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.

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.

Thou Shalt Not Steal (Except by Majority Vote)

"The civil government is capable of falling into thievery," Douglas Wilson correctly points out today.

Magistrates can steal, as Ahab stole Naboth's vineyard. Stealing is the unlawful taking of someone else's property. At the same, Scripture is also plain that magistrates can tax, and that such taxation is not thievery. Paul is plain that we should pay taxes to whom taxes are due (Rom. 13 7). Up to a point the magistrate is not stealing, and after that point he is. It appears to me that one of the responsibilities we have as Christians is to figure out where that line is.

Those who think about such things biblically know that the sign at that particular border is already small in the rear view mirror. Samuel predicted dire tyranny for Israel when the king would be impudent enough to claim ten percent -- laying claim to the same amount that God did (1 Sam. 8:15). And Joseph placed a levy of twenty percent on the residents of Egypt (Gen. 47:26), and that amount was eloquent testimony to the fact that all things belonged to the government and that they were slaves.

Yes indeed, and as I pointed out 10 years ago in The Daily Oklahoman, the government is now an idol. And it's no secret that idols always demand a sacrifice.

Must-Read Bloggers

My friend Bobby Lehew lists his top 10 must-read bloggers and asks for other suggestions. Here are 10 I try to check every day:

Cato@Liberty
Albert Mohler
Jay P. Greene
Andrée Seu
Mike McCarville
EconLog
Hugh Hewitt
Michael Bates
Lew Rockwell
Douglas Wilson

And a Shout Out to All My Homeys in Edmond

Well, So Much for That Plan Then

Saw this at the doctor's office the other day:

'Liberty' on Campus

"The first thing to know about On Liberty is that it isn't the uncomplicated paean to individuality it's often described as being," Barton Swaim writes in the current issue of The Weekly Standard.

So it is always with those who suppose that diversity of belief is, in all circumstances, a good thing, that dissent is always healthy, and that beliefs, no matter how widely assumed to be true, must always be questioned. The trouble with that line of thinking is that it always applies to other people, never to oneself. Its adherents naturally believe their views are in the minority -- who doesn't? -- and that views they detest are everywhere prevailing. And the only way to uphold their commitment to "diversity" is to impose, within their sphere of influence, a rigid ideological conformity.

The world envisioned in Mill's famous book exists in its purest form on today's university campuses. It's a world in which entire departments are composed of faculty who hold exactly the same views on all important questions, and in which democracy is countenanced only insofar as it affords power to busybodies with postgraduate degrees. And these, of course, are the same citadels of sameness in which young people are censured and ridiculed if they fail to embrace the virtues of "diversity" with sufficient zeal.

Rather a curious legacy for the philosopher of liberty.

And rather unsurprising that a modern university president would list On Liberty as his favorite book.

ACORN: 'A Massive Crime Family'

Action items: (1) Urge Congress to defund ACORN; (2) cast your ballot for the Voter ID requirement in Oklahoma when it comes to the statewide ballot next year.

Flaming Lib?

In a column in the current issue of the Oklahoma Gazette (on newsstands today), I maintain it's no coincidence that Gov. Brad Henry's highest-ever veto tally came in the same year the Republicans first controlled the legislature, sending to his desk a steady stream of center-right legislation.

"Now, Therefore, I, Barack Obama ...

... President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists."

Obama's Enemy

Jay Greene thinks it's odd (and I agree) that Obama says he "won't shop" at WalMart and thinks the "battle" against WalMart is "absolutely vital," yet he's willing to meet with the Holocaust-denying leader of Iran.

Father-Son Basketball Camp 2009

Vast Left-Wing Kleptocracy ®

Susan Olasky reports in the current issue of WORLD magazine ('Own that phrase') that a blogger named Leo Babauta

received a letter from a lawyer advising him that he had infringed the copyright of the lawyer's client by using the phrase "Feel the fear and do it anyway" in a post on his website. It turns out that the phrase is also the title of a book written by the lawyer's client. ... According to Babauta, the lawyers "asked me to insert the ® symbol after the phrase, in my post, and add this sentence: 'This is the registered trademark of Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. and is used with her permission.'"

Babauta's having none of it, but this little episode did get me to thinking. As someone who is involved in Oklahoma's vast right-wing conspiracy, and as someone who is disturbed by the practice of government officials and left-wing activists taking your money and then using it to lobby for more of your money, there's a phrase I've used for years which I think I should trademark: Vast Left-Wing Kleptocracy.

If someone coined the phrase first I'm not aware of it, but I'm sure I'll be hearing from their lawyer soon enough.

'This Kiddie Gestapo Stuff Is Offensive'

That's Jonah Goldberg's take on this commercial, and I agree.



"There is something evil about recruiting children to lobby their parents on political causes," Goldberg writes.

The idea of enlisting children to the Cause is as fashionable today as it was under Robespierre. To crack the bunker walls of the family and seduce the children has always been a top priority of totalitarians, hard and soft. Progressives love to elevate the sagacity of children — Hillary Clinton says some of the best theologians she's ever met have been five-year-olds — because doing so gives children all the more authority when they parrot the talking points of the latest progressive fad. ...

If the man in the ad were a better father, he would have scolded his kid for the disrespect and demanded to know who was teaching him such crap.

'The Obamaization of the American Car Business'

"President Obama's decision to seize General Motors and convert it into Government Motors is as shocking as it is unpopular," Hugh Hewitt writes today.

[T]he president's insistence that GM be nationalized is appalling to large majorities of Americans. The socialization of America's biggest brand is not the sort of decision that can be cloaked in head-faking rhetoric. What had been a private company on the verge of bankruptcy is now a government actor competing against private sector companies and using the federal treasury as an enormous unfair advantage in the marketplace. Even if the cost itself was not so staggering, the idea of the federal government declaring itself on the side of one of many competitors is as distasteful as it is unprecedented. It must be reversed.

Spoke Too Soon?

"After a Tulsa World investigation found that as many as 10 Oklahomans apparently had voted after their deaths in recent years, a state official said there are logical explanations for at least nine of the cast ballots," the World reports today.

If the 10th case, one involving a Lincoln County man in 2006, proves to be a clerical error rather than fraud, then the Oklahoma League of Women Voters will be off the hook and will not be under any obligation to endorse voter ID (as I earlier suggested).

Voter ID, of course, was good policy before any smoking gun and remains good policy now.

Daycare and Children's Well-Being

Each month at a site called familyfacts.org, The Heritage Foundation "catalogs social science findings on the family, society, and religion gleaned from peer-reviewed journals, books, and government surveys. Serving policymakers, journalists, scholars, and the general public, familyfacts.org makes social science research easily accessible to the non-specialist."

This month's findings have to do with daycare and children's well-being.

Young Cons Have Gone Viral

Game On