Calvin Rees of the Democrats of Oklahoma Forum has obtained and posted the contents of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) newsletter written and distributed by one Charlie Meadows.

A section deals with the recent flap at the Oklahoma state capitol over a prayer said by an openly gay pastor, which was preceded by an introduction of his family and partner/fiance. 20 legislators voted not to allow the prayer entered into the record.

Meadows does the Democratic Party of Oklahoma the big favor of dividing the GOP members into two distinct groups, one of which it condemns not “true” conservatives, and thus not worthy of OCPAC member’s votes.

I say, Yay! splinter away!

Members and friends of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC)

[...]

– HOMOSEXUAL PREACHER BRINGS ABOMINATION TO STATE CAPITOL

This past Tuesday State Representative Al McAffrey (D-inner city OKC) had the opportunity to invite a pastor to be the Chaplin for the day and open the session with prayer. McAffrey is the only openly homosexual member of the legislature. The “pastor” he asked to give the prayer was the “Reverend” Scott Jones, also an openly homosexual who introduced his “fiancee” Michael, who was sitting in the gallery.
McAffrey asked that Jones’ prayer be recorded in the official minutes of the day, (this is normally only done on Thursdays) Representative John Wright (R-Broken Arrow) objected and called for a vote on the issue.

In my opinion, this was just another cleverly planned skirmish by the homosexuals in the culture war. Radical homosexuals are trying to force society to accept their perverted lifestyle as normal, equal or perhaps superior. Then of course, when normal folks disagree with them, or express that their perversion is “sin” in the eye’s of God as well as all Bible believing Christians (the only real Christians), then the homosexuals play the victim role and accuse those in opposition to their agenda as being haters, bigots, intolerant, narrow minded, red necks and on and on and on. Actually, you don’t have to read many of their notes to people who disagree with them to see that they are the ones that have their hearts full of hate for people who refuse to accept their behavior.

I believe that unless the content of Jones’ prayer was that of confession for his sinful behavior regarding homosexuality and an expression of repentance toward God for his rebellion and perversion, then his being there to give the prayer for the day was an abomination. Based on my reading of God’s Word (The Bible) Jones’
belief that he is a man of God and anyone else who try to justify homosexuality as acceptable, they serve a “god of their own making or their imagination.” They are not serving the God of the Bible and they do not have a relationship with the one and only true God.

Some of the Republican House members walked out, perhaps that was their way to protest the charade, 20 of them voted against allowing the prayer to be recorded and 24 Republicans voted to allow the exception to the norm and have the prayer recorded. May I suggest several possible reasons for the 24 who decided to go along with the desires of McAffrey and the homosexual community.

While most, if not all, Republican House members claim a Christian church affiliation, certainly with some it is more of a social relationship rather than Biblical Christianity. Some may think this is not an important issue and wish it would go away so they could deal with “important” business like determining how they will re-distribute other people’s money. Others may have family members or friends who are homosexuals and have decided to compromise God’s Word and the truth on the subject for their emotional attachments. Perhaps they aren’t mature enough in their Christianity to be able to take a stand against sin, yet at the same time be able to express Christian love toward homosexuals, hoping to see them set free from the bondage of homosexuality. Others might not want to be on the receiving end of the intimidation, hatred, and perhaps death threats from the homosexual community by standing up against their agenda. Just 24 hours in the shoes of State Representative Sally Kern would make the cowardly never want to be in that position. I have already seen some of the e-mails sent to the lawmakers who voted no, and believe me the hateful responses are typical.

Following are the names of those who voted to go along with the homosexual agenda. I will break them into two groups, Those I am not surprised about and those that I am. I am not surprised about Don Armes-Lawton, Eddie Fields-Pawhuska, Steve Martin-Bartlesville, Colby Schwartz-Yukon, Earl Sears-Tulsa, Lee Denney-Cushing, Fred Jordan- Tulsa, Charlie Joyner-Midwest City, Ron Peters-Tulsa, Doug Cox-Grove, David Derby-Owasso, Dale DeWitt-Braman, or Phil Richardson-Minco. With the exception of Eddie Fields, a freshman, every one of these lawmakers have been on the RINO nominee list at one time or another, or in the case of Lee Denney and Doug Cox, they have been the winners of the RINO award.

