Dakota Beacon

Billy Wilder's death at 95 summoned generous eulogies, and most of them rang true. He was an excellent writer-director, one of Hollywood's rare originals. At his best -- in perhaps a dozen of his many films -- he displayed a caustic wit unusual in that sentimental, formulaic medium. And who else in the film industry could have produced movies as different as DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE APARTMENT?

Private Markwardt and his decorated Vietnam Veteran Grandfather Rollie Port

The recruits were standing at attention.  What a sight to see.  Six companies of America’s greatest and  brightest young men and women who have committed themselves to service to their country.  Soldiers one and all.  Standing tall and proud in their camouflage and black berets, ready to serve when called.   Willing to make the extreme sacrifice for their country.  They are American Soldiers.

Nearly 13.5 million innocents were murdered by Hitler, Stalin, and Pot. Three terrorists voluntarily checked out of Gitmo. No staunch liberal would seriously doubt the equivalence. Size doesn’t matter. America is every bit the monster that those murderous regimes were, simply because a liberal says so.

Obviously, Abdo doesn’t object to “war in any form” — just the American form.  As for the unstated “American values” he mentioned, I hope we resurrect the almost lost American value of accountability in his case.  This would mean forcing him to repay the Army its investment in him and giving him a nice long stretch in a very American prison.



It’s not a stretch to imagine that a government education monopoly that assumes kids’ minds belong to the state reeks of a totalitarian aroma. If true, this idea does not merit respect. Philosophy, theology, logic, music and art may not translate to “jobs” contributing to the Gross Domestic Product, but they do provide a firm foundation for a life well lived.

In the short span between 1607 through the early 1900s, America’s education produced multiple generations that built the greatest engine of democracy and finest economic dynamo the world has ever seen. Today, the progressive program of government pedagogy, the so-called linear path to enlightenment, serves more to confound than to clarify.

Mathematics is an unforgiving discipline. No matter who on planet Earth subtracts a larger positive number from a smaller positive number, the result is still a negative number. This reality stands firm despite wishful-thinking Democrat legislation. So when straightforward arithmetic treatment of today's government finances shows that it is, in Monty's words, "impossible to get out from under the level of existing debt," all clear-thinking, logic-based human brains (non-liberals) take notice.

These economic policies are nothing new. It’s not change. The Great depression was caused by massive tax hikes and government trying to spend us out of a recession. It’s these failed policies of the past that Obama, Conrad, Pelosi and Pomeroy are trying today. The economic policies of Karl Marx have failed every time they have ever been tried because they were designed to fail.

It turns out that that of the actual Program C audit working papers provided by the prosecution are ALL computer-clean, printed from a pure electronically-provided file with NO writing and NO notes.

 Just what if Cynthia Feland has presented to Judge Romanick a document that is NOT as she claims the C99 that she gave Sandy Blunt?

Horrified by flooding in the Devils Lake Basin, rising concern about Devils Lake, Nodaks of Norwegian ancestry can’t stop talking about politics, some landowners on the Ft. Berthold Reservation are not receiving their oil royalties, the policy discriminates against prudent employers, tribal communities need ethical leaders, Center Court is plotting a comeback, Get your Sarah Palin gear!, Bristol who?, hitchhiking hummingbirds, the Forum’s policy of publishing bankruptcy flings, Costs in higher education can and should be subject to cost-benefit analysis, the state has a large number of foreign college students, ND Youth Council, DAKTOIDS

To the liberal, when people mess up, it's one oppressor or another, one victimizer or another, that has oppressed, victimized, and goaded the people into messing up. Stiglitz lays the blame for our economic condition at the feet of "financiers" and "regulators." Foolish people who accepted unaffordable mortgages don't make Stiglitz's list of suspects.

Now that Barack Obama has decided to be for the Ground Zero mosque before being implicitly against it (perhaps), discussion about his faith has once again reached a fever pitch.  To many, his stance proves he’s a Muslim, with a recent poll showing that almost 20 percent of Americans hold that opinion; to others, it just reflects a desire to be faithful to the Constitution (now, that would be change).  The truth, however, is a bit more nuanced.  Obama is not religiously Muslim.  Culturally, though . . . well, that’s a different matter altogether.

