'To Fundamentally Transform the United States of America'

"How dare the Republicans proffer this déclassée piece of Wasilla trailer trash whose only claim to fame was that she didn't exercise her right to choose?" David Kahane writes ("I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin").

Where were her degrees from Smith or Barnard, her internships at PETA, the Brookings Institution, or the Young Pioneers? We were also outraged that the Stupid Party had just nominated a completely unqualified candidate nobody had ever heard of, a first-term governor of Alaska whose previous experience consisted of a small-town mayoralty. As opposed to our guy, Barry Soetoro of Mombasa, Djakarta, and Honolulu, a first-term senator nobody had ever heard of, whose previous experience had been as a state senator (D., Daley Machine) in Illinois.

"Maybe now you're beginning to understand the high-stakes game we're playing here," Kahane continues.

This ain't John McCain's logrolling senatorial club any more. This is a deadly serious attempt to realize the vision of the 1960s and to fundamentally transform the United States of America. This is the fusion of Communist dogma, high ideals, gangster tactics, and a stunning amount of self-loathing. For the first time in history, the patrician class is deliberately selling its own country down the river just to prove a point: that, yes, we can! This country stinks and we won’t be happy until we've forced you to admit it.

In other words, stop thinking of the Democratic Party as merely a political party, because it's much more than that. We're not just the party of slavery, segregation, secularism, and sedition. Not just the party of Aaron Burr, Boss Tweed, Richard J. Croker, Bull Connor, Chris Dodd, Richard Daley, Bill Ayers, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and Emperor Barack Hussein Obama II. Not just the party of Kendall "Agent 202" Myers, the State Department official recruited as a Cuban spy along with his wife during the Carter administration. Rather, think of the Democratic Party as what it really is: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.

I Beg Your Pardon, Kind Sir, But My Paternity Is Impeccable

National Education Association general counsel Bob Chanin addressed the NEA Representative Assembly last week. He asked, to raucous applause from your children's schoolteachers, "Why are these conservative and right-wing bastards picking on NEA and its affiliates?"

One Way to Help Special-Needs Students

The Edmond Sun's Patty Miller reports on the new school-choice idea unveiled by the Friedman Foundation and OCPA. Final graf:

"Tax-credit programs provide a much more efficient mechanism to direct dollars to education than increasing state aid," said Brandon Dutcher, OCPA's vice president for policy and an Edmond resident. "But more importantly, the kind of program we are talking about here increases parental satisfaction and reduces the inherent conflicts and confrontations that play out countless times each year between parents of special-needs students and public school districts."

Whoa Canada!

The lad appears to be enjoying himself north of the border.

'Let's Do It. Let's Start Our Own Country.'

Before there was Rufus Fears, there was this gentleman. Not a bad way to tell a child about Independence Day.

Tulsa Pics

More Choices for Special-Needs Children

School choice could help special-needs students while saving money for taxpayers, according to a new study published by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and OCPA (press release here).

At a state capitol press conference on Tuesday, OCPA and Friedman were joined by three state legislators who are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about this issue: Rep. Jabar Shumate (D-Tulsa), Sen. John Ford (R-Bartlesville), and Sen. Clark Jolley (R-Edmond). The OETA report is posted above. The News9 coverage is here. The Oklahoman's story is here, and the KOSU podcast should be posted soon. And our good friends at the Tulsa World, God love 'em, chose the benign headline "Scholarship program idea assailed as voucher scheme" to frame their reportage of the issue.

The World quoted the president of the state's most powerful labor union as saying, "Oklahoma families don't want voucher schemes." But the funny thing is that, umm, they actually do. A recent scientific survey of 1,200 likely Oklahoma voters made that clear. And it's small wonder: when asked simply "what type of school would you select in order to obtain the best education for your child?" a mere 17 percent said they would choose a regular public school. That's not a misprint. A full 83 percent would choose something else.

Tick, tick, tick. A sea change is coming at 23rd and Lincoln, and I think the unions sense it. And if all they can do is keep their heads in the sand, mindlessly reciting their talking points, choice will get here sooner rather than later.

Is the Honeymoon Over?

Just a Pound and a Half This Morning ...

... but lookin' good.

Stimulus? We'd Be Better Off Without It

In an interview with the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, Tom Daxon, author of the forthcoming OCPA study "Enhanced Financial Reporting for State Government: Comparing Cost to Performance," reminds us that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Bruin Up Trouble

Actually, it was a pretty relaxed and low-key high school reunion in Bartlesville this weekend. I think you'll agree my expectant sidekick was radiant.

The Wise Condescending Latina

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

—Judge Sonia Sotomayor

I challenge you to think about those extraordinary 32 words for a moment. And make no mistake: "Sotomayor's 32 words were not an off-the-cuff indiscretion," Jennifer Rubin writes, "but an accurate summary of 4,000 words of disdain for judicial impartiality."

Now, I have it on pretty good authority that Solomon was the wisest judge who ever lived. And yet, he not a wise Latina woman who claimed to feel your pain. Indeed, as my former professor Herb Titus reminds us, he grew up in luxury. So too with Moses, another non-Latina non-woman, who spent his first 40 years in pharaoh's house. Yet Moses was so wise that both parties in disputes, rather than going judge-shopping, willingly brought their cases to him.

I would respectfully suggest to Ms. Sotomayor that true wisdom comes from someplace other than the richness of our experiences. And I would remind her of the timeless lyrics from the '70s rock band Kansas: "And if I claim to be a wise man / It surely means that I don't know."

How Much Will Cap-and-Tax Cost Your Family?