Following are the names of the lawmakers who did surprise me, Gary Banz-Midwest City, Lisa Billy-Purcell, Cory Holland-Marlow, T.W.
Shannon-Lawton, Ken Miller-Edmond (this guy is a professor at Oklahoma Christian. This is certainly not the perspective of the members of the Churches of Christ that I know), Marian Cooksey-Edmond, Pam Peterson- Tulsa (the biggest surprise of all to me), Chris Steele-Shawnee, David Derby-Owasso, Mike Thompson-OKC, Scott Martin-Norman and Speaker Chris Benge-Tulsa, a person who is supposed to be a social conservative. Of these 24, OCPAC has supported only 4 of them in the past.

Following are the names of the 20 brave lawmakers who voted against the homosexual agenda: Gus Blackwell-Goodwell, George Faught-Muskogee, Lewis Moore-Arcadia, Mike Ritze-Broken Arrow, Mike Christian-OKC, Dennis Johnson-Duncan, Jason Murphey-Guthrie, Mike Sanders-Kinfisher, Ann Coody-Lawton, Sally Kern-OKC, Leslie Osborne-Blanchard, Randy Terrill-Moore, Rex Duncan-Sand Springs, Charles Key-OKC, Pat Ownbey- Ardmore, Todd Thomsen-Ada, John Enns-Enid, Guy Liebmann-OKC, Mike Reynolds-OKC and John Wright-Broken Arrow. Of these 20, OCPAC has supported 13 of them in the past. Only 1 of the 7 who voted the right way on this issue, but did not receive our support, appeared before OCPAC. Had the other 6 appeared for their interview process, I believe we would have supported 5 of them. I believe there is 1 of the 6 who would not have received our support.

Following are the names of the ones who walked out or were absent.
Paul Wesselhoft-Moore, David Dank-OKC, Mark McCullough-Sapulpa, Dan Sullivan-Tulsa, Harold Wright-Weatherford, Jeff Hickman-Woodward, Randy McDaniel-OKC, Sue Tibbs-Tulsa, Mike Jackson-Enid, John Trebilcock-Tulsa, Shane Jett-Tecumseh, and Charles Ortega-Altus. Of those in this list, OCPAC has only supported one.

If one of these lawmakers happens to be your state representative and voted the right way, contact them and thank them for opposing the homosexual agenda. If they took a hike or voted the wrong way, remember that on the next election day, along with their scores on the conservative index..

One final thought. It is very easy to see that the OCPAC interview process, while not perfect, has done a very good job of determining candidates who are CONSISTENTLY conservative vs. those who claim to be conservative when they want our votes and our money, then turn out to govern more like a liberal Democrat, rather than a conservative Republican. Therefore, I invite folks to become a dues paying member of OCPAC so we can continue to elect true conservatives to the legislature. To join, please follow the instructions following my sine off.

Charlie Meadows

[In other news, Meadows announced he has stopped using PeoplePC as his email provider. 1996 is heartbroken at the loss of its last resident.]

Turns out I’m a big meanie because I won’t open my so-called liberal heart to loving bipartisan accord with Sally Kern and her anti-gay Christian Taliban brigade  (see, I just did it again!).

So I was thinking, what mean things could I do, now that my cover is blown?

How about we distribute the stimulus money, jobs and programs based on how the congressional deleations voted. Ha ha! Imagine the squawks from Inhofe on the Senate floor when that was announced. And Coburn would say “No, no, no! Can I put a hold on that?” The Oklahoman would write a sarcastic editorial about how liberals hate America (okay, they don’t really need to write it, just pull it out of the file), but point out that Carrie Underwood is from Oklahoma, and we should all be so proud.

Speaking of the Gaylord’s personal media projects, I would force them to rename their school to “Gaylord College of Propaganda and Mass Deception.”

Wal-Mart would have to unionize all their employees, and give every woman customer free birth control.

