To unsubscribe please send an email requesting removal at
ModernPatriot@hotmail.com
Invite your friends to receive the best political cyber-newsletter in Oklahoma. Tell them to subscribe by sending a subscription request to
Cadman12@swbell.net
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
M
odern
P
atriot
C
hronicles
An Eleventh Commandment Free Zone
Vol. 6, Issue 8
July 25, 2007
By Craig Dawkins
Democrat Forum: Roth was Great BUT….Didn't Build Roads Well
Government is Violating Michael Vicks Freedom
Ron Paul for President
Copyright@2007, All Rights Reserved
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
POLLS! POLLS! POLLS! POLLS!
Is dog fighting worthy of prison for Michael Vick?
Yes or No.
Go to
www.ModernPatriot.net
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Democrat Forum: Roth was Great BUT….Didn't Build Roads Well
Last night's District 1 Oklahoma County Commissioner forum, sponsored by the Stonewall Democrats, brought to light many compliments for former county commissioner Jim Roth. And while forum participants repeatedly praised Roth's professionalism and support for Democratic Party priorities, the audience of 37 repeatedly heard criticisms pertaining to the quality of road construction in his former district.
Bart Bates, a candidate for county commissioner, stated that his desire to run for commissioner was due to the “terrible road conditions” in eastern Oklahoma County where he lives. He characterized one pot hole he had driven through that day as “large enough to fish in.” And his complaints weren't the only ones. Pot holes and bad roads were repeatedly raised by the others on the forum panel.
Ann Simank laid the blame for bad roads in Oklahoma City on the Oklahoma City road department. She clarified that she would focus on the unincorporated areas of District 1. Fannie Bates stated that establishing rail service to the county was a higher priority than repairing pot holes. (I must admit that I chuckled upon hearing this.)
A few bomb shell comments did surface in the 1 ½ hour forum. Here are some of the highlights:
Regarding the Oklahoma County Detention Center, every candidate but Johnson supported some sort of increased revenue source for the jail. Debbie Blackburn went further and laid a case for an ongoing sales tax for the jail and pointed out that Oklahoma County was only one of a handful of counties in Oklahoma not to have some kind of dedicated jail sales tax. (Sounds a lot like other elected county officials.) Johnson's comment was interesting in that she wants the state to provide a solution that will reduce the jail population. She did not specify what she specifically wanted the state to do. ( I have a few ideas on that subject however.)
Debbie Blackburn indicated she was against any and all kinds of tax cuts. (If you're looking for a commissioner that will lobby for lower property taxes, you might look elsewhere.) She also alluded to “home rule” by commenting that the “current form of governing the county might someday change.” (Good luck with that.) Blackburn also seemed to exalt her superiority to the rest of the panel by repeatedly citing her legislative career at the state legislature.
Willa Johnson was very open, friendly and frank. She was also attacked with two very pointed questions. Only Blackburn and Johnson received such direct questions. The two questions directed at Johnson were meant as an attack. The one question directed at Blackburn was a softball. (I suspect she, or someone in her camp planted both questions.)
The first Johnson question pointed out that Johnson had ran for several offices and wondered if she was tired of serving on the Oklahoma City Council. The second question asked why she voted against allowing zoo employees to form a union. To the first question, Johnson answered that she wanted to expand her service in a different venue. On the union question, Johnson proclaimed ignorance to the issue at the time of her vote.
Blackburn's question was directed to the issue of urban blight. Blackburn was able to recite her activism in the MainStreet Oklahoma program. A program designed by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to revitalize downtown areas and urban blight. (As I said, a softball.)
Fannie Bates (a long shot) wants to stop the Oklahoma City Crosstown highway from being constructed and wants to save and service all the rail tracks currently in place in the downtown and county area so that she can institute mass transit via rail service. (Tom Elmore would be proud.)
I left the forum feeling more Republican than I came into the forum. And since I've been a registered Republican my entire adult life, that might saying something. The Democrat activists that were present completely focused on what the candidates were going to give them. They wanted to know what each candidate was going to provide. No one seemed concerned that their taxes would be increased or had any since of the idea that government should have limits and priorities.
Somehow I think these activists have forgotten JFK's famous quote - “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Government is Violating Michael Vicks Freedom
Word of the government sacking Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick made me start considering the concept of property and our rights to it. While I do not enjoy the thought of seeing dogs attack and tear other dogs apart as part of an abhorrent animal sport, these animals were Vick's property. And Vick's property rights should be respected.
These dogs that Vick is accused of mistreating were not my dogs or your dogs. They were his dogs. And what about Vick killing his own animals is my business? Or yours? Animals do not have human rights. Animals are property. Some animals are slaughtered for food. Others are slaughtered simply because they cause trouble for humans.
When you place a bit of cheese on the end of a mouse trap, enticing an unsuspecting mouse to an agonizing death, should you be arrested for animal cruelty? No. But only because most people feel that mice are rodents and not pets. But some people have rodents as pets. So when they kill their own rodent should it be reported to the police as animal cruelty? No again.
It's the bias of the majority who feel dogs should not be treated in such a manner that elevates rights to dogs and not mice. Dogs are 'mans best friend' or so I've heard. But that doesn't apply to pigs, cattle, chicken or other tasty animals. While the folks at PETA would have us believe every time we eat at KFC we are no better than Adolf Hitler, sane people know better.
Just for record, I have a dog. He's a pet. I will not eat or torture him. But people are acting like Vick is some kind of serial killer preying upon unsuspecting victims. While I understand and share the idea that dog fighting is distasteful, I do not believe Vick should serve jail time or even miss one day of football practice over this unfortunate event.
But I can hear some of you saying, “Vick broke the law and for that he must be punished.” When fugitive slave laws were passed by the federal government, people guilty of assisting escaped slaves were subjected to prison for the act. Now you might say they deserved it because they broke the law. I would have to differ with that view.
But dog fighting is a far cry from helping an escaped slave you might say. True except both involve rights to life, liberty and property. And that's where I fall on the issue. While Vick doesn't have the right to allow his fighting dogs to run the neighborhood, he does (or should) have the right to do with his property as he wishes so long as it doesn't do harm to his neighbor. I know of no neighbors harmed by his acts.
So give Vick a break.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Ron Paul for President
Ron Paul deserves consideration from all voters who consider themselves supporters of liberty and limited government. Paul is the best, most conservative, freedom advocating Republican running for president. Give his site a visit at