Dakota Beacon

The deaths of 11 workers drilling for oil—less than three weeks after the deaths of 29 West Virginia coal miners—serve as a vivid reminder of the dangers faced by those who toil to supply the raw energy upon which our society depends. Most of us take for granted these vital contributors to our economic life. As one who never knew his father due to an oil-field accident long ago, I tend to view these folks as unrecognized heroes. Thank you to all who are doing this essential, dangerous work; may God comfort all who have lost loved ones in this endeavor.

A tragedy of this magnitude puts things in perspective. Why do we waste our scarce and precious time on earth with trivial concerns and petty quarrels? I went to visit Jake and Nancy two days after the funeral,” recalls Dr. Hendrickson. “They reported that Levi was trying to buoy up everyone’s spirits. The next day, I spent a half-hour with Levi, and found that to be the case. Though still trying to come to grips with this inexplicable calamity, he continues to be a loving soul, caring deeply for those around him. He has already learned the secret discovered by Job in the Bible, that the key to recovery and renewal from grievous affliction is to pray for one’s friends.

Government control of our health care has nothing to do with health and nothing to do with care. As long as liberals control government, government will control our lives and our prosperity will be handicapped by control-obsessed fools.

The Reality of 4.27% Growth in Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) - 1928 to 2010

For those AARP people who still read their Bible, please note that when Christ was being condemned by the Hebrew lawyers and priests, even they, in that day, were afraid to destroy “the Truth” because they “feared the people.”  Have “the people” changed? NO!  The “power’ of “WE” the people, is still our hope to day!  For those in AARP, I’ll adjust the truths of Animal Farm to your situation, since you are no longer graded, but you are still governed by what you tolerate.

The Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress have already erased much of the power of the Constitution by passing a law that will lead to government takeover of citizens' health care. Should any clear-thinking American believe that the same big government ideologues would shy away from Soviet style speech control?

 The new America: If you don’t agree with Democrats, shut up or get shut down!

We must never postpone the inevitable battles for a peaceful world, but face them, as one nation, united by God. We must forever strive to leave the people of our world in peace, safety and freedom. Another patriot, Thomas Paine, gave us our legacy when he wrote, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

A government without selfless leadership can be likened to a ship without a rudder, blown about by every wind of doctrine and politically expedient policies designed to maintain control, rather than serve the people.

The evidence of this is represented in North Dakota by the absence of a common sense energy policy that would address the current oilfield development impact problems while capitalizing on the potential oil and gas revenue for our state and its citizens. We have the opportunity at this time in history to implement common sense legislation that would effect long term wealth for the state and therefore enable the elimination of property and income taxation in addition to a reduction of state sales tax rates.

I have long believed that America is the crucible of freedom…. Let us be the crucible of learning. Let us continue to speak out in the marketplace of ideas through all avenues, including The Center for Vision & Values, about what is right about this country and the lessons we have learned from the past—good and bad—so that we might avoid those past mistakes that we have made as a nation. Let us educate young men and women to be the moral and ethical leaders of tomorrow who can go out and stand on the strong foundation this institution is built on, who share those beliefs and ideals and help return this nation to the country envisioned by our Founding Fathers—men of God who embraced freedom and what we used to call the Presbyterian work ethic. They didn’t expect others to take care of them, and certainly least of all the government. -- Address to the Grove City College Trustee-Faculty Luncheon

Federal Obese Police want to collect data, that's all....yeah, that's it, just collect data......

“My name is Daniel Pearl. I am a Jewish American from Encino, California USA...”

He didn’t have a prompter. But he spoke the truth. That’s all President Obama owed him – to do the same.

I mentioned last week the Attorney-General’s peculiar insistence that “radical Islam” was nothing to do with the Times Square bomber, the Pantybomber, the Fort Hood killer. Just a lot of moments “capturing the world’s imagination”. For now, the jihadists seem to have ceased cutting our heads off. Listening to Obama and Eric Holder, perhaps they’ve figured out there’s nothing much up there anyway.        

The left is utterly wedded to thought control.  Like all sibling totalitarianisms, the left in America is addicted to power and repelled by truth.  The creation of officially defined oppressors and officially defined victims determines who has rights and who does not.  The totalitarian narcotic of “Social Justice,” the drug of choice for Hitler, Stalin, Father Coughlin, and Sir Oswald Moseley, dulls the people into a twilight land in which “Freedom is Slavery” and free speech too. 

President Obama has nominated Harvard professor Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In 2008, Berwick said, "Cynics beware, I am romantic about the National Health Service; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country."

Imagine being in the same room with Berwick. The guy's love affair with the horrific U.K. healthcare system betrays the "thinking" of a smug, glassy-eyed pseudo-intellectual. Because of his "romance" with the rationing and lousy care delivered in the U.K. system, Berwick wants to inflict a similar plague on Americans.

All of the wonderfulness of the British system soon coming to you, compliments of Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, a host of other congressional Democrat ideologues, and of course, compliments of Harvard elitist Donald Berwick.

In recent days, special interest groups have started airing ads against the Murkowski Amendment.

The potential amendment, which could be added on to a debt ceiling bill the Senate is expected to take up this week, could mirror one she offered in September that would have prevented the EPA from issuing regulations for one year; that measure was blocked by Democratic leaders. Short of an amendment, Murkowski might offer a resolution disapproving of EPA efforts to curb emissions from power plants and other major facilities.

