets closer. I believe this will be the 6th year for these
outstanding conferences. They have come a long way from the first year
with a couple hundred in attendance to last year’s conference of over
3,000. There is no charge to attend, but a love offering will be
taken. For more information log on to www.ra4c.org or call (405) 796-
PRAY.
Let me urge folks to download a flyer from the web-site to give to
your pastor and others. The only chance America has to return to its
greatness is for a revival within the Christian church, where its
pastors preach a Biblical gospel and lead their congregations into the
knowledge and action in the cultural war of which we are embroiled.
++ TAX RE-STRUCTURE, GREAT NEWS, MAYBE
State Representative David Dank is working on re-structuring our tax
system and this past week Governor Fallin, while in Lawton, announced
her desire to eliminate the personal income tax and through re-
structure still have the ability to fund the proper functions of
government. When pressed by a reporter, she indicated she didn’t know
how to accomplish that task but was committed to it.
Let me suggest, we ought to set a goal of what kind of economy we want
in Oklahoma, and then set a strategy to accomplish such. One important
principle to understand is the concept that there are two sides of an
economy from which government derives its needed revenues. First there
is the production side of the economy with government getting revenues
by taxing corporate income, personal income, capitol gains and any
kind of taxes or fees on businesses, such as a franchise tax. Second,
there is the consumption side of the economy with government getting
revenues from sales taxes, or fees on activities.
There is an old adage that says: “whatever you tax, you get less of
it.” With that in mind, it would be foolish to tax the production side
of our economy as we don’t want less production of products and
services, as growth in those areas create jobs and higher wages.
Therefore, state government (and federal as well) need to derive their
NECESSARY revenues from the consumptive side our economy. There are 2
different ways to eliminate all personal and corporate income taxes,
as well as other business taxes. We could take the former Governor
Frank Keating approach which was very unpopular at the time, where
Frank wanted to shift taxation from production side of the economy to
the consumption side by expanding sales taxes to services, such as
your barber, hair stylist, attorney services, window cleaning
services, plumber, electrician and so on. Of course the trade off was
that we would no longer have a state or corporate income tax. His goal
was to be revenue neutral.
This re-structuring would allow businesses to lower the price of their
goods, thus making them more competitive in a national and global
market place. A lower cost of doing business in Oklahoma would
encourage more businesses to locate here or current businesses to
expand their operations as well as stay in Oklahoma rather then re-
locate to Texas (just last week we had another business located in
Tulsa, announce they would be moving to Dallas). Please remember,
businesses consider taxes as overhead and they build the cost of that
overhead into their pricing, thus it is the consumers who pay those
taxes. While this revenue neutral tax shift would be better than what
we have now, there is a better way.
The best way to accomplish the re-structure is to reduce government
spending and broaden the tax base by re-examining some of the sales
tax exemptions granted by the legislature in recent years. When
reducing the size and cost of government, there is a temptation to use
those savings for other programs or an expansion of existing programs.
The goal must be to use the savings as an off-set for the purpose of
reducing income and business taxes.
Areas to cut government spending would be on many of the business
subsidy programs, such as Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Act and the
Governor’s new closing fund (while it was created this year, it has no
money in it as yet). In the competition for new businesses, we would
lose this incentive, but gain another by removing corporate taxes,
franchise taxes, personal income taxes and capitol gains taxes. I
would remove these taxes in this order for maximum benefit to creating
an environment for businesses to flourish in Oklahoma.
Over the past several years, the legislature has continued to add to
the number of things exempted from sales taxes. Every sales tax
exemption makes it more difficult to cut income taxes as government
must get its necessary revenues from some where. Without looking at
the complete list of recent sales tax exemptions, I would only keep 2.
I would keep the sales tax exemption on prescription drugs (some of
these are really expensive and many have a challenge in affording the
drug, let alone with a huge sales tax added on. I would also keep the
sales tax exemption on tickets for national championship or regional
tournaments held in Oklahoma. If a sales tax is the determining factor
as to where such are played, we will make up any lost money on tickets
with greater spending in our restaurants, motels and general shopping.
On the other hand, I would repeal the sales tax exemption on the sale
of tickets for professional sporting events (such as tickets to
Thunder games) and keep the sales tax on groceries. For the very poor,
this is just about the only direct tax they pay and it is very
important for them to keep some skin in the game. In addition, with
growth in the economy more people will be working, spending money and
thus paying additional sales taxes. Should the oil and gas industry
increased the production in the state, more gross production taxes (a
type of consumer tax) will increase the flow of revenues to
government. Those increased funds should be used for repairs to state
property and salary increases when and where needed.
I would suggest a comprehensive plan is vital. Hopefully
Representative Dank and other will craft a good overall plan.
++ HB 1804 GETS APPROVAL OF STATE SUPREME COURT
Congratulations to Representative Randy Terrill (R-Moore) as this past
week the State Supreme Court up-held the majority of the content of
H.B. 1804 (the law passed 3 or 4 years ago to deal with the problems
created by illegal aliens). Terrill was the brilliant author of the
legislation which is complex and thorough. The one part they did
declare went too far was the presumption that illegals would be a
flight risk and therefore they would be automatically denied bond. I
believe they are a flight risk and every illegal alien that flees and
commits another crime will be upon the judge that sets bond as well as
the State Supreme Court Justices.
There is more to be done legislatively on the issue of illegal aliens.
Hopefully Terrill, Senator Shortey and others can have future success
in those efforts. Probably the most important need now is for law
enforcement to actually enforce the laws already on the books in this
regard.
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
We had 9 new memberships come in over the past week. That now brings
our total for the year to 217 dues paying members. I bring this up as
we are now tied with our all time record for memberships in a non-
election year. This is how we build our war chest to elect
conservative candidates, support conservative lawmakers in their re-
election bids and hold those RINOs accountable. To join, please fill
out the information below and mail it to us with your check or money
order. Thanks so much to everyone for your support.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ TAX RE-STRUCTURE, GREAT NEWS, MAYBE
++ HB 1804 GETS APPROVAL OF STATE SUPREME COURT
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 22nd will be held at
Italiano’ restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This week the owners
of the Oklahoma Constitution Newspaper will present to our members the
final bills for consideration to make up this year’s Conservative
Index. All of our dues paying members as of 06-08-11 and who are
present at our meeting will be given a ballot to vote for the most
important bills to be used in this year’s index. Our debate on the
bills presented to us will center around those bills that are the most
significant to be used. This will be the 33rd year for the
Conservative Index. Our members have served as somewhat of a focus
group to determine the most important ones for the past 12 to 14
years.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* TUESDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - Tuesday evening, June 21st the
Tulsa Area Republican Assembly will have Mayor Dewey Bartlett as their
speaker. The location is the Golden Corral, 71st street and Mingo,
with folks gathering at 6 for dinner and the formal meeting will begin
at 7:00 p.m.. The club recently had a speaker that wanted to oust
Mayor Bartlett. During this meeting the Mayor will have a chance to
tell of any positive changes and make a case for his efforts.
* TUESDAY MORNING - OKC AREA - I mentioned in last week’s e-mail
the lawsuit filed by Oklahoma’s taxpayer watch-dog, Jerry Fent. Mr.