Dorgan Says North Dakotan's Want Higher Taxes

Bruce’s knowledge of history, his wry and subtle sense of humor, and his laser targeted analysis of the serious issues make this book intellectual candy most delicious.

This book is GREAT! It has classic written not just all over it! It has classic all inside of it as well!

What a history lesson! What a brilliant look into the mind of the socialists!

Each of the 51 chapters - individual gems of history, wisdom and insight in amusing, bite sized pieces. - A must read.

- Steve Cates

Rep. Mark Dosch (R- District 32 Bismarck) has consistently led the quest for more accountability in higher education.  While it is not a popular view among the editorial elites, we need to support his calls for transparency and accountability in the University System.

Of course, it shouldn't be difficult to rectify misperceptions. Throughout American history, presidents have been asked about their faith and sat for lengthy interviews sharing their thinking, explaining precisely what they believe. Why doesn't Obama simply do the same? This isn't rocket science.

Revealing, it is, that today's Progressive-in-Chief, Barack Obama, boasts of delivering "the most progressive legislative agenda" in decades in order to "shape history for the better." Obama's pronouncement summarizes the mission that progressives see in life. Yet every single attempt by progressives to "shape history for the better" has consisted of social engineering that produces misery.

Damned concerned, we ought to be. Damned determined, we must be, to kick the progressives out of power this November and the Progressive-in-Chief out of the White House in 2012.

We  are  not  aware  of  a  single  apology  by  a  Senior  Global   Muslim  for  the  conduct  of  those  Jihad  barbaric  murderers.  The  Muslim  silence  was  deafening.  It  was  as though  the  Muslim  silence,  after  9/11,  was  indeed  a  sign of  their  cumulative  contempt  for  Non - Muslims.

Walker came to the wrong conclusion, We’re in for a wild ride come November, Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame, The “growing together” thing may be a little puzzling, Most Somali refugees have limited English, Dorgan’s legacy is a substantial challenge, their support comes with a price, We’re still above the national (average), White students in ND (89%) score well below the national average, GMO sugar beets provide about one-half of US sugar supply, ND in the 1930s Depression, a record number of severe weather events, DAKTOIDS

The real inflationary (or hyperinflationary) risk that the financial markets will calculate very carefully going forward is that the central bank, with this announcement, has now opened itself to being fully co-opted by the political process in Washington. Consider, why make hard political decisions on taxes and spending when the central bank has, in effect, just announced that it stands at the ready to print the money to finance any deficit of any size in order to underwrite any amount of future debt accumulation? A central bank that is willing to simply print money out of thin air to finance unlimited amounts of debt will eventually undermine the confidence in the currency being managed as lenders eventually seize on the realization that they will never be paid back in anything other than worthless paper.

History is written by courageous heroes, everyday people whose lives are bettered by the heroes, and cowardly tyrants who betray the people’s trust. Voters will write the next pages of American history by electing men and women to squash the tyranny that threatens to kill a noble and exceptional country. The newly-elected had better not betray us. We are in no mood for more betrayal.

The light of the world has dimmed, true. People all over the planet wonder if America has gone mad, if freedom, prosperity, and leadership will be extinguished by treachery. But Democrats’ treachery has awakened a giant, for the people will not tolerate iron rule. 

Few actions possess tyranny’s power to fill tyranny’s victims with resolve. Nothing motivates more than betrayal.

“In the 1960s and 1970s, most of the ideologues I encountered were on the political left. ... Recently, however, conservatives seem to have become more like the ideologues they criticized 40 years ago. They have long excoriated ‘knee-jerk liberals,’ but have many conservatives actually become knee-jerk ideologues on the right? There are a few warning signs that the transformation may be well underway.”