The bigots are not those who support good profiling, which scrutinizes all groups in accordance with sound criminological science.  It is the Times Square bombing-analyst hopers (such as Contessa Brewer) who play pin the tale on the honkey, doing their best imitation of the three blind, deaf and mute monkeys.

America, we need to end our hang-up with race — before it ends us.

Losing the iron grip that progressives have on "oppressed" and "disadvantaged" American voters is not something that Barack Obama can bear. Media filters must be tightened. According to the President, only certain "information" should reach the people. Perhaps soon, the noble FCC will save Americans from bad information, the information that "has become a distraction."

Never again will any form of "cap-and-trade" be justified on an America-only, economically sound basis. Such justification is impossible.

Curious that the Kerry-Lieberman legislation is labeled the "American Power Act," isn't it? Wonder why the Senators don't call their bill "Cap-and-Trade" or the "Global Warming Reduction Act."

Who authorized the Fed to bail out European governments? Our own government is drowning in debt, so how can we afford to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to Europe? Is Congress asleep? Where’s the media? There was an enormous brouhaha in the fall of 2008 about the emergency bailout of Wall Street. Today hardly anyone has questioned the bailout of foreign institutions. Have we become that desensitized to bailouts?

The Federal Reserve’s involvement in this ongoing crackup has received far too little attention as central bankers are flirting with an infinitely elastic money supply when they talk about ‘unlimited funds’ and creating ‘as many dollars as needed. The sovereign debt crisis … has taken an ominous turn. Have we passed the point of no return in the United States? Perhaps.

For the moment, North Dakota’s financial house is in order. Thanks to oil revenue and a levelheaded legislature, North Dakota cannot identify with tumultuous budget crises experienced by other states. North Dakotans certainly don’t identify with the violence of the Bonus Army days. Yet, the risk of unrest is never absent.

As an after thought, with economic chaos afoot, there is a flaw in the facade of tranquillity. As we know, congress and the president are not above shenanigans. President Obama had no problem strong-arming Germany, Great Britain and Spain and cajoling them to bail out Greece. Why would he not strong-arm a solvent state with a surplus like North Dakota into bailing out bankrupt states? Certainly, respect for the US Constitution is no deterrent for Obama and congress.

The debate about immigration policy is nothing less than a discussion about what kind of nation we wish to be.  Will it be Mexico North?  Iran West?  Right now we’re looking more like the Balkans. 

In fact, with a socialist voting bloc that threatens to give us a Hugo Chavez North sometime in the future — that is, unless current trends can be reversed — the realizing of Mexican nationalists’ Aztlan dream may not be lamentable.  A partitioning of the U.S. may offer the only hope of enjoying a land where the American dream lives on.

Don’t like the sound of that?  Then you’d better start reversing those trends and initiate that immigration discussion fast — in approximately 20 years ago.  Because it’s later than you think — about cinco to midnight for America.

A U.S. debt level of 100% of the nation's output translates as just described in our little "what if." America will soon reach a level of spending and borrowing in which taxpayers--who fund the government--owe as much in loan repayments as the value of the country's entire annual production.

Welcome to a going-out-of-business scenario on a national scale. Ready for some real riots?

This is a history of which all Virginians should be proud. We must always remember that the average Confederate soldier did not fight for slavery, states' rights, the Constitution, or low tariffs. He fought to protect his home from invasion. He must not be denied the honor due him by those more interested in the political causes of the Northern aggression.

Dr. Paul Kengor—reacts to the Empire State Building Lighting Partners’ rejection of a request to light up the Empire State Building for Mother Teresa on the centennial of her birth this August 26. The rebuff is all the more discourteous when Dr. Kengor recalls that “the Empire State last October paused to recognize Mao’s communist China, which was responsible for 60-70 million deaths, the single greatest slaughter of humanity in history, dwarfing Hitler’s terror by six-fold.

So, the saintly nun who comforted the sick as they died in her arms in destitute Calcutta, soothing souls in their final earthly moments, an act of sheer selflessness she did as ‘something beautiful for God,’ was refused. To the contrary, Red China, byproduct of a murderous Marxist despot, where collectivization starved to death more people in three years than Mother Teresa could meet in a lifetime, was recognized. Chairman Mao is howling from his grave.

Last week, the American Association of Pediatricians noted that certain, ahem, “immigrant communities” were shipping their daughters overseas to undergo “female genital mutilation”. So, in a spirit of multicultural compromise, they decided to amend their previous opposition to the practice: They’re not (for the moment) advocating full-scale clitoridectomies, but they are suggesting federal and state laws be changed to permit them to give a “ritual nick” to young girls.

A few years back, I thought even fainthearted western liberals might draw the line at “FGM”. After all, it’s a key pillar of institutional misogyny in Islam: Its entire purpose is to deny women sexual pleasure. True, many of us hapless western men find we deny women sexual pleasure without even trying, but we don’t demand genital mutilation to guarantee it. On such slender distinctions does civilization rest.

Der Spiegel, an impeccably liberal magazine, summed up the remorseless Islamization of Europe in a recent headline: “How Much Allah Can The Old Continent Bear?” Well, what’s wrong with a little Allah-lite? The AAP thinks you can hop on the Sharia express, and only ride a couple of stops. In such ostensibly minor concessions, the “ritual nick” we’re performing is on ourselves. Further cuts will follow.