Fent is suing Mary Fallin, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, et al,
over the unconstitutional diversion of funds intended for roads and
bridges to other uses. Oral arguments will be presented to a Referee
in the State Supreme Court Chamber at the Capitol this Thursday, June
21st at 10:30 a.m.
Republicans need their hands slapped for continuing the same kind of
shell games played by the Democrats when they were in power. I know
its late notice, but if you care about good government and have some
time this Today, please attend this meeting to show support for Mr.
Fent and the Constitutional governance of Oklahoma.
* THURSDAY EVENING - OKC & EDMOND - Members of the group
Governing Edmond Locally (GEL) will meet, 7:00 p.m., at Molly Jenkins’
conference room, 10802 Quail Plaza Dr. in OKC. This group has done an
excellent job of educating citizens as well as folks in authority
regarding the U.N.’s Agenda 21 and its sustainability movement. If you
want to educate yourself on this issue and make a difference, please
attend this meeting. This past Wednesday Glen Beck did a program on
this issue which will give a huge boost to groups like GEL.
* JULY 28TH & 29TH - CENTRAL OKLAHOMA - This is the first
announcement regarding this Year’s Reclaiming America for Christ
Conference to be held on the above dates at Trinity Baptist Church in
Yukon. Session #1 will be from 6:15 until 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night
the 28th. Session #2 will be held Friday afternoon the 29th from 1:30
p.m. until 5:00 p.m. and session #3 will be held from 6:15 until 10:00
p.m.
Keynote speakers this year will be Dr. Bob Cornuke, President of the
Bible Archaeology, Search & Exploration (BASE) Institute and Dr. G.
Thomas Sharp, President of Creation Research Institute. Also speaking
this year will be pastor Dan Fisher, pastor Paul Blair, Matt Barber of
the Liberty Counsel legal ministry, Congressman James Lankford,
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma State Representative
Sally Kern and Jenni White, President of Restore Oklahoma Public
Education (ROPE).
Please put this on your calendar for now. I will give more details as
time gets closer. I believe this will be the 6th year for these
outstanding conferences. They have come a long way from the first year
with a couple hundred in attendance to last year’s conference of over
3,000. There is no charge to attend, but a love offering will be
taken. For more information log on to www.ra4c.org or call (405) 796-
PRAY.
Let me urge folks to download a flyer from the web-site to give to
your pastor and others. The only chance America has to return to its
greatness is for a revival within the Christian church, where its
pastors preach a Biblical gospel and lead their congregations into the
knowledge and action in the cultural war of which we are embroiled.
++ TAX RE-STRUCTURE, GREAT NEWS, MAYBE
State Representative David Dank is working on re-structuring our tax
system and this past week Governor Fallin, while in Lawton, announced
her desire to eliminate the personal income tax and through re-
structure still have the ability to fund the proper functions of
government. When pressed by a reporter, she indicated she didn’t know
how to accomplish that task but was committed to it.
Let me suggest, we ought to set a goal of what kind of economy we want
in Oklahoma, and then set a strategy to accomplish such. One important
principle to understand is the concept that there are two sides of an
economy from which government derives its needed revenues. First there
is the production side of the economy with government getting revenues
by taxing corporate income, personal income, capitol gains and any
kind of taxes or fees on businesses, such as a franchise tax. Second,
there is the consumption side of the economy with government getting
revenues from sales taxes, or fees on activities.
There is an old adage that says: “whatever you tax, you get less of
it.” With that in mind, it would be foolish to tax the production side
of our economy as we don’t want less production of products and
services, as growth in those areas create jobs and higher wages.
Therefore, state government (and federal as well) need to derive their
NECESSARY revenues from the consumptive side our economy. There are 2
different ways to eliminate all personal and corporate income taxes,
as well as other business taxes. We could take the former Governor
Frank Keating approach which was very unpopular at the time, where
Frank wanted to shift taxation from production side of the economy to
the consumption side by expanding sales taxes to services, such as
your barber, hair stylist, attorney services, window cleaning
services, plumber, electrician and so on. Of course the trade off was
that we would no longer have a state or corporate income tax. His goal
was to be revenue neutral.
This re-structuring would allow businesses to lower the price of their
goods, thus making them more competitive in a national and global
market place. A lower cost of doing business in Oklahoma would
encourage more businesses to locate here or current businesses to
expand their operations as well as stay in Oklahoma rather then re-
locate to Texas (just last week we had another business located in
Tulsa, announce they would be moving to Dallas). Please remember,
businesses consider taxes as overhead and they build the cost of that
overhead into their pricing, thus it is the consumers who pay those
taxes. While this revenue neutral tax shift would be better than what
we have now, there is a better way.
The best way to accomplish the re-structure is to reduce government
spending and broaden the tax base by re-examining some of the sales
tax exemptions granted by the legislature in recent years. When
reducing the size and cost of government, there is a temptation to use
those savings for other programs or an expansion of existing programs.
The goal must be to use the savings as an off-set for the purpose of
reducing income and business taxes.
Areas to cut government spending would be on many of the business
subsidy programs, such as Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Act and the
Governor’s new closing fund (while it was created this year, it has no
money in it as yet). In the competition for new businesses, we would
lose this incentive, but gain another by removing corporate taxes,
franchise taxes, personal income taxes and capitol gains taxes. I
would remove these taxes in this order for maximum benefit to creating
an environment for businesses to flourish in Oklahoma.
Over the past several years, the legislature has continued to add to
the number of things exempted from sales taxes. Every sales tax
exemption makes it more difficult to cut income taxes as government
must get its necessary revenues from some where. Without looking at
the complete list of recent sales tax exemptions, I would only keep 2.
I would keep the sales tax exemption on prescription drugs (some of
these are really expensive and many have a challenge in affording the
drug, let alone with a huge sales tax added on. I would also keep the
sales tax exemption on tickets for national championship or regional
tournaments held in Oklahoma. If a sales tax is the determining factor
as to where such are played, we will make up any lost money on tickets
with greater spending in our restaurants, motels and general shopping.
On the other hand, I would repeal the sales tax exemption on the sale
of tickets for professional sporting events (such as tickets to
Thunder games) and keep the sales tax on groceries. For the very poor,
this is just about the only direct tax they pay and it is very
important for them to keep some skin in the game. In addition, with
growth in the economy more people will be working, spending money and
thus paying additional sales taxes. Should the oil and gas industry
increased the production in the state, more gross production taxes (a
type of consumer tax) will increase the flow of revenues to
government. Those increased funds should be used for repairs to state
property and salary increases when and where needed.
I would suggest a comprehensive plan is vital. Hopefully
Representative Dank and other will craft a good overall plan.
++ HB 1804 GETS APPROVAL OF STATE SUPREME COURT
Congratulations to Representative Randy Terrill (R-Moore) as this past
week the State Supreme Court up-held the majority of the content of
H.B. 1804 (the law passed 3 or 4 years ago to deal with the problems
created by illegal aliens). Terrill was the brilliant author of the
legislation which is complex and thorough. The one part they did
declare went too far was the presumption that illegals would be a
flight risk and therefore they would be automatically denied bond. I
believe they are a flight risk and every illegal alien that flees and
commits another crime will be upon the judge that sets bond as well as
the State Supreme Court Justices.
