5th District Congressional Debate is Feb. 11 in Edmond

Our good friend, Lt. Col. Stuart Jolly, with Americans for Prosperity - Oklahoma Chapter will be moderating a 5th District Congressional debate tomorrow night, Feb. 11 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. The debate in Constitution Hall (in the Nigh University Center) among several announced candidates for Congress will start at 6:30 and conclude by 9 p.m. Candidates slated to appear include: Kevin Calvey, Jeff Cloud, Rick Flanigan, James Lankford, and Dr. Johnny Roy.

The debate is free and open to the public. If you don't have other plans, this is a good opportunity to learn more about the various Congressional candidates who are seeking to replace Rep. Mary Fallin in the U.S. Congress in January, 2011.

National Marriage Week USA

This week is National Marriage Week USA. It's a week-long celebration of marriage that has be observed worldwide in other countries for about 20 years, but only recently in the USA.

Marriage offers important benefits for men, women, and children, but it's dying in our culture. In 2008, only 57 percent of adults were married, compared to the 78 percent of married Americans in 1970. As cohabitation rates rise, legal assaults and efforts to redefine marriage continue nationwide.

Marriage Week USA is an effort to strengthen the institution of marriage, honor it, and encourage Oklahoma's married couples recommit to their own marital relationships. In Oklahoma, we're fortunate to have groups like the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, Marriage Network Oklahoma, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, Eye to Eye Marriage Enrichment Community, and OFPC working full-time to help strengthen marriages in Oklahoma.

This afternoon, OFPC Executive Director Mike Jestes will participate with a number of other Oklahoma marriage movement partners in a state Capitol news conference to highlight Marriage Week USA and to focus some state attention on several pro-marriage pieces of legislation, including HB 2279, by Rep. Sally Kern; HB 2634, by Rep. Mark McCullough; and HB 2543, by Rep. John Wright. Look for the story on tonight's evening news reports.

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.