TORT REFORM CRITICAL TO MOVING THE STATE FORWARD!
by Steve Fair

Will we get meaningful lawsuit reform in Oklahoma this legislative session? The State Senate is evenly divided, so reform will depend on Governor Henry. According to Co-Chair of the Senate Judicial committee, State Senator Jim Williamson- R,Tulsa, “A meaningful lawsuit reform bill is doable this year if the governor will get engaged in the process and make a formal counter-offer to the bipartisan proposals he rejected last year.”

In last year’s session, the legislature passed a bipartisan bill that included most of the tort reform proposals Henry had previously agreed to, but the Governor vetoed it with little explanation. A month later, Henry went fishing in Mexico with a bunch of trial attorneys, who had lobbied against his signing of the bill. Many in the media tried to connect the dots, but because most of the public was not paying attention, Henry’s fishing trip and the veto connection never gained traction. But the average Oklahoman better start paying attention to the tort reform issue for two reasons

First, the lack of lawsuit reform is hurting health care in Oklahoma. Survey data from the Oklahoma Alliance of Physicians for Tort Reform show that threat of lawsuits has nearly twenty percent of the state’s physicians considering leaving the state. Sixty percent of doctors in the Sooner state have stopped performing riskier procedures and delivering babies in order to avoid lawsuits.

It’s difficult enough to recruit physicians to rural Oklahoma. But when you have lack of lawsuit reform, it compounds the problem. Texas, who passed tort reform four years ago, is attracting physicians from non-reformed states like Oklahoma. In fact, Texas is having a difficult time keeping up with requests for new medical licenses.

When Governor Henry vetoed last year’s bill, it drew the attention of the nation’s largest business newspaper. In their 5/10/07 edition, the Wall Street Journal had an article entitled The Sooner Back Flip which stated, “Mr. Henry has been claiming to support reform for three years, and at one point he promised to "out Texas" Texas on the issue. Then again, Mr. Henry is himself an attorney and was elected with the help of trial bar donations. He may also have assumed he'd never have to act on his promises because a heretofore Democratic Senate could always be counted on to kill any reform.” Henry’s true colors were revealed last year after the Senate passed a tort reform bill and he vetoed it. The only industry in Oklahoma that would be negatively impacted by tort reform is the trial attorneys and it appears the Governor is firmly in their corner.

Secondly the average Oklahoman should be concerned about the lack of lawsuit reform because it hurts Oklahoma in recruiting business to our state. Directorship magazine ranks Oklahoma’s legal climate as 44th in the country. The issue of lawsuit reform is very important to business leaders.

In a 2006 interview in Directorship, Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot said, “When we started Home Depot years ago, everything we did was a risk. When we doubled in size, it was a major risk. If we had to worry about being sued every inch of the way, or worry about a board that was not willing to back us, we could never have become what we are.” Marcus said he could not start Home Depot today because of the increased governmental regs and out of control lawsuits. Lack of lawsuit control is a red flag to business and Oklahoma has the reputation that we cater to the trial attorneys.

If we want employers to expand in Oklahoma or relocate to Oklahoma, it will require the legislature taking on the trial attorney lobby. Oklahoma finally has a legislature in place willing to talk about tort reform, but unfortunately the Governor seems to be more interested in fishing than he is in Oklahoma health care or business interests.

Senator Williamson has extended the olive branch to Henry. Williamson says, “There was a lot of talk last year by the governor and his surrogates about how close an agreement was, yet Gov. Henry still has not provided legislative language to show what he supports. If he truly wants to reach an agreement on lawsuit reform, it is time for Gov. Henry to put his cards on the table.”

“Cards on the table” is a term Blackjack Henry can understand. After all, the Guv has been the primary advocate for the expansion of gambling in our state but it remains to be seen if Blackjack is willing to gamble his future political contributions to help the state move forward. The smart money is on the trial attorneys- after all they go fishing with him and they are willing to double down.

4 Texas Cities Among Top 10 in Growth

by Steve Fair

The most precious export Oklahoma has is our children and grandchildren and from all indications, most are headed south. When the average Texan earns $3,500 more than the average Oklahoma doing the same job, that could be the reason. Fayetteville, Arkansas is within the top 50 growing areas in the county. Until Oklahoma fixes her broken workers comp system and tort system, we will doomed to watch our neighbors grow. You can read the entire story on which areas in the country are growing at the link below:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080327/census_growing_cities.html?.v=1

I'll get on my knees to beg the legislature to pass 2513 to protect students!