There is more to be done legislatively on the issue of illegal aliens.
Hopefully Terrill, Senator Shortey and others can have future success
in those efforts. Probably the most important need now is for law
enforcement to actually enforce the laws already on the books in this
regard.
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
We had 9 new memberships come in over the past week. That now brings
our total for the year to 217 dues paying members. I bring this up as
we are now tied with our all time record for memberships in a non-
election year. This is how we build our war chest to elect
conservative candidates, support conservative lawmakers in their re-
election bids and hold those RINOs accountable. To join, please fill
out the information below and mail it to us with your check or money
order. Thanks so much to everyone for your support.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
BOREN HAD ENOUGH, SENATE SPECIAL ELECTION BEGINS NOW
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ JERRY FENT FILES LAWSUIT - UNCONSTITUTIONAL SPENDING
++ BOREN HAD ENOUGH, SENATE SPECIAL ELECTION BEGINS NOW
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 15th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This Wednesday will
be our first part of a two Wednesday effort to help establish this
year’s Conservative Index, published by the Oklahoma Constitution
Newspaper. It is primarily a 3 part process. Shortly before session
ended, and invitation was hand delivered to every Republican lawmaker
with an invitation to participate in creating the Conservative Index
for this year’s session. They were instructed to suggest bills that
were reflective of a conservative or liberal position and send them to
the Newspapers office no later than June 1st. Next they were invited
to attend this Wednesday’s meeting to debate as to whether bills that
were submitted are actually a reflection of a liberal or conservative
vote. Following this Wednesday’s debate, the newspaper’s editors will
remove any bills that fail to be a good example, then next Wednesday,
June 22nd, they will bring the final bills to us for our dues paying
members to vote as to the 10 most important votes which should make up
the Conservative Index. I believe we have 25 bills to consider this
Wednesday. In reality, there were many very good bills that will not
be considered as they didn’t get a hearing or perhaps they got a vote
in only the House or Senate and weren’t voted on in both chambers. We
have had as many as 15 lawmakers attend in the past. This meeting is
always very educational for our members and lawmakers get a good read
on the thinking of the grassroots conservatives.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* TUESDAY AFTERNOON - OKC AREA - Our good friend Jennie White,
founder of: Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE) will host a
press conference, 1:00 p.m. in Room 419A at the State Capitol. Jennie
has done a great deal of research on the federal government’s “Common
Core Curriculum Standards and found them to be little more than a
rehash of the Outcome-Based Education model originally described by
the self-avowed Socialist/Humanist John Dewey and others of his ilk.
So much so, Jennie suggests the Common Core Curriculum Standards are
little more than an “introduction to Marxism 101. If you can attend
this presentation to support Jenni, please try to do so. I am not
sure, but I don’t believe Janet Barresi is up to speed on this issue
as yet.
* TUESDAY EVENING - ADA AREA - The Seminole-Ada Tea Party will
hold their monthly meeting in the Industrial Arts Classroom on the
Career Tech campus in Ada. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. The first
speaker will be Dr. Earl Taylor speaking about the 28 principles of
good government which is the basis of the book the 5000 Year Leap.
Following Dr. Taylor will be State Representative Tom Newell (R-
Seminole) who will field questions about this year’s legislative
session. Then the keynote speaker will be Jenni White, explaining the
dangers of the Marxist like Common Core Curriculum Standards. If you
live anywhere within 40 to 50 miles of Ada, this is well worth your
time and effort to attend.
++ JERRY FENT FILES LAWSUIT - UNCONSTITUTIONAL SPENDING
Just before the session ended, I explained the shell game in which
legislative leaders and the Governor intended to engage so they could
borrow money for funding the budget rather than cutting additional
waste, fluff or improper functions of government. The shell game was a
plan to rob $100 million in transportation department dollars to use
for other purposes, then borrow $70 million in bonded indebtedness to
repay that amount of the $100 million robbed from the department.
Last Wednesday, Oklahoma’s top taxpayer watchdog, Jerry Fent, filed a
lawsuit naming Governor Fallin and other state leaders. Fent indicates
the State Constitution expressly says “no tax levied and collected for
one purpose shall ever be devoted to another purpose.” His lawsuit
claims that revenue raised by the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel in
the state is dedicated to roads and bridges. Fent believes that once
the public realizes that monies paid for roads and bridges are going
to be siphoned off to other uses, that very public is going to be
outraged and I would say, rightly so. While $70 million will be put
back into the roads and bridges fund through bonded indebtedness, $30
million will not be replaced.
I believe that vote will be one of the 10 issues to make up this
year’s conservative index and would suggest unless the Supremes can
demonstrate why the Constitution shouldn’t be followed, those Justices
disagreeing with Fent should be booted out during next year’s
retention ballot during the general election. Oral arguments are set
to be heard by a Supreme Court referee on June 21st. Outraged citizens
should pack the courtroom on that date to show their concern. I will
try to have the time of the hearing published in next week’s e-mail.
++ BOREN HAD ENOUGH, SENATE SPECIAL ELECTION BEGINS NOW
Last week U.S. Representative Dan Boren announced he will not seek re-
election next year, but will finish out his term. On the Democrat
side, Brad Carson who formerly held this seat announced he was
interested in returning to Congress. He vacated the seat when he ran
for the U.S. Senate, but was defeated by Tom Coburn.
On the Republican side, State Representative George Faught (R-
Muskogee) quickly announced an interest in running. Faught could be a
strong candidate as he has proven an ability to win in Muskogee which
is the largest city in the district. Dr. Charles Thompson was the
nominee during the 2010 elections and though he was outspent by Boren
nearly 18 to 1, he still garnered close to 44% of the vote.
With proper backing, the eventual Republican candidate will have an
excellent chance of picking up this seat. This once seemingly
impenetrable Democrat district has been trending toward the Republican
party, as many of the legislative seats in the district are now in the
hands of Republican lawmakers.
Filing period will be Monday through Wednesday of this week for the
State Senate District 43 seat which has been held for the past 11
years by Jim Reynolds. Last November, Reynolds ran for Cleveland
County Treasurer and won that election. However, he will take office
next month and therefore was able to serve in the Senate for this
year’s session.
State Representative Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) has planned to run for
this seat for some time and therefore filed for the office yesterday.
However, redistricting has created a small problem for Paul should he
win. This seat is up for re-election next year, but under
redistricting, by 2 blocks, Paul will not live in this senate seat
next year, so he will have to run for a different Senate unless he is
able to move.
This seat is not a given for the Republicans. I believe Reynolds is
the first Republican to hold the seat and he nearly lost the election
in 2008. In a bit of a fluke, his opponent was named David Boren, of
course it wasn’t David Boren the President of OU, but another fellow
with the same name. About 10 days out of the election, hundreds of
thousands of dollars, most from out of state, poured into an effort to
elect Boren and it almost worked. It was close enough that the Boren
backers paid for a recount.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
To join OCPAC fill out the following and send your check to:
OCPAC
P.O. Box 2021
Edmond, OK 73083
Yes Charlie, I want to join OCPAC at one of the following levels:
___Basic membership at $50 per year.
Safari Club Membership:
___Elephant Provider at ___$180 annual or ___$15 monthly
___Elephant Provider & RINO Hunter, ___$360 annual or ___$30 monthly
For monthly payments please send a voided check so we may draft your
Checking account on a monthly basis. If you decide to discontinue
monthly support, simply contact me and we will stop the withdrawal.
THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED BY STATE LAW !
Print Name____________________________________________
Address___________________City___________State____Zip_____
Occupation____________________Employer_________________
Date___________________Amount $_______________
I have freely given from my own resources & have not been compensated
for this contribution. (Corporate contributions not allowed by law!)
Signature_____________________________________
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ JERRY FENT FILES LAWSUIT - UNCONSTITUTIONAL SPENDING
++ BOREN HAD ENOUGH, SENATE SPECIAL ELECTION BEGINS NOW
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 15th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This Wednesday will
be our first part of a two Wednesday effort to help establish this
year’s Conservative Index, published by the Oklahoma Constitution
Newspaper. It is primarily a 3 part process. Shortly before session
ended, and invitation was hand delivered to every Republican lawmaker
with an invitation to participate in creating the Conservative Index
for this year’s session. They were instructed to suggest bills that
were reflective of a conservative or liberal position and send them to
the Newspapers office no later than June 1st. Next they were invited
to attend this Wednesday’s meeting to debate as to whether bills that
were submitted are actually a reflection of a liberal or conservative
vote. Following this Wednesday’s debate, the newspaper’s editors will
remove any bills that fail to be a good example, then next Wednesday,
June 22nd, they will bring the final bills to us for our dues paying
members to vote as to the 10 most important votes which should make up
the Conservative Index. I believe we have 25 bills to consider this
Wednesday. In reality, there were many very good bills that will not
be considered as they didn’t get a hearing or perhaps they got a vote
in only the House or Senate and weren’t voted on in both chambers. We
have had as many as 15 lawmakers attend in the past. This meeting is
always very educational for our members and lawmakers get a good read
on the thinking of the grassroots conservatives.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* TUESDAY AFTERNOON - OKC AREA - Our good friend Jennie White,
founder of: Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE) will host a
press conference, 1:00 p.m. in Room 419A at the State Capitol. Jennie
has done a great deal of research on the federal government’s “Common
Core Curriculum Standards and found them to be little more than a
rehash of the Outcome-Based Education model originally described by
the self-avowed Socialist/Humanist John Dewey and others of his ilk.
So much so, Jennie suggests the Common Core Curriculum Standards are
little more than an “introduction to Marxism 101. If you can attend
this presentation to support Jenni, please try to do so. I am not
sure, but I don’t believe Janet Barresi is up to speed on this issue
as yet.
* TUESDAY EVENING - ADA AREA - The Seminole-Ada Tea Party will
hold their monthly meeting in the Industrial Arts Classroom on the
Career Tech campus in Ada. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. The first
speaker will be Dr. Earl Taylor speaking about the 28 principles of
good government which is the basis of the book the 5000 Year Leap.
Following Dr. Taylor will be State Representative Tom Newell (R-
Seminole) who will field questions about this year’s legislative
session. Then the keynote speaker will be Jenni White, explaining the
dangers of the Marxist like Common Core Curriculum Standards. If you
live anywhere within 40 to 50 miles of Ada, this is well worth your
time and effort to attend.
++ JERRY FENT FILES LAWSUIT - UNCONSTITUTIONAL SPENDING
Just before the session ended, I explained the shell game in which
legislative leaders and the Governor intended to engage so they could
borrow money for funding the budget rather than cutting additional
waste, fluff or improper functions of government. The shell game was a
plan to rob $100 million in transportation department dollars to use
for other purposes, then borrow $70 million in bonded indebtedness to
repay that amount of the $100 million robbed from the department.
Last Wednesday, Oklahoma’s top taxpayer watchdog, Jerry Fent, filed a
lawsuit naming Governor Fallin and other state leaders. Fent indicates
the State Constitution expressly says “no tax levied and collected for
one purpose shall ever be devoted to another purpose.” His lawsuit
claims that revenue raised by the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel in
the state is dedicated to roads and bridges. Fent believes that once
the public realizes that monies paid for roads and bridges are going
to be siphoned off to other uses, that very public is going to be
outraged and I would say, rightly so. While $70 million will be put
back into the roads and bridges fund through bonded indebtedness, $30
million will not be replaced.
I believe that vote will be one of the 10 issues to make up this
year’s conservative index and would suggest unless the Supremes can
demonstrate why the Constitution shouldn’t be followed, those Justices
disagreeing with Fent should be booted out during next year’s
retention ballot during the general election. Oral arguments are set
to be heard by a Supreme Court referee on June 21st. Outraged citizens
should pack the courtroom on that date to show their concern. I will
try to have the time of the hearing published in next week’s e-mail.
++ BOREN HAD ENOUGH, SENATE SPECIAL ELECTION BEGINS NOW
Last week U.S. Representative Dan Boren announced he will not seek re-
election next year, but will finish out his term. On the Democrat
side, Brad Carson who formerly held this seat announced he was
interested in returning to Congress. He vacated the seat when he ran
for the U.S. Senate, but was defeated by Tom Coburn.
On the Republican side, State Representative George Faught (R-
Muskogee) quickly announced an interest in running. Faught could be a
strong candidate as he has proven an ability to win in Muskogee which
is the largest city in the district. Dr. Charles Thompson was the
nominee during the 2010 elections and though he was outspent by Boren
nearly 18 to 1, he still garnered close to 44% of the vote.
With proper backing, the eventual Republican candidate will have an
excellent chance of picking up this seat. This once seemingly
impenetrable Democrat district has been trending toward the Republican
party, as many of the legislative seats in the district are now in the
hands of Republican lawmakers.
Filing period will be Monday through Wednesday of this week for the
State Senate District 43 seat which has been held for the past 11
years by Jim Reynolds. Last November, Reynolds ran for Cleveland
County Treasurer and won that election. However, he will take office
next month and therefore was able to serve in the Senate for this
year’s session.
State Representative Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) has planned to run for
this seat for some time and therefore filed for the office yesterday.
However, redistricting has created a small problem for Paul should he
win. This seat is up for re-election next year, but under
redistricting, by 2 blocks, Paul will not live in this senate seat
next year, so he will have to run for a different Senate unless he is
able to move.
This seat is not a given for the Republicans. I believe Reynolds is
the first Republican to hold the seat and he nearly lost the election
in 2008. In a bit of a fluke, his opponent was named David Boren, of
course it wasn’t David Boren the President of OU, but another fellow
with the same name. About 10 days out of the election, hundreds of
thousands of dollars, most from out of state, poured into an effort to
elect Boren and it almost worked. It was close enough that the Boren
backers paid for a recount.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
To join OCPAC fill out the following and send your check to:
OCPAC
P.O. Box 2021
Edmond, OK 73083
Yes Charlie, I want to join OCPAC at one of the following levels:
___Basic membership at $50 per year.
Safari Club Membership:
___Elephant Provider at ___$180 annual or ___$15 monthly
___Elephant Provider & RINO Hunter, ___$360 annual or ___$30 monthly
For monthly payments please send a voided check so we may draft your
Checking account on a monthly basis. If you decide to discontinue
monthly support, simply contact me and we will stop the withdrawal.
THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED BY STATE LAW !