The NRA would have to hold their meetings in the most crime prone area in the chapter’s region.

Jeez, having a black heart is fun. Imagine what I could do if I had actual power or an official platform of some kind, like, oh, I dunno, state representative. I could really make people I don’t like suffer and I wouldn’t even need a rational excuse.

I was going to post something about the column Robin Meyers (of Mainstream Baptist minister at Mayflower UCC Church in OKC) has in the latest issue of the Oklahoma Gazette, entitled “Dead Wrong and Proud of It.”

The world wept for joy; Oklahoma spat defiantly. The glory train of history pulled out of the station; Oklahoma waved goodbye and said “good riddance.” Dr. King’s dream came true; Oklahoma slumbered on, curled up on the hearth of racism and addicted to the mind-numbing power of the word “conservative.”

[...] We are on the wrong side of history again, and we’re damn proud of it.

As you might expect, the comments are pouring in at the Gazette’s site, and more than a few folks are telling him, basically, that if he doesn’t love Oklahoma (the way it is, i.e. reactionary conservative and intellectually impoverished), then he should leave it. Others give their own testimony to Oklahoma’s perpetual brain drain which the conservatives wish to push even faster.

But now, John Aravosis, a prominent lefty blogger, has put an excerpt up at his Americablog — without comment, except for the title: How Oklahoma missed the Obama revolution.

Here are some comments from self-identified Oklahomans in response to the Americablog post.

enpassant

I wish I could understand what’s going on with Oklahoma. A reflection of our education?

The media here is very one-sided and talk radio here makes the Pravda seem fair and balanced, it’s 24/7 one wing nut after the other. Is that it?

tbhull

The problem with Oklahoma is the state has one newspaper owned by a wealthy but completely fucked up nazi cracker KKK republican family know as the Gaylords. Until this family either loses their money or dies one way or another, they control the press in this backward ass state and nothing will change that much.

NiNi

I too am proud to be an Oklahoman that voted for Obama. It was a brutal campaign, and I argued with many of my friends on behalf of Obama… lost a lot of respect for them too, as I realized they INTENTIONALLY kept themselves ignorant… watching the McCain-Palin smears work because these peoeple seemed to WANT those smears to work. Very disheartening and disappointing.

With that said, I was also very surprised at the number of adamantly Republican friends that voted for Obama and not McCain. I’d say at LEAST five of my formerly Republican friends wound up supporting Obama, and that’s actually an amazing number for “these here parts.”

I still drive around town with my Obama-Biden magnet on my car, and feel prouder than ever to be the kind of Oklahoman that the majority of these shit-kickers don’t understand. It was also very, VERY fun gloating after having spent two elections in a row being teased and laughed at when “their guy” won *cough* stole the election.

I am also proud to say that I’m leaving this state in the spring, and heading for greener pastures [Portland, Oregon]. This is a tough, tough place in which to live when you’re not a Jesus freak. But at least while I was here, I remained a very proud, educated, liberal, open-minded “outsider.”

bumpkis

BARTCOP is from Oklahoma…very astute and funny pol blogger…blue all the way.

cheesesauce

I am proud to be an Okie who voted for Obama. I had bet a military person a dollar that Obama would win. He was so seduced by all of the tripe eaters and bullshitters on TV / AM radio that he would giggle every time he saw me so confident was he of a McCain/Palin victory. That being said, he showed himself to be an honorable person and paid up on the bet. I haven’t spent the dollar yet. I’m trying to decide what to do with that kind of prosperity. : )

The whole world is trying to figure out what’s up with us here in Red Dirt land. Last Tuesday, for good or bad, we certainly took a different tack, and everyone wants to know why.

The great blog Down With Tyranny regularly has insightful posts about Oklahoma politics, with some of the best rants against Inhofe for years now, and was a good source of info about the Andrew Rice campaign. Today, a look at what the hell happened in Oklahoma last Tuesday. Leading in to the piece is a photo from the Dust Bowl which still epitomizes Oklahoma’s seemingly hopeless situation.