Steve Fair- Jelly Salesman

HB 2513 will protect students!
By Steve Fair

State House Bill 2513 by Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, passed by a 65-36 margin in the State House last week. It now goes to the Senate. If #2513 becomes law, the bill would allow veterans, active-duty military and National Guard and reserve personnel, and people trained in law enforcement to carry concealed guns on college campuses if they have permits. The students would have to be CLEET certified- that means they would have to have basic peace officer training and be licensed through the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. Murphey’s bill would not apply to students with Conceal and Carry permits, but only those who are CLEET certified.

Former U.S. Senator David Boren who is the President of the University of Oklahoma has said he opposes HB 2153 because it would hurt OU’s ability to recruit students and faculty to the campus. According to Boren, it would create a perception of an unsafe environment. Perception is not reality- just because you perceive you are safe doesn’t mean you are. Having a “gun free zone” didn’t stop the madmen at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. Passage of HB 2513 would have the opposite effect. Students could be reassured that CLEET certified trained professionals were armed in the classroom and if a madman did come to the classroom, those trained professionals would be the first line of defense.

Currently, at least eleven U.S. colleges (all nine public colleges in the state of Utah, Colorado State University, and Blue Ridge Community College, in Weyers Cave, VA allow students with conceal and carry permits to have a weapon on campus. None of those campuses have experienced a single incident of gun violence, a gun accident or a gun theft. Murphey’s bill is not for conceal and carry students- it’s for CLEET certified students. Less than one percent of the population have conceal and carry permits, so we’re not talking about a huge number of students carrying guns on campus. We are talking about law enforcement officers and trained professionals who are taking college classes having a gun.

More guns in the hands of law-abiding people does not create violence- in fact it deters it. Forty U.S. states now have conceal and carry, including Oklahoma. None of those states have seen an increase in gun violence or gun accidents since legalizing concealed carry and carry. According to John Lott and David Mustard in Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, “Independent researchers suggest that concealed handgun license holders are five times less likely than non-license holders to commit violent crimes. A comparison of arrest statistics from the mid-‘90s found that Florida concealed handgun license holders were three times less likely to be arrested than were New York City police officers. "

President Boren is out of touch with Oklahoma values. In a prepared statement, he said, "If it would help for me to get down on my knees to plead with the Legislature for the safety of our students, I would do so.” Boren is correct about this being about safety, but it’s also about rights. The 2nd amendment to the US Constitution guarantees Americans the right to keep and bear arms. We have a right to personally defend ourselves against the bad guys.

Another argument, Boren has against the bill is "Police would not be able to sort out dangerous gunmen from others on campus with guns." "Current law protects the constitutional rights of our people, but it wisely bans guns from schools and colleges," he said. "We should stick to the laws that have worked so well and allow our colleges to continue to improve safety on their campuses." Yeah- they have worked so well that three campuses have been shot up in the past year. Most of the times, by the time police arrive on the scene, it’s over and they are left with the task of counting bodies. What happens in the five minutes before police arrive? Innocent unarmed law abiding people die because the campus administration doesn’t trust them.

Gov. Brad Henry, has said that he has not yet reviewed the latest version of the bill and therefore cannot pass judgment on it, but he does have great concerns about the issue and will seek input from interested parties, particularly college presidents and the campus safety task force. Translation- Henry will do whatever Boren tells him to do.

Critics of HB 2513 say passage could create an environment like that at the O.K. Corral. That famous gunfight lasted thirty seconds and had only three fatalities- mostly the bad guys. Far less died at the OK Corral than at Virginia Tech and those at the Corral died defending themselves, not unarmed and scrambling for cover.

The media has reported college students on their knees begging for their lives during the recent campus shootings. Those students would have given anything to had a CLEET certified fellow student in the classroom with a weapon to fight back against those madmen, but that right was taken away from them in the name of safety. Where’s the logic and fairness in that?

KERN AND THE GAYS!
By Steve Fair

The amazing thing to me is whenever someone criticizes a gay person’s lifestyle, instead of ignoring the criticism and moving on with their life, these militants immediately attack that person for their “intolerance.” The real intolerance is with the homosexuals. They are unwilling to allow anyone to express their opinion- if it differs from their own. They are unwilling to be treated just like anyone else- they want special treatment. They don’t want both sides of the homosexual issue to be discussed- only their tolerance doctrine. They don’t want anyone to tell them the truth because in their own eyes they are enlightened. They have zero tolerance for anyone who disagrees with them. Take for example, their response to State Representative Sally Kern’s statment that homosexuality is hurting our country more than terrorism.