Print Name____________________________________________
Address___________________City___________State____Zip_____
Occupation____________________Employer_________________
Date___________________Amount $_______________
I have freely given from my own resources & have not been compensated
for this contribution. (Corporate contributions not allowed by law!)
Signature_____________________________________
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
IN MEMORY OF BOB TONEY
++ IN MEMORY OF BOB TONEY
++ AMERICAN CHRISTIAN HERITAGE TOUR
++ IN MEMORY OF BOB TONEY
Over the weekend I began to receive e-mails that our friend Bob Toney
was in need of blood due to open heart surgery. Unfortunately, Bob
passed away sometime on Sunday. Before I share some important
information about Bob as a patriot and Christian, let me give the
details for his funeral.
His central Oklahoma service will be tomorrow, June 9th, 10:00 a.m. in
the auditorium at Christian Heritage Academy, 4400 Southeast 27th
street in Del City. There will also be a graveside service at 2:00
p.m. in Weatherford, Oklahoma at the Plainview Cemetery. In lieu of
flowers the family has requested that donations be made to the
Christian Heritage Academy Athletic Program/Student Aid (Christian
Heritage Academy, 4400 S.E. 27th, Del City, Ok 73115)
What I am about to say about Bob (and others) I wanted to write in
regard to the recent Memorial Day holiday, but I just couldn’t get it
out in time. However, with Bob’s passing, I am going to say it now.
Memorial day is a time we honor those who have given their lives in
the service of our country, primarily through military service. We
frequently hear about the sacrifices those men and women have made to
preserve our freedoms. I do not want to diminish those memories one
fraction, though many of our service men and women have sometimes
given their lives more out of obedience or obligation to the service
of our country rather than really fighting for our freedoms.
Certainly WW 2 was an all out national effort to beat the forces of
aggression and freedom oppressing tyranny so that we might remain
free. While the advance of Communism was always, and still is, a
threat to our future liberty, unfortunately the Korean and Vietnam
wars were influenced and orchrastrated too much by organizations such
as the U.N. and SETO as well as an intention by our own government,
not to win. I would suggest wars in Somalia, Kosovo, and now Libya
consume the resources of our nation and the loss of American lives.
However, I have grave concern as to any real American interest in
those wars, especially any risk to our freedoms.
All of those who have served honorably in an American uniform and died
as a result of the call of our country are deserving of respect,
thanks and memorializing. However, I want to speak of another kind of
warrior, one who prior to his passing expended his time, effort, life
and resources in a form of warfare that truly is for our liberties.
People like Bob Toney, who understood the definition of true
patriotism and gave of himself in the culture war, a battle for the
hearts and minds of Americans as well as promoting the ideals of our
founding fathers.
Growing up, Bob played football, wrestled and excelled in baseball. He
led the OSU Cowboys to a runner up finish in the College World Series
in 1996 and was unanimously named as the Series All Star 3rd baseman.
Bob signed with the Atlanta Braves and played 6 years of professional
baseball. Later on he coached neighborhood baseball and softball teams
then he originated the Christian Heritage Academy High School team. He
went on to lead that team to multiple state championships. In very
recent years Bob opened his office in Del City for numerous sessions
on Activism through the John Birch Society as well as leadership
training for members of the Society. Once Bob saw the quality and
value of THE TRUTH PROJECT, produced by Focus on The Family, Bob
traveled the state introducing churches to this superb 13 hour DVD
presentation.
Bottom line, Bob Toney has gone on the be with the Lord. He should be
remembered along with other patriots who expended their lives and
sacrificed in the eternal fight for Liberty. Bob joins others who have
gone on before him like Robert Welch, Leon Skousen, Gary Allen, and on
a more local level, folks like Jack Edens, Joe Russell, Vincent
Roshager, Tom Ragsdale, Bill Stemmons, Tim Pope and many others that
slip my mind and are too numerous to list. I don’t want to take one
thing away from our men and women in uniform that have given their
lives, but I believe people like Bob Toney and many others are just as
deserving of honor and respect, though most people have been unaware
of their sacrifices.
Bob was given over 100 units of blood, and though he has passed on,
the burden of paying for that blood will fall upon his family, unless
his friends will donate in his name. I gave today after the OCPAC
meeting and all of his information is in the Oklahoma Blood Institute
donor system. If you would like to do something in his memory, please
consider a contribution to the Christian Heritage Athletic Program/
Student Aid that I mentioned above.
++ AMERICAN CHRISTIAN HERITAGE TOUR
The Ralph Bullard Heritage Foundation is sponsoring an American
Christian Heritage Tour from September 13th through the 20th of this
year. My wife and I were able to go on this tour 4 years ago, and I
can say without a doubt it is the finest trip I have ever taken, even
more memorable the our trip to Israel in 1980.
The tour director will be CHA’s Secondary Headmaster, Mr. David Holmes
who has directed 30 of these tours in past years. Assisting will be
Ralph Bullard and on site you will benefit from the guidance of Dr.
Paul Jehle, the leading Pilgrim historian in America today.
The primary areas for the tour will be Plymouth and Boston, rich in
the founding and history of this nation. You will be introduced to
first generation history and the many sites of our earliest times. The
information you learn will be free from the errors of revisionist
history. History will come alive like never before.
On a really good note, the tour is actually a couple of hundred
dollars less per person than 4 years ago. There is only room for 44
people, so please check out the information if you have any hope or
intention of going. Log on to www.cha.org/heritage-tour.html to view
the information and check out the costs and details. In addition, you
may call (405) 672-1787 and ask for Ralph Bullard for more information
or e-mail him at: rbullard@cha.org.
Thanks for your time and attention.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
++ AMERICAN CHRISTIAN HERITAGE TOUR
++ IN MEMORY OF BOB TONEY
Over the weekend I began to receive e-mails that our friend Bob Toney
was in need of blood due to open heart surgery. Unfortunately, Bob
passed away sometime on Sunday. Before I share some important
information about Bob as a patriot and Christian, let me give the
details for his funeral.
His central Oklahoma service will be tomorrow, June 9th, 10:00 a.m. in
the auditorium at Christian Heritage Academy, 4400 Southeast 27th
street in Del City. There will also be a graveside service at 2:00
p.m. in Weatherford, Oklahoma at the Plainview Cemetery. In lieu of
flowers the family has requested that donations be made to the
Christian Heritage Academy Athletic Program/Student Aid (Christian
Heritage Academy, 4400 S.E. 27th, Del City, Ok 73115)
What I am about to say about Bob (and others) I wanted to write in
regard to the recent Memorial Day holiday, but I just couldn’t get it
out in time. However, with Bob’s passing, I am going to say it now.
Memorial day is a time we honor those who have given their lives in
the service of our country, primarily through military service. We
frequently hear about the sacrifices those men and women have made to
preserve our freedoms. I do not want to diminish those memories one
fraction, though many of our service men and women have sometimes
given their lives more out of obedience or obligation to the service
of our country rather than really fighting for our freedoms.
Certainly WW 2 was an all out national effort to beat the forces of
aggression and freedom oppressing tyranny so that we might remain
free. While the advance of Communism was always, and still is, a
threat to our future liberty, unfortunately the Korean and Vietnam
wars were influenced and orchrastrated too much by organizations such
as the U.N. and SETO as well as an intention by our own government,
not to win. I would suggest wars in Somalia, Kosovo, and now Libya
consume the resources of our nation and the loss of American lives.