Can You Guess Which State Was The Most Reactionary In This Year’s Elections? Hint: Think Rodgers and Hammerstein

But the state least connected to the American mainstream and most politically isolated on Tuesday was poor, sad, reactionary Oklahoma, which gave almost 66% of it’s vote, the most of any state, to McCain. While analysts are working on a post-mortem, or autopsy, on McCain’s no longer twitching campaign, Oklahomans must be wondering what’s wrong with the rest of America.

Daily Kos’s most famous and beloved Okie diaries, droogie6655321, riffed off Thomas Frank’s 2005 examination of Kansas politics, with What’s the Matter with Oklahoma?

What I’m not interested in is sweeping generalities about Oklahomans. If you want to call us all ignorant, misinformed, racist or backward, I suggest you do it an upcoming open thread and not here. As unfathomable as it may seem to us, there is a reason why Oklahomans choose Republicans over Democrats, and I want to know why.

Droogie’s question generated 988 comments and was followed by Sooner Kos discussion threads here and here

The traditional media weighed in on the anomaly which is Oklahoma. The New York Times:

Where Tuesday’s Tide Was All Republican

“Oklahoma Democrats, with very few exceptions, are the old-line white Southern Democrats,” said David Ray, another political scientist at the university. “They don’t like liberals or liberalism.”

Indeed, the state has a political landscape closely resembling that of the old solidly Democratic South, especially in its southeastern corner, known as Little Dixie, where many Southerners settled after the Civil War. When conservatives of the Old South began abandoning the party decades ago, Oklahoma’s Democrats lagged behind the historical trend. Further, the state has relatively small black and Hispanic populations, and so the Democrats did not absorb as many new voters from those groups as in the states of the old Confederacy.

These days Oklahoma Democrats dread running for local office in presidential election years, for fear of being associated with liberal nominees at the top of the ticket.

“Being liberal in Oklahoma, with the exception of a few legislative districts, will not get you elected,” said State Representative Joe Dorman, a conservative Democrat.

[...]

But Mr. Gaddie said that perhaps the most important factor in Mr. McCain’s strong showing here was religion. An Edison/Mitofsky exit poll found that more than half of Oklahoma voters identified themselves as evangelical Christians and that a heavy majority of them had voted for Mr. McCain.

Mr. Gaddie, himself a pollster as well as a college professor, said: “A question we always ask in our polls is ‘How often do you attend church services?’ If a Democrat is not going to vote for a Democrat, they are a frequent church attender.”

Another advantage for Mr. McCain was that the state’s economy, based mostly on the oil and gas industry, has been buffered somewhat from the national economic slowdown. Unemployment remains low, the housing market stable.

For all of that, the Democratic Party is far from dead in Oklahoma, especially in the state’s southeastern section, where, despite the social conservatism, many people still talk about the New Deal and revere Franklin D. Roosevelt.

and Washington Post also remarked on the Oklahoma phenom.

As Much of Nation Went Blue, Okla. Applied Extra Coat of Red

Exit polls found that more than half of Oklahoma voters identified themselves as white, evangelical or born-again Christians. Of those, a heavy majority went for McCain.

State Republican Chairman Gary Jones said it was “not so much an issue of race,” but rather of conservative Oklahomans voting against someone known as “the most liberal member of the Senate.”

Jones said the conservative positions of McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, helped motivate Oklahoma voters.

One thing all these analysts seem to agree on is that Oklahoma not being so hard hit by the economic downturn played a part in the election results. We just aren’t hurting as bad as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, et. al.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But in Oklahoma, the pain wasn’t great enough to trump the other ideology (”family values”) and/or misconceptions about Obama as elsewhere in the nation.

If Obama does a good job as president, which I expect him to do, perhaps Oklahomans will at least drop the latter rationale for not voting for him when he runs for re-election in 2012.

Sarah Palin is a pathetic, mush-for-brains dolt. I used to think she was monumentally dumb and incurious, but had political instincts that could compensate enough for her to succeed in her corrupt career path for the foreseeable future (like George W. Bush did). She does have a special talent, all right, and is hereby awarded first prize in the contest to be the 21st Century icon of proud Republican know-nothings.

