OU Betrays Its Own Ideals ... Again

My friend David Deming is not a creationist. Indeed, the geologist and University of Oklahoma professor is "skeptical of traditional religion." Even so, he is none too pleased with OU's much-ballyhooed Darwin Project, the "incestuous propaganda festival" your tax dollars are funding in Norman.

"None of the invited speakers or events promises to be in any way critical of Darwin's idea," Dr. Deming writes. "What should be an educational and scientific event will instead be a celebration of materialism and atheism. It is a breathtaking betrayal of the university's ideals of diversity and inclusiveness."

Fortunately, there are some people fighting for academic freedom at OU.

Wall Street Journal: Can Drew Be Trusted With Power?

Exulting in "a victory for community organizers" (heh), the Wall Street Journal editorial board is "happy to report that Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has dismissed criminal charges against three political activists and finally ended his assault on popular democracy in the Sooner State."

Mr. Edmondson has designs on higher office, but his willingness to resort to such politically motivated prosecutions raises doubts about his judgment, and how much he can be trusted with power.

Hillary Is Getting the Last Laugh

Our friend Grace-Marie Turner explains how the left is pushing through "stealth care" reform.

Quote of the Day

Christians need to be alert for literary ironies because we are smack in the middle of a fin de siecle novel written by a master of layered ironies. The fact that Obama, as pro-abort as it gets, was able to sit through that prayer service after he was inaugurated, the one where the choir sang, "He's got the whole world in His hands ... the little, bitty baby in his hands" was a feat of extraordinary discipline or cluelessness, or perhaps both.

--Douglas Wilson

Will Drew Pay a Price for His Abusive Behavior?

Wall Street Journal "Political Diary" columnist John Fund, on the dismissal of charges against Paul Jacob and two of his fellow taxpayer activists:

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson finally decided that his crusade to send three political activists to prison for trying to get an initiative on the state's ballot is a dead weight around his political ankles. The fact that he pursued the bizarre case with such zealotry will probably be an issue as he plans to run for governor next year. ... Here's hoping Mr. Edmondson's misbegotten prosecution isn't forgotten by the state's voters next year.

We're Home, Free

After the Athenians routed the Persian army on the field of Marathon, the Persians had enough sense to head for the showers. As the historian J. Rufus Fears says, "They had had enough of free men for one day."

There's a state senator from Tulsa, God love her, who somehow got the notion that she and some of her fellow politicians should try to trample on the parental rights of free citizens. I really wish she wouldn't do that. And in my own little cuddly way, I tried to communicate to the good senator that the education bureaucrats can have my children's files when they pry them from my cold, dead fingers.

Customer Service: Text and Subtext

Here's a sign posted at the OU Health Club today:

Here's the subtext:

The University Health Club is closed because, well, we can be. We're going to get our state appropriation whether we're open today or not.

Sorry for any inconveniences, but hey, thank God for free enterprise: YMCAs and private-sector health clubs all over the metro are open today.

Please drive safely on those clear streets on this sunny, 34-degree afternoon.

Sooners Win Again

Oklahoma now owns a 124-89 series lead after traveling to Stillwater tonight to defeat Oklahoma State by a score of 89-81. It was Oklahoma's seventh victory in their last nine meetings with the Cowboys.

Blake Griffin again put up big numbers (26 points, 19 boards), keeping himself in the race for national player of the year. If he wins it, Oklahoma would become the first school to produce a Heisman Trophy winner and a hoops national player of the year in the same academic year.

Sooner head coach Jeff Capel (pictured here with Jack Henry) is now 4-1 against the Cowboys. Jack Henry watched tonight's game with his brother on ESPN.com. His quote of the day -- and Sooner fans will recognize how astute this comment is, especially coming from a six year old -- had to be this: "Double coverage on Omar Leary -- that's odd."

Some folks might be surprised to learn that, according to a methodology developed by ESPN Research which ranks the best college basketball programs in the modern era, Oklahoma ranks an impressive 12th in the country, ahead of such storied programs as Indiana and Louisville. Oklahoma State comes in at a respectable number 32.

Fears Factor

I'm hoping the weather clears up so Susie and I can go to dinner tomorrow evening and hear the inimitable J. Rufus Fears give a talk on the lessons of history for today.

Helping Wounded Soldiers

One West Point cadet is coming home to Yukon in March to run, oh, 120 miles or so in one 24-hour span. This is a fundraiser to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Click here to learn more.