State Representative Sally Kern- R, OKC, was not just expressing her opinion of homosexuality, but Almighty Gods. Any honest Bible student who has the simplest fundamental knowledge of the scripture knows the Bible repeatedly condemns homosexuality. God destroyed cities because of their bent toward homosexuality. Whether the homosexuals choose to accept that truth or not, it makes no difference. In the garden, God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Even the animals in the barnyard are right on this issue. Whether the homosexuals believe the truth or not, it doesn’t change the fact that it is the truth. Their real disagreement is not with Kern, but with God.

Kern has been a consistent voice of reason in protecting our children from the militant gay agenda whose design is to desensitize our children toward the gay lifestyle by presenting it as normal in the public school system. Teaching kids the gay lifestyle is normal is not what most parents in Oklahoma want their children taught, but through effective lobbying efforts, many schools are presenting that very premise in the Sooner state.

Rev. Russell Mark of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, sent Representative Kern a letter that was supposed to remind what it is to be a Christian and how registering to be a Republican is not the same thing as following Jesus Christ's teachings of love and acceptance. The letter is below:

As a Christian I have to ask what kind of god (note the small g- steve)do you worship that you would seek the murder of children? Does your Jesus call you to spread lies, repeat gossip and innuendo about people you don't even know? Does your Jesus teach you to spread hate and to live in fear and teach others to live in fear? So very odd isn't it that your Jesus and my Jesus are so very different. You see, my Jesus teaches the power of love; to confront my enemies face to face; to embrace them and seek to understand them; to find commonality. Out of humility, seek understanding and out of love, to not be afraid. Even in my anger at what you have said, I would seek to understand how you, my sister-in-Christ would say such ignorant, offensive and incitful things. How do you take a few obscure passages and totally ignore all that Christ teaches and seek to bludgeon an entire people? How do you do this and then go to church and worship the Christ who gave everything to reconcile the world? What about bigotry and fear-mongering is Christ-like? How dare you treat the cross with such distain! And how dare you misuse the authority of your office. Be ashamed Representative Kern. Be very ashamed. More than your constituents are watching; God is watching.

Yes, He is watching Mr. Mark and your ignorance of God’s Word is apparent. What Christ teaches in the scripture is clear- that we are totally and completely depraved creatures spiritually. That we in and of ourselves will not seek to worship, serve, or even seek God. That we have nothing within ourselves that make us acceptable to God- That we are completely and utterly dependent on His Grace. That only He can atone for our wickedness. It’s a hopeless situation Mr. Mark- absolutely completely and totally hopeless- that’s the message of Christ.

I assume Mark is using Christ's words from the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7 to present his case to Kern. In fact in the Sermon, Christ presents standards no man can live up to and until one is spiritually awakened, they wrongly believe they can fulfill the standards. The great theologian Dr. Martyn Lloyd- Jones said the Sermon on the Mount was one of the most misunderstood passages in scripture. “Too often people see only the practical side of what the Lord was saying, but what He was commanding us to do was impossible to achieve in the flesh.” “The Sermon is one of the most theological passages in the Bible and one of the most condemning.” Mr. Mark, my prayer is that God will open your blinded eyes to His Grace.

Representative Kern needs our prayers and support. May God give her the strength to endure the onslaught of hateful criticism she is getting for speaking the truth.

WHOREABLE BEHAVIOR

by Ann Colter

This is a disaster for Hillary Clinton. According to the wiretaps, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was delighted to be getting the prostitute "Kristen" again. At least he knew her name. It took Monica Lewinsky's boyfriend six sexual encounters to remember her name (bringing his lifetime average to 8.2). You know that queasy feeling you get thinking about Bill Clinton back in the White House again? Now you remember why. Hillary Clinton couldn't feel worse about the Spitzer case if she were an actual New Yorker.......Read entire article at: http://www.anncoulter.com/

Black Liberation Theology not Biblical!

WRIGHT IS WRONG!
By Steve Fair

Should an individual be held accountable for remarks their pastor or spiritual mentor state in a public sermon? Should a political candidate be questioned on the tenets of their religion? If a person is running for the highest office in the land, should they be questioned on their theology- their view of God? That’s some of the questions being debated in the media today, primarily because Senator Barrick Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, made a number of very controversial statements in his sermons. To get a handle on the entire situation, we must examine the basis of what Wright believes.