This is Sarah Palin, from a speech supposedly made to demonstrate “Commitment To Children With Special Needs”

This is a matter of how we prioritize the money that we spend. We’ve got a three trillion dollar budget, and Congress spends some 18 billion dollars a year on earmarks for political pet projects. That’s more than the shortfall to fully fund the IDEA. And where does a lot of that earmark money end up? It goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good — things like fruit fly research…

As any half-functional high-schooler knows, much of what we know about the causes and treatment of genetic disorders (like Down Syndrome, which Palin’s youngest child has) is grounded in research on fruit flies.

If this is the path Christianity is on, and it certainly seems to be (with apologies to my intellectual Christian friends who are sadly in the minority of their faith), then, thanks to the principles of evolution, it will be extinct in a couple of generations. Good riddance. That level of stupid simply cannot sustain itself.

A science blog, BiochemicalSoul, said this:

To decry research in [condescending and amazed tone] “the fruit fly” is a testament to the true idiocy of this woman and to the failure of our public education system. In fact, her own father, Chuck Heath, was a biology teacher – obviously a complete failure of a biology teacher.

(Well Palin herself has been a failure in passing on her values — abstinence outside of marriage — to her children, so there you go: epic FAIL.)

But I liked what Newsweek’s Richard Wolfe said: “This is the most mindless, ignorant, uninformed comment that we have seen from Governor Palin so far, and there’s been a lot of competition for that prize.”

So, yeah, Sarah’s a winner of many prizes. Now go back to Wasilla with your crown and STFU.

Update:

Mithras looks ahead to Palin’s designs on 2012, in a very fun, snarky read:

All this just goes to prove one thing: John McCain used to be a maverick, but isn’t any longer. Sarah Palin is the true maverick. She’s so mavericky, she realized McCain was no longer a maverick a millisecond after the convention, long before anyone else. She’s the ultimate maverick, immune to coercion, restraint, prudence, education, facts, intelligence and common sense. She goes her own way. That’s just what the country is hungering for: A combination of early-Alzheimer’s Reagan and George W. Bush circa Katrina.

And found at Crooks & Liars:

In fact, irony of all ironies, fruit fly research has actually aided in understanding a genetic component or predisposition towards autism.

2005:

2008:

Music by Hookers and Blow. So wish I was kidding. Nice family values you got there, Johnny and Sarah.

Charlton Heston (1923 – 2008) passed away at his home on Saturday.

I wasn’t a fan of Charlton Heston the actor. I didn’t agree with his stance on gun rights. So, frankly, I didn’t have more than a neutral regard for him — until I found out something in his past that he humbly didn’t mention, but maybe should have. That he didn’t throw it in his critics’ faces says something quite positive about his character, regardless of any of his other political positions or character traits.

Because Charlton Heston was a great American, and was willing to put his career and reputation on the line at a moment in our history when it really mattered and made a difference.

And one of those those moments occurred right here in Oklahoma.

From Chapter 9 of The History of African Americans in the West by Professor Quintard Taylor, Department of History – University of Washington:

CHARLTON HESTON MARCHES IN OKLAHOMA CITY

Today Charlton Heston is known primarily for the politically conservative causes and candidates he publicly supports. However in 1961 Heston was one of the first Hollywood celebrities to join the picket line established by Clara Luper to protest racial discrimination. Here is a brief description of his presence in Oklahoma City.

It was the last Saturday in May 1961, and Charlton Heston, Hollywood’s Oscar-winning Biblical actor, was on his way to Oklahoma City where he, Dr. Jolly West, nationally-known psychiatrist, and Dr. Chester M. Pierce, black scientist on the staff of the Veterans’ Administration Hospital, were scheduled to lead a protest march against Segregation in public accommodations in Oklahoma City.

The news had spread like wild fire and large crowds had assembled on Main Street to get a quick glimpse of the star.

Charlton Heston was met by the NAACP Youth Officers led by the president and about one-hundred black and white demonstrators, six policemen, a number of newsmen and Trudy, the black dog that took part in all the marches.