However, I have grave concern as to any real American interest in
those wars, especially any risk to our freedoms.
All of those who have served honorably in an American uniform and died
as a result of the call of our country are deserving of respect,
thanks and memorializing. However, I want to speak of another kind of
warrior, one who prior to his passing expended his time, effort, life
and resources in a form of warfare that truly is for our liberties.
People like Bob Toney, who understood the definition of true
patriotism and gave of himself in the culture war, a battle for the
hearts and minds of Americans as well as promoting the ideals of our
founding fathers.
Growing up, Bob played football, wrestled and excelled in baseball. He
led the OSU Cowboys to a runner up finish in the College World Series
in 1996 and was unanimously named as the Series All Star 3rd baseman.
Bob signed with the Atlanta Braves and played 6 years of professional
baseball. Later on he coached neighborhood baseball and softball teams
then he originated the Christian Heritage Academy High School team. He
went on to lead that team to multiple state championships. In very
recent years Bob opened his office in Del City for numerous sessions
on Activism through the John Birch Society as well as leadership
training for members of the Society. Once Bob saw the quality and
value of THE TRUTH PROJECT, produced by Focus on The Family, Bob
traveled the state introducing churches to this superb 13 hour DVD
presentation.
Bottom line, Bob Toney has gone on the be with the Lord. He should be
remembered along with other patriots who expended their lives and
sacrificed in the eternal fight for Liberty. Bob joins others who have
gone on before him like Robert Welch, Leon Skousen, Gary Allen, and on
a more local level, folks like Jack Edens, Joe Russell, Vincent
Roshager, Tom Ragsdale, Bill Stemmons, Tim Pope and many others that
slip my mind and are too numerous to list. I don’t want to take one
thing away from our men and women in uniform that have given their
lives, but I believe people like Bob Toney and many others are just as
deserving of honor and respect, though most people have been unaware
of their sacrifices.
Bob was given over 100 units of blood, and though he has passed on,
the burden of paying for that blood will fall upon his family, unless
his friends will donate in his name. I gave today after the OCPAC
meeting and all of his information is in the Oklahoma Blood Institute
donor system. If you would like to do something in his memory, please
consider a contribution to the Christian Heritage Athletic Program/
Student Aid that I mentioned above.
++ AMERICAN CHRISTIAN HERITAGE TOUR
The Ralph Bullard Heritage Foundation is sponsoring an American
Christian Heritage Tour from September 13th through the 20th of this
year. My wife and I were able to go on this tour 4 years ago, and I
can say without a doubt it is the finest trip I have ever taken, even
more memorable the our trip to Israel in 1980.
The tour director will be CHA’s Secondary Headmaster, Mr. David Holmes
who has directed 30 of these tours in past years. Assisting will be
Ralph Bullard and on site you will benefit from the guidance of Dr.
Paul Jehle, the leading Pilgrim historian in America today.
The primary areas for the tour will be Plymouth and Boston, rich in
the founding and history of this nation. You will be introduced to
first generation history and the many sites of our earliest times. The
information you learn will be free from the errors of revisionist
history. History will come alive like never before.
On a really good note, the tour is actually a couple of hundred
dollars less per person than 4 years ago. There is only room for 44
people, so please check out the information if you have any hope or
intention of going. Log on to www.cha.org/heritage-tour.html to view
the information and check out the costs and details. In addition, you
may call (405) 672-1787 and ask for Ralph Bullard for more information
or e-mail him at: rbullard@cha.org.
Thanks for your time and attention.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Monday, June 6, 2011
BIG BROTHER - AN ATTITUDE - AN ENEMY OF LIBERTY
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ COMPARING OREGON AND OKLAHOMA
++ BIG BROTHER - AN ATTITUDE - AN ENEMY OF LIBERTY
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 8th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this
week will be Oklahoma’s senior U.S. Representative Frank Lucas.
Congressman Lucas is the first Oklahoman to be the Chairman of the
Powerful House Agriculture Committee. This will be our first time to
have Congressman Lucas. He currently represents the geographically
largest House District in the State of Oklahoma. During his town hall
meetings he is always good to take questions and I expect he will do
the same at OCPAC. I am very concerned about our involvement in Libya
as well as concerned that Republicans haven’t got the message as yet
about cutting spending. As an example, this past week they started
work on next year’s budget by passing legislation to fund the budget
for homeland defense. The 40 billion passed is only a 1 billion cut
from last year’s funding. Besides funding FEMA which will probably
soon shell out money to subsidize the installation of storm shelters
or safe rooms (an unconstitutional expenditure for the bankrupt
federal government) there are also millions of dollars for grants to
LOCAL fire and police departments. The later are certainly proper
functions of local governments, but not the federal government. While
James Lankford represents Oklahoma county, Frank Lucas represents the
neighboring counties of Logan and Canadian as well as points North and
West of those counties. Don’t miss this important meeting.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* THURSDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - The Oklahoma Second Amendment
organization (OK2A) will have their Tulsa area monthly meeting this
Thursday evening 7:00 p.m. at the Bass Pro Shop, 101 Bass Pro Drive in
Broken Arrow. The topic of discussion will be disaster preparedness.
There are many different types of disasters for which to be prepared.
* THURSDAY EVENING - EDMOND AREA - American Majority will conduct
another candidate training seminar, 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Edmond
library, 10 South Blvd. If you have ever considered running for office
or helping a friend to do so, this will be important training.
Reservations are not required but a head count would be helpful.
Please call Seth at (405) 639-8896 for more information.
++ COMPARING OREGON AND OKLAHOMA
I just wanted to share a few thoughts about my recent trip to Oregon.
The Southeastern part of Oregon looks a great deal like parts of the
Texas panhandle, but much of the rest of the state is lush with
greenery, mountains, rivers and waterfalls. I believe Oregon’s
populations is a few hundred thousand more than Oklahoma, though the
land mass is about the same.
While there, Oregon’s unemployment rate just dropped below 10% which
is a little above the national average and about twice the rate for
Oklahoma. Tourism is a huge business, but agriculture and the lumber
business face an ever increasing degree of difficulty with so many
animal rights and greenies exerting influence on the state government.
A major problem is that Oregon has no sales taxes, thus they must get
their government revenues from property and state income taxes. By
taxing the production side of the economy, rather than the consumption
side of the economy, it puts businesses at a disadvantage in the
production of goods when competing both nationally as well as
internationally.
As a point of interest, Oregon is the only state I know of the has a
law to PROHIBIT citizens from pumping their own gas when they go to
fill up their car or truck. I doubt the lawmakers believe the citizens
of Oregon are too stupid to know how to fill their own vehicles, but
rather see such a law as a means to employee more people. Of course
when you make laws to create unnecessary jobs (make work jobs) you
again raise costs and lower productivity. Fuel was 30 cents a gallon
more expensive than Oklahoma. Not all of that increased cost is
because of the labor involved, as I would guess the state fuel fee
(tax) is probably higher than the 17 cents per gallon we pay in
Oklahoma.