What does Joe Six-Pack want? Freedom to prosper under limited government. But Joe didn't stop freedom-stealing big government ideologues from pushing a feel-good agenda on bankers, who then created investment tools that derived from loans given to people who had no way to repay. Joe didn't stop the ideologues from pressuring the bankers to issue the loans. Joe didn't stop the people from accepting the loans. Ultimately, Joe didn't stop Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and irresponsible inventors of irresponsible investment instruments from bringing America to her knees. The conclusion that follows in the "mind" of Ratigan? Joe is filled with human fecal matter.

Therefore, I plan to send the phantom a donation of $.01, which is a measure of  the value of his worth to ND.  By doing this we all can be part of a number, for statistical purposes, which is basically how the phantom sees us.  Check his voting record and source of contributors..

Washington itself causes much of the high unemployment in America by its excessive regulations that stymie industry and new investments, according to Jon Basil Utley in a new article, "Confronting Washington's Job Killers" at Reason.com. Utley is the associate publisher of The American Conservative magazine, formerly was a commentator for Voice of America, and a foreign correspondent for Knight Ridder for many years in South America.

In “President Obama Cites Bush and Christ—Sort Of” (781 words), professor of political science and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College—Dr. Paul Kengor—parses President Obama’s recent remarks over the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. “The blogosphere is burning red, consumed with fury over President Obama’s announcement,” Kengor observes. “While much is being said, there’s one thing that really struck me about Obama’s announcement: In a 1,200-word statement, … Obama began with backing from George W. Bush and ended with backing from Jesus Christ. At the same time, he didn’t name Bush or Christ.” “Obama didn’t cite his source. Why not? Is it because the principle is so universal that no source is needed? Or could it be that Obama, ironically, is bending over backwards not to offend Muslims in a statement calling upon Christians (and other non-Muslims) not to be offended by the mosque?”

Disillusionment at home and within the ranks could end Petraeus’ career, perhaps even the war in Afghanistan, without defeating the Taliban. Surrendering to bin Laden’s terrorism emboldens, not lessens, the threats to the United States and the world posed by Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and the supporters of radical terrorism, or our allies Israel, Russia, and China. The other lesson from Vietnam to remember is that a demoralized military may be unable to defend the United States at a time when the members of the next “Greatest Generation” are called to duty.

The enemy this country and the coalition forces face in the war on terrorism has been identified and war declared. A choice must now be made to fight to win, or withdraw from the battle–and huddle at home awaiting the attack that will certainly follow. Either alternative is horrible to contemplate, but the choice must be made.

“Comparing his plan to study at Liberty to a study-abroad program, Mr. Roose decides he needs the experience for the sake of cultural diversity: ‘Here, right in my time zone, was a culture more foreign to me than any European capital, and these foreigners vote in my elections!’ After getting a brief orientation to Christianity from a friend who grew up in a Christian home, despite the consternation and confusion of family and friends, Mr. Roose plunges in to ‘pray when they prayed, sing when they sang and take exams when they took exams.’”

Tracy Potter has a novel idea for saving Social Security, Bush tax cuts should be allowed to stand, Editor John Irby handicapped two initiatives, Officials from the ND tribes testified they need more, guess what . . . money, “How about it, candidates?  Let’s hear your ideas”, compromise and concession will be necessary, there is concern GF is becoming a secondary market, Well, if you are not studying anyway, who needs professors?, The Olympic Lamoureux twins,  EPA may attempt to regulate ag dust, The park called for volunteers to do the shooting. 2009 earnings dropped a bit from a record 2008, The 2010 rally held in early August had ten related deaths, DAKTOIDS

Know this: Every time you use the term "gay marriage," "homosexual marriage," or even "traditional marriage" (the Lexicon of the Left), you undermine yourself. If one of the first two, it is because you are explicitly acknowledging an imaginary institution's existence. If the last one, you are implying it. For what is the other side of the coin of "traditional marriage"? And if the American psyche is imbued with the idea that "marriages" between same-sex individuals exist and that marriage is a right, well, you can forget the legal and political battles. If you lose the cultural one, everything else follows. It's just a matter of time.