Human Trafficking Bill Clears Senate, Heads to House

SB 2258, a bill by Sen. R. Clark Jolley (R-Edmond), which is designed to make human trafficking more difficult to accomplish in Oklahoma, has passed the state Senate and is now headed to the state House.

For information, read this CapitolBeatOK story by clicking here.

The O'Reilly Factor to Highlight Tulsa Tea Party

As you may know, popular broadcaster Glenn Beck and bestselling author and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin were both in Tulsa this past Saturday afternoon to speak to a sold-out Tulsa Convention Center crowd about "Tak'in Back Our Country."

Tonight, on the Fox News Channel, The O'Reilly Factor program will have a special report about their appearance and also air a spotlight on the Tulsa Tea Party, which was central in organizing the successful Tulsa event.

If you're interested to see this national focus on our state, you can catch The O'Reilly Factor broacast tonight on cable at either 7 p.m. or 10 p.m.

Pro-Marriage Bill Passes House, Advances to Senate

Yesterday, Rep. Mark McCullough's pro-marriage bill, HB 2634, passed the state House of Representatives on a 51-45 vote.

HB 2634 would require two hours of pre-marital counseling before the issuance of a marriage license and provide a $45 dollar discount on a marriage license for couples getting eight or more hours of pre-marital counseling.

The measure also allows for a “covenant marriage” license, ends future recognition of “common law” marriages, and requires court directed pre-divorce education classes for couples with children. Those courses would cover issues such as the impact of separate parenting on children and separate financial responsibility for children.

McCullough noted the counseling and divorce education provisions are already in state law, but are permissive and participation is not mandatory.

“The problem of family fragmentation is the elephant in the living room of state government,” McCullough said. “The fallout from divorce and unwed childbearing cost the State hundreds of millions of dollars annually and it goes against the grain of our conservative culture here in Oklahoma. Yet getting to the point of having a forthright discussion on these issues has proven difficult. So many people have either been divorced or someone close to them has gone through divorce, and that makes people uncomfortable with these issues. I really understand the painful nature of this whole subject. I’m not trying to hurt or shame anyone; I just don’t think we can afford to avert our gaze anymore. This is a conversation we need to have as a state and the Oklahoma House was an appropriate place to start it.”

A recent study from the Institute for American Values and Georgia Family Council, The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Fifty States and the Nation, conservatively estimates divorce has a dramatic impact on the cost of state government (largely through public assistance programs) – of at least $430 million annually in Oklahoma.

McCullough's bill now heads to the state Senate.

Abortion in the Obama Health Care Bill

It's a huge bill, as we all know. Who can read it?

Thankfully, Chuck Donovan, formerly of Family Research Council, now with The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., has done an excellent analysis of how President Barack Obama's newest health care reform bill WILL definitely pay for more federal funding of abortions.

Click here to read his excellent analysis.

Let's pray that pro-life Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and his House colleagues are successful in stopping this immoral, Progressive bill, which will, over time, end up bankrupting the country and denying medical treatment and care for untold numbers of Americans, including the unborn.

Texas Considers New Social Studies Standards

Will Texas adopt K-12 textbooks that eliminate all teaching about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? Will textbooks begin social studies instruction about American history only after 1877? Will Texas textbooks eliminate all references to Christmas? These are the questions that the Fox News Channel has been asking and promoting the past couple of days.

Whoa! Did the foxes get caught trying to transform the henhouse? Or are things being blown all out of proportion by Fox News?

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) seems to think so; they issued a news release today taking exception to the characterizations being made by Fox News. Click here to see the TEA release.

Tonight, Sean Hannity will have Michelle Malkin on his Fox News Channel program to discuss what's going on further. We invite you to watch the program tonight at 8 p.m. (or view the rebroadcast at 11 p.m.) and see what you think.

Here's what we know:

There is an ongoing, continuing fight between Christian conservatives, secularists, and progressives for control of the Texas State Board of Education. This has been going on for several years. Conservatives have control now, but they have been steadily losing seats.

Today through Friday, the state of Texas is holding formal hearings in Austin to consider the adoption of new social studies textbook standards, which will incorporated in new Texas social studies textbooks to be adopted in 2011. The meetings had originally been scheduled for January, but were continued until today to allow time for more study.

Conservatives in Texas are pushing for traditional teaching of American history in the textbooks, including more teaching about our Christian heritage and the Founding Fathers who birthed the nation. Others in Texas are pushing back against that direction.

Although it's not at all likely the inflammatory social studies standards will be adopted, given the current national attention, it is interesting to us that a proposal to teach history only after 1877 is even on the table. Political Progressivism in the U.S., which began in about 1880, has continued throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries, gaining much influence and dilluting adherence to our nation's founding documents and original understandings about the role of government.

So, any new plan to teach the younger generation history only after the year 1877 would effectively immerse them only in Progressive political thought and influence and divorce students from any understanding of our nation's true historical roots and Christian past.

A preliminary vote will be taken this week. A final vote on the standards will come in May, and, as stated above, the textbooks will not be adopted until next year.

This fight is important because textbooks adopted in Texas are often used as model textbooks by other states nationwide.

Bill to Require Teaching of America's Founding Documents Fails

Yesterday, the state House of Representatives failed to pass a bill by Rep. Charles Key (R-Oklahoma City) and Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso) that would have required the state Board of Education to promulgate rules to teach public school students in Oklahoma about the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as a part of social studies curriculum.

The vote was 44-52. To see how your representative voted, click here and search for HB 2814 vote on March 9.

Co-authors of HB 2814 included Rep. Sue Tibbs, Rep. Ann Coody, and Rep. Jason Nelson. Rep. Key filed a motion to reconsider his bill, which means he can attempt to change minds and call for another vote within the next few days.

Indoctrination in Our Schools

Today, on the Fox News Channel beginning at 4 p.m. (and rebroadcast at 1 a.m.) broadcaster Glenn Beck and former leftist David Horowitz will discuss the topic of indoctrination in our schools.

While the problem of indoctrination is more pronounced in certain public schools nationwide, all children in the U.S. to some degree are being affected because 1) the outcomes-based educational objectives in force in each state pursue politically correct outcomes for all students, and 2) the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) test assesses all public school students to measure students' attitudes, values, and beliefs, as well as to measure their academic attainment.

Parents will want to watch this hour-long program, or catch the rebroadcast, if at all possible.