Former State Rep. Paul Wesselhöft announced this afternoon that he is exploring running for the U.S. Senate following news of Jim Inhofe's pending retirement.
Wesselhöft spent 12 years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing House District 54 in Moore and southeast Oklahoma City. A U.S. Army veteran of nearly two decades, he has also served in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Legislature since 2007.
Here is the exploratory announcement he sent me to publish:
Following Gov. Mary Fallin’s announcement a few weeks ago that Oklahoma would accept more than $54 million in federal funds to begin implementation of a health insurance exchange, I blogged about the “concept” of health insurance exchanges as a useful idea (absent Congressional effort to change the federal tax code) in a patient-centered, free-market health system.
It is important to add, however, that OCPA has never advocated acceptance of federal funds – especially federal funds that have to be printed or borrowed − to accomplish state goals that are not a “core” function of state government.
To be clear, OCPA believes the state should not use federal dollars to implement a health insurance exchange. [...]
Health insurance exchanges are not a bad idea, but Oklahoma should not be using federal dollars to implement such an exchange − particularly when the state could build an exchange for far less with no federal strings attached.
If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.The Conservative View
by Russell Turner
Pets, Chips and God
I am constantly amazed with all of the new technology that is at our fingertips. It wasn’t that long ago that many of the things that we take for granted today were only ideas in some science fiction movie. Just take a look at all of the new phones that are on the market; while you can take pictures with them, they are nothing short of being mini computers. When the home computers came along I thought it doesn’t get any better that this, but now any of us can have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips with a device about the size of a pack of cigarettes. For us that have pets, for a small fee we can put a collar on them with a small chip imbedded it that will allow us to find the location of our pet if it happens to get stolen or lost. There has been a proposal to have such a chip embedded in your driver’s license that would allow someone to track our every movement. In the upcoming session of the State Legislature there has been a bill filed to prevent chips from being a part of our driver’s licenses.
State Rep. Paul Wesselhöft has filed House Bill 2569 which would prevent state and local governments from tracking a person’s location or obtaining personal information from an individual’s driver’s license. If a driver’s license is embedded with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip our location could be tracked 24/7. I value my right to be in control of my life and the freedom to go where I want when I want. Embedding (RFID) chips in a law abiding citizen’s driver’s license would be a huge intrusion of government and big brother into our lives. The 4th Amendment of the Constitution states—‘the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated’.”
While the idea of a (RFID) chip in our animals and pets may be a good idea, there is a huge difference between cats, dogs and humans. We own our pets, they are our property, if our government has the ability to keep tabs on us at any time, and it will only be a matter of time until someone starts thinking of us as property instead of free people. Only God should have the ability to keep tabs on us 24/7, I support freedom and I support House Bill 2569.