I was stationed with a large crowd of NAACP workers, friends, well-wishers and people of all ages, creeds and colors.

I have never seen anything more dramatic, more historical as those three handsome, dignified, successful men walking down the streets carrying signs that they had prepared themselves. The blue and black sign that Charlton Heston carried said, “All men are created equal–Jefferson” on the front and “Racial discrimination is Un-American” on the back.

The crowd was caught up in the unbelievable realities of the moment and when the trio reached our group, wild applause went up in the air. Oklahomans sounded like they do when the Big Red football scores against Texas or Nebraska. We waved flags, sang songs and in a military sounding voice, Dr. West issued a command. The trio marched with the crowd following. Charlton Heston stopped, shook hands, talked and marched.

A few hecklers yelled, “Go back to Hollywood, you Jew!!” “West, you are no psychiatrist, you’re a damn fool!”

But the march continued. We marched slowly by the John A. Brown' Department Store, Anna Maude’s Cafeteria and Bishop’s Restaurant–the three strongholds of Segregation. There was no violence.

Elliott Tyler, Jerry Nutt and John Fast carried anti-Heston signs which read, “Is Beverly Hills integrated?”

Charlton Heston's face was lighted with love and understanding of an oppressed people. He told the group that he sincerely believed that most Americans agreed with Thomas Jefferson.

This was his first demonstration. He said that a great many of us have only paid lip service to the equality of man and this is a very bitter thing for me to do.

Every step that Heston, West and Pierce took was adding tons of Freedom vitamins to our tired bodies that had been protesting for three years.

Heston took pictures with NAACPers, car hops, and the three got into a waiting automobile after the hour’s march and went to Calvary Baptist Church where a large crowd was waiting. There he told the crowd, “I was very pleased with the march and I was prepared for some hostility at the start of the march. I’m used to taking part in marches and chariot races only when they’re fixed, but today I didn’t have a script!” he said, smiling.

He explained that as far as he knew Beverly Hills was integrated, however, he had been in Spain making a movie… The audience went wild and Charlton Heston looked as if he was enjoying every moment…

Source: Clara Luper, Behold the Walls, (Oklahoma City, 1979), pp. 134-136.

This image of the Hollywood icon taking the kind of hostility he could easily avoid should give those of us on the left who continue to fight injustice pause before criticizing the man who, in his later years, suffering from Alzheimer’s in addition to the usual pitfalls of age, was gratuitously picked on by Michael Moore (in my opinion, a scene that Bowling for Columbine could well have done without), and regularly ridiculed by leftists (including me).

People –and their political beliefs — are seldom as simple and one-sided as our society (particularly the media) try to paint them.

Charlton Heston was a man who had strong principles and put them out there publicly despite the possible negative consequences that might ensue. He did it it at the height of his career, and at its lesser ebb. He took plenty of shots for his politics, mostly from those with nothing to lose by hurling them, and stood up pretty well to those as well.

What could be more righteous, more transcendently human and, dare I say, more patriotically American than that?

[Cross posted at Blue Oklahoma, and at okimc.org. I blogged about this OKC civil rights history previously here.]

Update, 12/29/08: A New York Times Magazine retrospective of public figures that died this year includes an interesting analysis of Heston’s political transformation in the late 60s from lefty to conservative. It is accompanied by a photo of Heston marching in Oklahoma City, in front of Maude’s, as chronicled in the excerpt above.

The Left Coaster: Burning the Flag Burning Amendment

What I do care about is the desecration of the Constitution. Only once in over two hundred years has this country stupidly used the Amendment route to ban a behavior. Our overarching law is all about defining rights that cannot be taken away by legislation, expanding those rights to include all of us and protecting us from unequal or unjust application of laws. The rightwingers who see Constitutional Amendments banning abortion, same sex marriage and whatever else in the world that they don’t like as the remedy for their intolerance and bigotry that will not pass Constitutional muster in legislation are people who do not revere the Constitution. Their understanding of it is as distorted as their reading of the New Testament.