Despite pleas from many of us on the center-right, the U.S. House narrowly passed cap-and-tax on Friday. Now it's up to the U.S. Senate to thwart what Hugh Hewitt calls "this attempt at economic suicide."

If the Senate can't stop it, you would do well to start rethinking your family budget. Click here to calculate how much cap-and-tax will cost your family.

For now, the only good thing about the House vote, Hewitt writes, "is the undeniable message it sends to voters about just how hard left the Democrats are and at the same time just how irresponsible the Obama/Pelosi/Reid majority is."

Not only does today's debacle strengthen the case for a massive course correction and return to balance in D.C. in 2010, it also should increase resistance to the similarly radical attempt to remake American medicine into a single-payer, government-dominated, Canada-style plan. A majority so obviously indifferent to the substance of "legislation" they pass should not be trusted with the medicine that Americans need to live well and long. The country knows the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Democrats are drunk on power and lurching so far to the left as to stun even partisan Democrats.

Government Takeover, Pure and Simple

Keeping an Eye on the 'Stimulus' Money

Former state auditor Tom Daxon, author of the forthcoming OCPA study "Enhanced Financial Reporting for State Government: Comparing Cost to Performance," discussed the so-called stimulus package this morning on News9.

Well, Ummm, I Mean ...

First Mr. Obama said that under his health care proposals, "if you like your insurance package you can keep it." Then the Associated Press reported that "White House officials suggest the president's rhetoric shouldn't be taken literally."

Yes, I can see that now.

'Hatred'

That's John Piper's feeling toward the health, wealth, and prosperity "gospel," which is really no gospel at all.

'This Is a Song About Liberals That We Can't Stand'

Reagan on Socialized Medicine

A Letter to My Daughter, On Father's Day

You are about 22 weeks old and probably weigh a little more than a pound. In less than 18 weeks you will finally be here and we will meet you face to face. And one day, God willing, when you get older I will tell you your story.

I will tell you about how your dad and I prayed and hoped for another baby and how much we wanted you. I will tell you that I had almost given up hope and wasn't sure if it would happen, but that your dad was sure God would answer our prayers. And He did.

I will tell you about the day we all went to your 18-week ultrasound (at right) to find out if you were a girl or a boy. Your dad and I and your two brothers and two sisters crowded into the room and waited to hear what our tie-breaker baby would be. I will tell you what the doctor said during the ultrasound: spine looks good ... brain looks good ... fluid looks good ... no cleft lip ... definitely a girl. And then he said, But do you see this? He said something about a hernia. "A hernia," I thought, "that can't be serious."

I will tell you how the doctor took your dad and me into a separate room and explained things in more detail. A congenital defect ... diaphragmatic hernia ... underdeveloped lungs ... surgery ... mortality rate is 50 percent. I will tell you how we later decided we will probably go somewhere out of state for your birth. God willing, I will tell you all that and then I will tell you about your dad.

I will tell you that after that ultrasound the only thing that kept running through my mind was "mortality rate is 50 percent," but that your dad was thinking "all things come not by chance, but by his Fatherly hand." I will tell you that when we got home from that first appointment and we were alone, your dad cried more than he has ever cried before. But at the same time he reminded me that the doctor may have said 50 percent, but that God is working 100 percent for our good and His glory. One day, God willing, I will be able to tell you all this.

I will tell you how never in my entire life had I been so afraid, and that I'm sure your dad was too, but that he was constantly reminding me of God's goodness to us -- goodness that I didn't always see. I will tell you that when he gets in his car he plays the song that reminds him of you, the one with the lyrics, "hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race." I will tell you how he would pray for you and how he knew deep inside that this plan God has for you and for our family is perfect. I will tell you that I knew this too in my head, but that your dad was the one who helped me to believe it deep in my heart.

God willing, one day, I will be able to tell you all this. But by that time you will already know what a great dad you have. You will know how much he loves you and has always loved you. And one day, God willing, you will hand him your scribbled homemade card that says Happy Father's Day.

John Stossel ...

... is now blogging.

The Continuing Crisis

Sometimes the situation would become so absurd that Hawkeye would simply flash that wry, mischievous grin of his and crack, "See you in the funny papers."

That's sorta how I feel whenever modern evangelicalism (anagram: meandering small voice) serves up its latest doozy. I still find it hard to believe that any church would do the following:

(a) utilize fog machines during its worship services experiences
(b) feature Starbucks Arabian Mocha and raspberry scones as communion elements
(c) consider eliminating baptism as a requirement for membership
(d) call itself StrobeLightChurch.tv
(e) recommend that Christians have their best life now
(f) employ a Minister of Aerobics
(g) offer door prizes such as recliners and big-screen TVs
(h) have a café with 32 video game kiosks

Are those really true? Some are, some aren't. That's not the point. The point is that none of them are implausible, and you're not really sure which ones are true and which ones aren't. Moreover, it is my sad duty to report that, of the two video clips below, only one is a parody. The other is from an actual church ecclesiastical-organization-type-thingy.

See you in the funny papers.

'Second Chances for Fathers'

Tony Woodlief (pictured here at left) is a writer who regularly churns out stuff -- in The Wall Street Journal, in World magazine, on his blog -- that I would write if I were smarter, better educated, more disciplined, and a better writer. Until then, I guess we'll just have to rely on Tony to keep doing it. This piece today, "Second chances for fathers," is excellent.

Democrats Want to Raise Your Taxes

As if your taxes weren't high enough already, the Democrats want to raise them even more.

OU Father-Son Basketball Camp

More pics here.