Homeschool Legislation Update

Over at Choice Remarks, I've been doing a fair amount of blogging lately on the threats to homeschool freedom in Oklahoma.

Don't Torture Terrorists, Torture Babies

"On the day after millions of Americans solemnly marked the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that has led to the loss of an estimated 50 million lives," the Family Research Council points out, "President Barack Obama took unilateral steps to expand abortion at taxpayers' expense."

'The Most Prestigious Address in College Football'

"Oklahoma's position atop the Prestige Rankings is a triumph of consistency over flash -- of steak over sizzle," says ESPN.com senior writer Ivan Maisel ('Times change, but OU stays on top'):

In the 73 seasons since The Associated Press began polling in 1936, other schools with winning traditions and larger national profiles have ebbed and flowed toward the top. The Sooners arrived there shortly after World War II and signed a long-term lease.

The Prestige Rankings are a snapshot. ... In every snapshot taken at 10-year intervals over the past 50 years, however, the same team is at the top.

It is not Notre Dame, which has dropped from second to fourth in the past decade of wildly swinging fortunes. It is not USC, the dominant team of the BCS era. It is not Alabama, which has fallen from second to sixth in the past 20 years.

It is Oklahoma.

End Race-Based Victimhood

That's Ernest Istook's message to our new president.

Not As Good As You Think

Edmond Public Schools, that is.

Tick, Tick, Tick ...

Time is running out for Oklahoma Aspiring Governor Drew Edmondson in his persecution of taxpayer activist Paul Jacob.

Mr. Edmondson -- whom Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Paul Greenberg rightly calls "a bully with considerable power, a high state office, and more ambition than respect for the rights of others" -- was dealt another setback today by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Homeschool Recitation Night

Can't Get Enough of This Picture

Artful-Partiality Watch

The Associated Press reports that

A $600 million revenue gap Democratic Gov. Brad Henry and legislators must fill is only a fraction of the funding wiped out by a series of state tax cuts in recent years.

"Wiped out," huh? Sounds serious.

According to Tax Commission figures, tax reductions approved between 2005 and 2007 will surge past $1 billion this year and total $2 billion by the time they take full effect in fiscal year 2011.

"Surge," huh? Sounds ominous. Two billion dollars! Can you imagine such a thing? Oklahomans get to keep some of their own money instead of giving it to people to whom it doesn't belong. What next?!

Republican leaders, who pushed hard for the tax reductions, are now in full control of the Legislature for the first time in state history and will have to deal with lost revenue and budget reductions.

One wonders if Brad Henry, who signed the tax reductions into law, will have to deal with lost revenue and budget reductions.

The GOP leaders defend the reductions on both philosophical and economic grounds.

What about Brad Henry? Does he defend the tax reductions? The AP doesn't tell us. Why not? After all, these GOP leaders didn't have veto-proof majorities. None of this surging and wiping out would be happening apart from Brad Henry's signature.

Religious Freedom Day, 2009

Today is Religious Freedom Day.

The Oklahoma City Thunder's ...

... average margin of victory is 21 points in every game attended by Jack Henry.

Obama's 'Stimulus' Plan

My friend Grover Norquist deconstructs it in 79 seconds.

Ya Got Trouble Right Here in Oklahoma City!

As attorney Bruce Shortt pointed out a couple of years ago, "Oklahoma's crack team of government educators, the folks who spend billions of dollars a year to achieve heretofore unknown levels of semiliteracy and illiteracy among otherwise normal children, periodically take time out from their educational misfeasance to offer ominous warnings that we've got trouble—terrible, terrible trouble—lurking in homeschooling homes all across the state."

Well, they're at it again. Time for homeschoolers to light up the switchboards.

Happiness Is ...

... beating Texas by 15.

Homeschoolers 'Systematically Outperform' Their Peers

"The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) commissioned several studies to compare how home-schoolers score on standardized achievement tests compared to their public and private school counterparts," Michael Smith writes in The Washington Times. "The results of those tests demonstrated that on average, home-schooled children regularly outperformed their peers."

What the test results demonstrate is that a home-school program tailored to the individual needs of the student is the best method of educating a child. ... The best home-schooled students systematically outperform the best non-home-schooled students.

Too Many Government Employees

In a recent column in The Oklahoman ("State government's overhead overload"), I argued that Oklahoma has too many government employees on the payroll. In a letter to the editor today, Bob Whistle of Midwest City offers an anecdotal insight that rings true.

'Area Man Makes It Through Day'

Funny. Agonizingly funny.