Oregon also has a state minimum wage law which at about $8.65 per
hour, is a dollar or more higher than the national average. What kind
of effect does that have on the citizens? While in New Mexico and
Kansas we stopped at a Dairy Queen and I had a mushroom and swiss
burger at $3.35 in each place. However, the same burger cost $4.35 at
a Dairy Queen in Oregon. That higher minimum wage requirement causes
any thing produced or any service effected by employees paid a minimum
wage to cost more and thus raises the cost of living and the cost of
products produced there. That is bad for the economy, increases
unemployment and again causes Oregon businesses to be less competitive
on a national and international basis.
Another area of concern is zoning. Every square inch of Oregon is
zoned except land which is owned by the State or Federal governments.
This is an excessive amount of fascism which really robs people’s
liberty. As an example, when our niece and husband were first married
they wanted to purchase a mobile home and move it on to my brother and
sister in law’s 80 acre farm. However, it was not zoned for multi-
family uses so they were denied. Where was the farm? Five miles
outside of a small town of 600 people and 30 miles from Klamath Falls,
a city about the same size of Enid. The farm was on the side of a
mountain on a seldom traveled road, but not zoned for multi-family
dwellings?
Some of these little things add up and make a beautiful place that
would normally be a great place to live and prosper, a little more
difficult to succeed. On a bright note. I was able to attend and speak
at the weekly tea party meeting in Klamath Falls. They had about 75 in
attendance and they meet every Tuesday. I was very well received and
they cleaned me out of the bag of books and DVDs I took on the trip.
They seemed like solid patriots and are currently going through the
5000 year leap, studying the 28 principles necessary for liberty. They
had successfully elected their candidate for a county commissioner
seat, a gentleman who was already familiar with the book THE LAW by
Frederick Bastiat and the Davy Crockett story titled, NOT YOUR’S TO
GIVE.
++ BIG BROTHER - AN ATTITUDE - AN ENEMY OF LIBERTY
A week ago Sunday, State Representatives Richard Morrissette (D-South
OKC) and Colby Swartz (R-Yukon) were doing their dog and pony show on
Channel 9, usually before most people have to leave for church. With
the recent death and destruction done by the tornados, the question
was asked if government should require citizens to install storm
shelters or safe rooms?
Thankfully, Colby Swartz said it should not be a requirement, but the
big mouth Morrissette, saw it differently. He was all for such
requirements and pointed back to how many lives have been saved as a
result of government requiring people to wear seat belts.
No doubt in my mind that lives have been saved as a result of people
wearing seat belts in vehicles, or helmets when riding motorcycles.
However, the real question is, do we want government acting like our
big brother and requiring such? If government can determine what is
good for us and what is not and then use it’s power of the sword to
require certain behaviors from us, where does it stop? Who knows, as
it is an attitude, a mind set that government should get out of its
proper roll of protecting one person from the harmful actions of
others to the roll of protecting us from ourselves.
If people accept the attitude that it is ok for government to make
laws on behavior other than clearly moral issues such as prostitution,
drugs and etc, then you have government telling us what activities are
good and what is bad, what to eat and how much to eat and the list can
go on and on. Next might be a prohibition on rodeo activities, skate
boarding, hang gliding, snow skiing and other sports that have a high
degree of danger.
Recently law enforcement agencies announced through an article in the
paper that there would be an all out push over the Memorial day
weekend to ticket people who weren’t wearing their seat belts. The
article indicated Oklahomans now have a higher compliance with seat
belt laws than the national average, but that wasn’t good enough. The
article included an interview with Governor Fallin, who extolled the
virtues of our ranking, but then went on to say we’ve got more to do
on this issue. How sad to see a Republican, pushing for more big
brother compliance with such laws.
How did we get to this place with seat belt laws and who was pushing
for such? None other than the federal government. At some point in
time (probably in the 70s) the federal government MANDATED auto makers
install seat belts in autos, then eventually trucks. Then in the early
80’s the federal government declared that if 75 percent of the states
were to pass mandatory seat belt laws, they would not mandate auto
makers having to install air bags in autos. Oklahoma quickly complied
with the mandate for autos only, folks in pick-ups didn’t have to wear
seat belts and there was no fine for people in cars not wearing them.
It was also not a primary offence, meaning law enforcement could not
stop you for not wearing a seat belt. It was only to be a secondary
offence.
Other states quickly complied with the feds and the goal of over 75
percent of the states was quickly reached. Of course that didn’t
matter to the feds as they soon mandated autos be equipped with air
bags. 1995 was the last year pickups were made before air bags were
mandated in them.
In 1990 Oklahoma expanded its mandatory seat belt laws to also include
pickups and trucks. Next came a $20 fine and then eventually the law
was changed for non-compliance to become a primary offence, meaning
you could be stopped for not wearing a seat belt.
Please DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME, this is not a debate about whether or
not a person is safer wearing seat belts or riding a motorcycle with a
helmet, THEY ARE. The debate is about government forcing us to do so.
If you believe that is ok, then you believe in fascism and you believe
in stateism. When our founding father pledged their fortunes, the
lives and their sacred honor, to throw off the shackles of England,
they didn’t do so to eventually see our government become much more
oppressive than England. They sacrificed all they had for LIBERTY.
We should respect that and not develop an attitude that big brother
can make laws to protect us from ourselves. If not, get your pocket
books out, for you will soon be forced to install storm shelters in
your homes and places of business, and next will be sprinkler systems
in your homes and the list will go on and on from there because there
will always be some bureaucrat sitting around trying to think of new
ways to make people safer from themselves.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ COMPARING OREGON AND OKLAHOMA
++ BIG BROTHER - AN ATTITUDE - AN ENEMY OF LIBERTY
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, June 8th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this
week will be Oklahoma’s senior U.S. Representative Frank Lucas.
Congressman Lucas is the first Oklahoman to be the Chairman of the
Powerful House Agriculture Committee. This will be our first time to
have Congressman Lucas. He currently represents the geographically
largest House District in the State of Oklahoma. During his town hall
meetings he is always good to take questions and I expect he will do
the same at OCPAC. I am very concerned about our involvement in Libya
as well as concerned that Republicans haven’t got the message as yet
about cutting spending. As an example, this past week they started
work on next year’s budget by passing legislation to fund the budget
for homeland defense. The 40 billion passed is only a 1 billion cut
from last year’s funding. Besides funding FEMA which will probably
soon shell out money to subsidize the installation of storm shelters
or safe rooms (an unconstitutional expenditure for the bankrupt
federal government) there are also millions of dollars for grants to
LOCAL fire and police departments. The later are certainly proper
functions of local governments, but not the federal government. While
James Lankford represents Oklahoma county, Frank Lucas represents the
neighboring counties of Logan and Canadian as well as points North and
West of those counties. Don’t miss this important meeting.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* THURSDAY EVENING - TULSA AREA - The Oklahoma Second Amendment
organization (OK2A) will have their Tulsa area monthly meeting this
Thursday evening 7:00 p.m. at the Bass Pro Shop, 101 Bass Pro Drive in
Broken Arrow. The topic of discussion will be disaster preparedness.
There are many different types of disasters for which to be prepared.
* THURSDAY EVENING - EDMOND AREA - American Majority will conduct
another candidate training seminar, 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Edmond
library, 10 South Blvd. If you have ever considered running for office
or helping a friend to do so, this will be important training.
