By Theodore King

On April 29th, the U.S. House voted to pass H.R.1913, Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, by a vote of 249 to 175. The purpose of this bill is to provide federal assistance to states and local governments and Indian tribes in the prosecution of those who make a remark about homosexuals or ethnic groups while committing a violent act and for "other purposes." Those who are convicted of a violent act will be sentenced to more time in prison if, while committing the act, they said something "hateful" to such people than they would have received if they had not spoken in a "hateful" way.

The Oklahoma delegation voted for an amendment to the bill that would have included the elderly, children, law enforcement officers, border patrol agents, current and former members of the military, in addition to homosexuals and ethnic group as victims. That amendment was defeated by the Democrat majority by a vote of 185 to 241.

Two hundred thirty-one Democrats were joined by 18 Republicans in passing this unconstitutional bill, which had been offered in 2007 but failed to become law then. The Senate sponsor then was and is now Ted Kennedy. The House sponsor is John Conyers of Michigan. Every member of the Oklahoma delegation voted against this bill. The Senate companion bill is S. 909. It is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If the Senate passes this hate crime legislation, President Obama will surely sign this legislation into law, and it will be unconstitutional because it is a violation of the First Amendment, which protects free, even "hateful," speech. It is just another sign of the beginning of the end of our beloved country.

H.R. 1207, otherwise commonly known as Audit the Fed, proposed by Congressman Ron Paul, now has 271 co-sponsors, including all the Oklahoma delegation in the House save for Dan Boren, who has of this writing not signed on as a co-sponsor. This is the bill that, if passed into law, would force the Federal Reserve to be audited by the Comptroller General of the United States. It currently sits in the House Committee on Financial Services. Proof that politics makes the strangest of bedfellows, the Senate version of this bill, S. 604 is sponsored by Vermont socialist Bernard Sanders, and one of the co-sponsors is Jim Inhofe. There are 13 co-sponsors in all. Senator Coburn has yet to become a co-sponsor. S. 604 sits in the Committee on Banking and Urban Affairs.

The Obama Administration has stated it has no interest in seeing such a bill passed into law. Wasn't this going to be a transparent presidency? The sad, sad truth is that reasonable bills like H.R. 1207 and S.604 would have been opposed by previous administrations as well. It is alarming that a bill prosecuting "hate speech" passes the House and may pass the Senate and then be signed into law by the President, while legislation allowing congressional oversight of the secretive, unelected, and unconstitutional Federal Reserve that prints our money and seeks even more powers, languishes in committees.

And now for another John Gibson, the false messenger, update. On his radio show in June, John Gibson called on Senate Republicans to go easy on Judge Sonia Sotomayor during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing so as not to alienate Hispanic voters from the Republican party. That's right, John Gibson believes in racial pandering. He also called former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo a discredited element within the GOP. At 63, John Gibson should take early retirement.

On June 22nd, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, allowing the Food and Drug Administration control over tobacco. On April 2, 2009, the House passed this bill by a vote of 298 to 112. Congressman Dan Boren and Congresswoman Fallin are the only Oklahomans who voted to allow this federal agency, run by the Obama administration, to regulate a legal product. Mary Fallin is seeking the governorship of Oklahoma. If I were a business owner that caters to smokers, I would be as wary of her as I would be of any Democrat who seeks that office next year. I'm sure she would not disagree.

I wrote about this proposed FDA regulation in my book, The War on Smokers and the Rise of the Nanny State. My research for the book showed me that Phillip Morris has been a supporter of this regulation. Why? Because Phillip Morris is big enough to withstand FDA regulation, but small companies like Excalibur Tobacco in Pryor, Oklahoma may not be. I've read parts of this new law, and it's just a bureaucratic nightmare that burdens manufacturers of a legal product that's already heavily taxed and carries a warning label. There's even a provision in this law regulating advertisements on -- matchbooks! The federal government will now regulate what is written on matchbooks!!!

The Senate took up this bill, and it sailed through by a vote of 79 to 17 on June 11th. It is interesting to point out the true nature of this bill -- nanny state regulation -- is knowing who didn't vote for it. Senator Coburn, a physican, and Senator Inhofe were two of the 17 no votes. There are those of you who think this bill is a good thing because you don't like tobacco, but ask yourselves this question: Will Dan Boren's and Mary Fallin's votes to bring tobacco under FDA supervision make tobacco products safer? And if this government can do this to tobacco, how long do you think it will take for the government to do the same thing to guns? After all, guns like tobacco can kill people, right?

Something I never wanted to write is that Sarah Palin may be finished, politically. Her decision to abandon her post as Alaska governor may end any opportunities she had for higher elective office. Had she decided to just not seek reelection as governor in 2010, she would still be politically viable. I'm sorry to write this.

On June 26th, the House passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy Act (i.e. Cap and Trade), sponsored by Henry Waxman of California, who was also the sponsor of the FDA tobacco regulation. Cap and Trade passed by a close vote of 219 to 212. I call this bill what it is -- the China and India Full Employment Act. This bill, if passed by the Senate, will be signed by the President, and the American energy producer and you, the American energy consumer, will pay a high price to work and live while emerging economies in China and India will reap the benefits of this stupidity. What the Democrats are doing to our economy is deliberate and treasonous.

"All hands on deck!," the familiar naval admonition for everyone to be on the job when there is an emergency, was applicable to the House vote on Cap and Trade, and every member of the Oklahoma delegation, except one, was on the job and voted no. It passed with only seven votes. Eight Republicans, one of whom was New York Congressman John McHugh, whom Obama picked in early June to head up the Army Department, went with the Democrats, and two Republicans were not on the job. They were absent.

One of these errant Republicans is appropriately named Congressman Flake of Arizona. The other one not on the job was Congressman John Sullivan, who was in the Betty Ford Clinic, nursing his self-inflicted wound of alcoholism. When he left the Betty Ford Clinic after a month's stay, he told the local media that his absence didn't matter because his vote wouldn't have affected the final outcome anyway. That answer is not acceptable. John Sullivan will not be "healed" of his alcoholism in just one month. He should not seek re-election next year.

We are in a very dire situation. The ultra-left wing Obama Administration is working with the equally ultra-left wing Congress to push through their radical agenda and thereby transform America into the place they always wanted it to be, including the socialization of health care, hurriedly and boldly, which may be easier than ever to accomplish with their 60 senators, with the addition of the emotionally unstable and vile "comedian" Al Franken.

I have never been as fearful as I am today. Our President, whose racist pastor of 20 years, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright wants America damned by God, is heading us into a horrible disaster. While the Republican party is strong locally, except for John Sullivan, it is in a shambles nationally. The America you and I love may be doomed, not by a foreign nation or Al Qaeda but from within. Rev. Wright may get his wish yet.

"If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free." -- comedian Mort Sahl