Happy Birthday, President Reagan

Well, last Saturday, February 6th, marked the 99th birthday of former President Ronald Wilson Reagan (or as he would have described it, "the 60th anniversary of my 39th birthday!") Sadly, he's been gone from us since 2004, but many happy memories of this wonderful good man, his eternal optimism, and his love for this great country can live on through the magic of media.

Here's a touching YouTube spot, set to the music and lyrics of My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, that was put together following Reagan's death by morning radio personality Reid Mullins, of KTOK NewsRadio 1000 in Oklahoma City. Thanks, Reid. Enjoy!

Tim Tebow Ad to Air During Super Bowl Tomorrow

Surely we've all heard by now about the controversy surrounding the upcoming pro-life ad from Focus on the Family, which will air on CBS during the Super Bowl tomorrow. Pro-choice advocates are understandably in a tizzy (e.g., Planned Parenthood, in response, came out with its own online ad), but this is a great advance for the cause of life. In the entire 37 years since Roe v. Wade, can you think of even a single time a major TV network has ever broadcast a life-affirming message — even if it's a paid message?

If you'd like to learn a little more of the back story and details surrounding Tim Tebow's birth, click here.

Will They or Won't They Spend it All?

With a current Rainy Day Fund balance of almost $600 million in state reserves, Gov. Brad Henry proposes to spend almost all of it -- $553 million -- to fund state government operations. In contrast, Republican leaders, including Speaker Chris Benge and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, would like to appropriate no more than 3/8 of the balance -- some $234 million, in case the current recession in state revenues continues for another two to three years. Of course, Gov. Henry won't be in office beyond January, 2011, so a lack of state money in future years will not be his problem; he understandably wants to fund the operations of state government well during his watch. But, it seems prudent to OFPC for state leaders to make the hard, necessary cuts today and save as much as possible in the Rainy Day account for any future lean years the state may yet have to endure.

For more on the emerging Rainy Day fund situation, read Patrick B. McGuigan's excellent report at CaptiolBeatOK by clicking here.

Univ. of Penn Study Reports Effectiveness of Abstinence-Only Education

You may have seen news reports this week about a new University of Pennsylvania study, published in the February, 2010, issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The study by John Jemmott, III, Ph.D. and two other colleagues shows what absinence proponents already know: abstinence-only programs for youth work better to prevent or delay sexual activity than other alternatives. Here's an overview:

Six hundred sixty-two urban African-American kids, both boys and girls, with an average age of 12.2 years, were part of a randomized controlled trial. Some kids received eight hours of character-based, abstinence-only instruction, similar to what is presented in OFPC's KEEP Program. Other children got eight hours of safer sex/condom use instruction. Still others got eight to 12 hours of a comprehensive sex education (CSE) program. Finally, other youth received eight hours of instruction in just a general health promotion course, which did not mention sexuality or contraception at all.

Two years later, only one-third of students who had received the abstinence-only course self-reported having had sexual intercouse, compared with about half of the control group. According to researchers, abstinence-only worked well with these inner-city kids! The other kids that got comprehensive sex ed instruction had just as much sex as the control group; CSE showed no effectiveness to prevent or delay sexual intercourse, although CSE did reduce students' self-reports of having multiple sexual partners.

Here's the significance: the Penn study shows early intervention is important and effective among urban youth to decrease sexual intercourse, STDs, HIV, and pregnancies, and for a long period, in this case two years, following the intervention.

New Taxes to Hit Middle Class Families

A new article posted on The Drudge Report references a host of new "backdoor" taxes that may soon be negatively affecting middle-class families across America, despite the oft-repeated campaign promises of 2008.

Click here to read the article.

OMI Presents Relationship Strengthening Workshop Feb. 6

This Saturday, you and your sweetheart are invited to attend the free Forever For Real Relationship Strengthening Workshop, presented by the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, at one of four locations in OKC (Express Event Center, 8512 NW Exp), Downtown OKC (Skirvin Hilton Hotel), Moore/Norman (Embassy Suites, 2501 Conference Dr., Norman), or Tulsa (Crowne Plaza Hotel, 100 E. Second). Event time is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The presentation will be essentially the same at each location, and a free box lunch is included.

To sweeten the deal, engaged couples who attend can save $45 on the cost of their Oklahoma marriage license.

For more information, visit http://www.foreverforreal.com/ or call (877) 435-8033.

2010 Oklahoma Legislature Convenes

Today, the Oklahoma Legislature is up and running again, and state legislators face the daunting task of planning for the next fiscal year with $1.3 billion in less revenue than they had to appropriate last year.

To make things even tougher for elected officials, the legislators must factor in the real possibility of much less revenue coming into state coffers for the next two or three years, to boot. Of course, decreasing the size of state government would not be a bad thing for taxpayers (it has already grown significantly over the past several years), but that's not the way many of the politicians at 23rd and Lincoln will think, unfortunately.

As you know, the Oklahoma Constitution mandates a balanced budget (unlike the federal budget which, by the way, the Obama Administration announces has a $1.56 trillion deficit!). Spending cuts will be in view throughout the 2010 Oklahoma legislative Session, but that doesn't mean lots of mischief can't be done or good things accomplished for Oklahoma citizens over the next 4 months.

Please plan to attend the following this week and next:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Rose Day (to promote pro-life public policy) is this Wednesday morning, Feb. 3, 2010, at the State Capitol.

Capitol Day (to promote home education) is the following Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, at the State Capitol. OCHEC is encouraging folks to turn out since two anti-home schooling bills have been introduced (HB 3099 and SB 1403).