Reservations are not required but a head count would be helpful.
Please call Seth at (405) 639-8896 for more information.
++ COMPARING OREGON AND OKLAHOMA
I just wanted to share a few thoughts about my recent trip to Oregon.
The Southeastern part of Oregon looks a great deal like parts of the
Texas panhandle, but much of the rest of the state is lush with
greenery, mountains, rivers and waterfalls. I believe Oregon’s
populations is a few hundred thousand more than Oklahoma, though the
land mass is about the same.
While there, Oregon’s unemployment rate just dropped below 10% which
is a little above the national average and about twice the rate for
Oklahoma. Tourism is a huge business, but agriculture and the lumber
business face an ever increasing degree of difficulty with so many
animal rights and greenies exerting influence on the state government.
A major problem is that Oregon has no sales taxes, thus they must get
their government revenues from property and state income taxes. By
taxing the production side of the economy, rather than the consumption
side of the economy, it puts businesses at a disadvantage in the
production of goods when competing both nationally as well as
internationally.
As a point of interest, Oregon is the only state I know of the has a
law to PROHIBIT citizens from pumping their own gas when they go to
fill up their car or truck. I doubt the lawmakers believe the citizens
of Oregon are too stupid to know how to fill their own vehicles, but
rather see such a law as a means to employee more people. Of course
when you make laws to create unnecessary jobs (make work jobs) you
again raise costs and lower productivity. Fuel was 30 cents a gallon
more expensive than Oklahoma. Not all of that increased cost is
because of the labor involved, as I would guess the state fuel fee
(tax) is probably higher than the 17 cents per gallon we pay in
Oklahoma.
Oregon also has a state minimum wage law which at about $8.65 per
hour, is a dollar or more higher than the national average. What kind
of effect does that have on the citizens? While in New Mexico and
Kansas we stopped at a Dairy Queen and I had a mushroom and swiss
burger at $3.35 in each place. However, the same burger cost $4.35 at
a Dairy Queen in Oregon. That higher minimum wage requirement causes
any thing produced or any service effected by employees paid a minimum
wage to cost more and thus raises the cost of living and the cost of
products produced there. That is bad for the economy, increases
unemployment and again causes Oregon businesses to be less competitive
on a national and international basis.
Another area of concern is zoning. Every square inch of Oregon is
zoned except land which is owned by the State or Federal governments.
This is an excessive amount of fascism which really robs people’s
liberty. As an example, when our niece and husband were first married
they wanted to purchase a mobile home and move it on to my brother and
sister in law’s 80 acre farm. However, it was not zoned for multi-
family uses so they were denied. Where was the farm? Five miles
outside of a small town of 600 people and 30 miles from Klamath Falls,
a city about the same size of Enid. The farm was on the side of a
mountain on a seldom traveled road, but not zoned for multi-family
dwellings?
Some of these little things add up and make a beautiful place that
would normally be a great place to live and prosper, a little more
difficult to succeed. On a bright note. I was able to attend and speak
at the weekly tea party meeting in Klamath Falls. They had about 75 in
attendance and they meet every Tuesday. I was very well received and
they cleaned me out of the bag of books and DVDs I took on the trip.
They seemed like solid patriots and are currently going through the
5000 year leap, studying the 28 principles necessary for liberty. They
had successfully elected their candidate for a county commissioner
seat, a gentleman who was already familiar with the book THE LAW by
Frederick Bastiat and the Davy Crockett story titled, NOT YOUR’S TO
GIVE.
++ BIG BROTHER - AN ATTITUDE - AN ENEMY OF LIBERTY
A week ago Sunday, State Representatives Richard Morrissette (D-South
OKC) and Colby Swartz (R-Yukon) were doing their dog and pony show on
Channel 9, usually before most people have to leave for church. With
the recent death and destruction done by the tornados, the question
was asked if government should require citizens to install storm
shelters or safe rooms?
Thankfully, Colby Swartz said it should not be a requirement, but the
big mouth Morrissette, saw it differently. He was all for such
requirements and pointed back to how many lives have been saved as a
result of government requiring people to wear seat belts.
No doubt in my mind that lives have been saved as a result of people
wearing seat belts in vehicles, or helmets when riding motorcycles.
However, the real question is, do we want government acting like our
big brother and requiring such? If government can determine what is
good for us and what is not and then use it’s power of the sword to
require certain behaviors from us, where does it stop? Who knows, as
it is an attitude, a mind set that government should get out of its
proper roll of protecting one person from the harmful actions of
others to the roll of protecting us from ourselves.
If people accept the attitude that it is ok for government to make
laws on behavior other than clearly moral issues such as prostitution,
drugs and etc, then you have government telling us what activities are
good and what is bad, what to eat and how much to eat and the list can
go on and on. Next might be a prohibition on rodeo activities, skate
boarding, hang gliding, snow skiing and other sports that have a high
degree of danger.
Recently law enforcement agencies announced through an article in the
paper that there would be an all out push over the Memorial day
weekend to ticket people who weren’t wearing their seat belts. The
article indicated Oklahomans now have a higher compliance with seat
belt laws than the national average, but that wasn’t good enough. The
article included an interview with Governor Fallin, who extolled the
virtues of our ranking, but then went on to say we’ve got more to do
on this issue. How sad to see a Republican, pushing for more big
brother compliance with such laws.
How did we get to this place with seat belt laws and who was pushing
for such? None other than the federal government. At some point in
time (probably in the 70s) the federal government MANDATED auto makers
install seat belts in autos, then eventually trucks. Then in the early
80’s the federal government declared that if 75 percent of the states
were to pass mandatory seat belt laws, they would not mandate auto
makers having to install air bags in autos. Oklahoma quickly complied
with the mandate for autos only, folks in pick-ups didn’t have to wear
seat belts and there was no fine for people in cars not wearing them.
It was also not a primary offence, meaning law enforcement could not
stop you for not wearing a seat belt. It was only to be a secondary
offence.
Other states quickly complied with the feds and the goal of over 75
percent of the states was quickly reached. Of course that didn’t
matter to the feds as they soon mandated autos be equipped with air
bags. 1995 was the last year pickups were made before air bags were
mandated in them.
In 1990 Oklahoma expanded its mandatory seat belt laws to also include
pickups and trucks. Next came a $20 fine and then eventually the law
was changed for non-compliance to become a primary offence, meaning
you could be stopped for not wearing a seat belt.
Please DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME, this is not a debate about whether or
not a person is safer wearing seat belts or riding a motorcycle with a
helmet, THEY ARE. The debate is about government forcing us to do so.
If you believe that is ok, then you believe in fascism and you believe
in stateism. When our founding father pledged their fortunes, the
lives and their sacred honor, to throw off the shackles of England,
they didn’t do so to eventually see our government become much more
oppressive than England. They sacrificed all they had for LIBERTY.
We should respect that and not develop an attitude that big brother
can make laws to protect us from ourselves. If not, get your pocket
books out, for you will soon be forced to install storm shelters in
your homes and places of business, and next will be sprinkler systems
in your homes and the list will go on and on from there because there
will always be some bureaucrat sitting around trying to think of new
ways to make people safer from themselves.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
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