The Rev. Wright advocates “black liberation theology,” which views the study of God from the perspective of an oppressed people. Black Liberation Theology seeks to interpret the gospel against the backdrop of historical and contemporary racism. The message of black theology is that the African American struggle for liberation is consistent with the gospel--every theological statement must be consistent with, and perpetuate, the goals of liberation.

The theology maintains that African Americans must be liberated from multiple forms of bondage- social, political, economic, and religious. This liberation involves empowerment and seeks the right of self-definition, self affirmation, and self determination.

In the preface of his book Black Theology and Black Power, the Rev. James Cone, a Methodist and the pioneer of Black Liberation Theology stated, "For me, the burning theological question was, how can I reconcile Christianity and Black Power, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s idea of nonviolence, and Malcolm X's 'by any means necessary philosophy?'"

Where did Liberation theology originate? According to fellow blogger, Dr. Bobhttp://docisinblog.com/, who is a physician in the Pacific Northwest, “Liberation theology sprouted from Marxist syncretism in Latin America, and has subsequently spread to many liberal Protestant denominations as well. Its core premise — the centrality of class warfare in human relationships — is inherently incompatible with the unity of Christians in Christ.” Black Liberation Theology emphasizes race instead of grace.

Basically, Liberation Theology is an attempt to interpret Scripture through the plight of the poor. It is largely a humanistic doctrine. If the liberationist would set aside his viewing of scripture with preunderstanding, he would discover that the gap between the rich and the poor is not the cause of man's predicament; it is merely one symptom of it (Jer. 5:26-29). It was not primarily the establishment that needed to be overthrown; it was man's sin - his selfishness and greed - that needed conquering (1 Pet. 2:24). It was not fundamentally a political revolution that was needed, but a revolution in the human heart - something found only in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), who came not to be a model political revolutionary but to die on the cross for man's sins as the Lamb of God (Matt. 26:26-28). Did Christ liberate His people? Yes, but from spiritual death, not financial poverty.

Does Senator Obama believe the tenets of Black Liberation theology and is he an evanglical Christian? It’s a fair question, particularly since former Governor Mitt Romney had to answer questions about his affiliation with the Mormon Church.

In an interview with his hometown newspaper, The Chicago Sun Times, Obama was asked if he considered himself an “evangelical.” He responded by saying, "Gosh, I'm not sure if labels are helpful here because the definition of an evangelical is so loose and subject to so many different interpretations. I came to Christianity through the black church tradition where the line between evangelical and non-evangelical is completely blurred. Nobody knows exactly what it means. "Does it mean that you feel you've got a personal relationship with Christ the savior? Then that's directly part of the black church experience. Does it mean you're born-again in a classic sense, with all the accoutrements that go along with that, as it's understood by some other tradition? I'm not sure." Obama said about the Rev. Wright, “Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life.” “In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.”

In spite of his name and all the Internet trash you may have seen, Obama is not a Muslim. Obama is a professing Christian who evidently believes in a liberal humanistic theology of relativism that advocates wealth redistribution and racism. No one should be held accountable for what their pastor states in a sermon. All too often, pastors interject their personal editorial into the sermon and while it “fires” up the troops; those sidebar comments are not always biblically based. However, when you are a twenty-year member of a church where the pastor makes controversial anti-American, racist statements and you remain a member of that body, you have to believe the dogma. The Senator has some explaining to do.

‘Deceived’ NRCC lost $740,000
By Jackie Kucinich and Aaron Blake from The Hill

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said Thursday that former Treasurer Chris Ward apparently funneled several hundred thousand dollars to his personal and business bank accounts from the committee’s funds. The transfers caused the committee to severely over-report its cash-on-hand totals in recent financial reports.

In an update on its internal review of the accounting irregularities that were revealed in late January, the NRCC said the funneling dates back to 2004 and that its cash on hand in its most recent financial report is actually $740,000 less than it initially reported.

The NRCC also says Ward, who was the committee’s treasurer from 2003 to 2007, submitted “bogus audit reports” for all five years between 2002-2006. The last year the committee had a full audit was 2001. Ward was fired as an NRCC consultant when the irregularities were discovered. In a release, the NRCC said it was beginning to release some of the details of its review because it could do so without compromising a federal investigation into Ward.

On Thursday, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) briefed GOP members about the situation.
“Paramount to my chairmanship is the integrity and success of the NRCC,” Cole said in a statement. “However, the evidence we have today indicates we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual. From the moment we learned that bogus financial statements had been submitted to the bank on our behalf, we took decisive and speedy action by contacting the FBI, which opened a criminal investigation.” Read the entire story at http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/deceived-nrcc-lost-740000-2008-03-13.html