Correction, Please

Yesterday on Twitter I posted the following:

Tulsa World lays off 26 newsroom staffers. Well, I guess that’s one way to make liberal reporters understand the free-enterprise system.

Feminist blogger Jean Warner, commenting on the layoffs, wrote: "Not everyone is unhappy about the layoffs; to read Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs VP Brandon Dutcher’s reaction on Twitter click here."

Jean is wrong. My post had nothing to do with my "happiness" or "unhappiness" -- a state of mind Jean, lacking as she does omniscience, would have no way of knowing anyway. It was simply an ironic observation about liberals getting slapped around by the invisible hand they so despise.

A Year with the Institutes

Christians the world over, including Lincoln and me, are celebrating the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth this year by reading through The Institutes of the Christian Religion during 2009.

Ligon Duncan gives several reasons why this is a good idea. Among them:

Because it the most important book written in the last 500 years.

Because it is foundational for every Reformed systematic theology ever since.

Because Calvin was the best exegete in the history of Christianity.

Because Calvin is one of the five greatest theologians in Christian history.

Because you will know God better, if you read it prayerfully and believingly.

Because it's the 500th anniversary year of Calvin's birthday. Don't be a party pooper.

Sam Storms, pastor of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, is joining the party. Dr. Storms (Ph.D. in intellectual history, University of Texas at Dallas) is planning to write one or two meditations each week on selected portions of the Institutes. Formerly an associate professor of theology at Wheaton College, Dr. Storms is the author of the book Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election (Crossway, 2007).

It's not too late to get started. Princeton Theological Seminary has the Institutes online; for a reading schedule, click here.

My Favorite Gator

No one's a bigger Sooner fan than I am, but I gotta tell you I love Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, a homeschooled Heisman winner who takes mission trips to impoverished villages. "Pressure is not having to win a football game," Tebow said this weekend. "Pressure is having to find your next meal."

Not Sure Which Translation She's Reading

In an article in NEA Today, Oklahoma schoolteacher Harriet Leake says: "Make no mistake, I'm to the right of Attila the Hun. But I'm also a Good Samaritan, and I don't understand why we can't share the bounty in this state."

But of course, the Good Samaritan didn't pick up a sword and start levying taxes on other people's bounty. He simply shared his own. Nothing is stopping Ms. Leake from doing likewise.

Homeschooling Continues to Grow

"The ranks of America's home-schooled children have continued a steady climb over the past five years," the nation's largest newspaper reports today on its front page.

Actually, That Junior Year Is Looking Pretty Appealing

In his latest mock draft, scouting guru Todd McShay has Oklahoma's sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford going in the first round to the Detroit Lions. Here's hoping Slingin' Sammy and his family read Matt Labash's recent Weekly Standard cover story on a city in ruins.

Reese Announces Candidacy for Labor Commish

My friend Jason Reese today announced his candidacy for Oklahoma Labor Commissioner in 2010. Check out his impressive website here.

Beyond Fanaticism

Barack Obama's approval of legalized abortion is "unmistakable," First Things editor Joseph Bottum writes in the current issue.

Unlike Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry, Barack Obama refused to make even verbal gestures toward compromise or nuance during the presidential campaign. The flatfooted line he delivered at the Saddleback Forum — that a decision about when life begins is "above my pay grade" — proved that he has internalized the peculiar logic of Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, which cast laws against abortion as government's unconstitutional intrusion into private metaphysical decisions. But his earlier line that he didn't want young women "punished with a baby" proved that he has also internalized what stands behind those decisions: a worldview in which life is not a gift but a burden to be shouldered only when we will.

On abortion, Obama is the complete man, his support so ingrained that even his carefully controlled public speaking can't help revealing it. He's not a fanatic about abortion; he's what lies beyond fanaticism. He's the end product of hard-line support for abortion: a man for whom the very question of abortion seems unreal. The opponents of abortion are, for Obama, not to be compromised with or even fought with, in a certain sense. They are, rather, to be explained away as a sociological phenomenon — their pro-life view something that will wither away as they gradually come to understand the true causes of the economic and social bitterness they have, in their undereducated and intolerant way, attached to abortion.

Found It in the Attic Tonight

Saddle Up

Pioneer Woman recently blogged about "a little jewel of a store" that, as it happens, is just a couple of miles from my boyhood home. The place is a Western store, a custom saddle shop, and more. Heck, I used to call up there and order a couple of cheeseburgers to go (though I'm pretty sure they don't do that anymore).