Dakota Beacon

For those unsure who is a professional politician as opposed to a statesman, consider the following:

– A statesman is a person of bedrock principles and unchanging fundamental truths not guided by expediency.

– A statesman is a person governed by a moral compass -- not public opinion polls – but instead a sense of absolute right and wrong.

– A statesman is a person with a true vision of what the community (large or small) can be, is able to identify problems, can craft solutions for both the short and long term to bring the vision to reality.

Perhaps it is time to finally turn off the pundits and turn out all the professional politicians and seek statesmen as our leaders.

In July, the story of Charlie Gard, the baby stricken with a rare and typically fatal genetic disorder, was the center of international news. Tragically, Charlie passed away. Remarkably, a similar story is now beginning to unfold in the United States. In this article, Richard Kocur looks at the fight of Russell Cruzan III, a four-month-old baby from Michigan who suffers from a variation of the same rare condition as Charlie Gard. 

We have been in Boston this week. Cobblestone streets, The squawk of sea gulls. Bracing salt filled breezes to remind one that the ocean is just over yonder-wherever you go there is something that stirs the soul.

Our youngest son is with us and has one thing on his mind-baseball and Fenway Park.

"Iconic" is the word he used to describe the experience of sitting in the green bleachers - the 37' high wall some 310 feet from home plate looms like a "Green Monstah" (that's New Englander for monster) to remind the batter just where he is and what he's up against. 

JOLT IN MINOT; ND HUB CITIES; GRAND SKY; 1HE 11TH ANNUAL UAS SUMMIT; DROUGHT; WAYWARD DRUMMER; IT HAPPENED AGAIN; GUILTY; BOBBY WASN'T AVAILABLE; THE CHURCH OF CASH; LEMMINGS; THEY WANT TO BE "CORRECT"; NEW BOODK; DAKTOIDS

What happened to summer? Suddenly Memorial Day and the 4th of July seem so far away. Signs of summer’s passing are all around us.

Summer passed so quickly. Maybe it is the short summers on the northern plains that makes time seem to fly. Or, maybe the busyness in which we immerse ourselves that distracts us. So much to do; so little time. Rush, rush, rush.

There is a perennial contradiction. It is easy to love summer for its warmth and breezes but hate it for its heat and humidity. This, too, becomes a distraction from the passing of time. In the blink of an eye we soon trade the heat for the cold.

A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT; DIGIKEY; WORTH A TRY; MAKING DO; PRAIRIE SKYSCRAPER; GOVERNORS' HIGHW; A LESSON; THE REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER; CANDISC; CAUTIONARY TALE; SAD ENDING; TREADING WATER; DAKTOIDS

Griffin Internet Syndicate, August 5, 2003 – Speaking as a Catholic, I wish the Vatican would say nothing about same-sex “marriage.” It’s beneath its dignity to enter into debate with a sick joke, and when it does so it only allows progressive-minded fools to change the subject.

Some people have the ineradicable impression that Catholics regard the Pope as an absolute dictator who can change the moral rules at his own whim.

Such fools, some of them nominal Catholics, argue that the Church is a bunch of hypocritical old men nervously obsessed with sex and Jesus told us to be nice to each other and refusing to let homosexuals marry isn’t very nice because they don’t bother anyone and anyway what about all those pedophile priests so let the Pope mind his own business and look to his own house. You get the idea. Like, if the Church doesn’t enforce its own rules, those rules must be invalid.

In 2009, the Manhattan Declaration was drafted to rally traditional Christians to solidarity and to provide guidelines for proclaiming the truth of Christ, boldly and peacefully, in an unfriendly culture. In this article, Dr. David Hogsette revisits the Manhattan Declaration and argues: “The public square is a hostile environment of competing identity politics. However, not all identities are treated equally. Those adhering to Christian orthodoxy do not enjoy the same respect, dignity, tolerance, or acceptance as other identities, despite the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty.”

For some people, 50 years ago was known as the Summer of Love. In this article, Dr. Mark Hendrickson reflects upon 1967 and writes, “Drugs, sex, and rock’n’roll is hardly a formula for generational excellence. Think of ‘the greatest generation’ that found the inner strength and character to prevail in the existential conflict of World War II: Would they have achieved such heroic heights had their priorities been to tune out the world and pursue ease and pleasure? Not a chance.”

Colombians grow it; Bedouins chew it. Africans hoe it; Americans brew it. Coffee, a third world child adopted by Americans, is without question a favorite American beverage. In my case, coffee and I have had a long love affair.

Imagine the despair a few years ago when some anxious pessimists declared caffeine a health hazard adding it to an ever-growing list of no-no’s.

Coffee isn’t the bugaboo some Chicken Littles made it out to be a few years ago. The only apparent danger posed by coffee is from some dolt who drops a cup of the hot stuff in their lap and then wants to sue.

Relax and enjoy a cup o’ joe!

GENERAL FUND REVENUES: AMBIGUOUS; TOUGH STATE; SHIRVANI CAME AND WENT; TIME TO ATONE; WHY THE TEARS?; WHO IS DRIEST?; HAY LOTTERY NDSU; IT'S A RARE SITUATION; THE PATTERSON HOTEL; THE REAPER; IMMIGRANTS; DAKTOIDS

Recently our attention has been fixed on the most extreme Muslim reactions against the West, and we may choose to dismiss Islam as a “violent religion.” But this is a sort of optical illusion. We ignore, at our peril, the quiet revulsion felt by ordinary Muslims who don’t express their feelings with beheadings and car bombs. I could name a lot of American Christians and Jews who feel the same way.

“It was a course that within just a few short years was about to change dramatically. The world would face a new president in the White House and a new pope at the Vatican.” In this article that first appeared at Stream.org, Dr. Paul Kengor looks at the summer of 1976 in America. A year where two future world leaders would set the stage for decades to come. Kengor details Cardinal Karol Wojtyła’s visit in August and the crisscrossing of the country by Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.

Immigration is good only if it benefits America. We don't owe the world a crash pad!

The gist of the fairness principle as my Dad emphasized it went something like this. “If you cannot find the guilty party,” he stressed, “do not take out your frustration on the whole group. Do not punish the group for the errors of one or two bad apples. And, by all means, do not punish the group in hopes of catching the culprit. It isn’t right.”

A renewal of the principle of fair play is long overdue. Without it, we acquiesce to a general acceptance of institutionalized group punishment. At the hands of the federal government, that becomes worse than unfair.

Group punishment is not the American way.

Digital privacy means different things to different people. But should the federal government legislate privacy? In this article, Dr. Caleb Fuller details the “cobra effect”— government interventions which generate major unintended consequence—and how it may be unwise for the United States to imitate Europe in its comprehensive scheme to regulate digital privacy.

DROUGHT; THE WHEAT QUALITY COUNCIL; HEY, A LITTLE HELP, PLEASE!; A SURPRISING STATEMENT BY GF HERALD; LET'S FACE IT; BELIEVE IT OR NOT; JOHN WARFORD; MYRTLE FARRELL; DORIS "DEE' ANNE STURLAUGSON OTTO; RECRIMINATION AND RESIGNATION; MAYOR BETSY HODGES; TROUBLED COMMUNITY; YOU'RE ON CANDID CAMERA; WHATEVER IT IS; DAKTOIDS

The state of Pennsylvania has a budget that is estimated to be about $2 billion short of what will be collected in taxes. One of the most talked about revenue solutions is to expand gambling. In this article, Dr. Joseph Horton examines the idea of increased gambling and argues “I do object to a government that seeks fiscal health not by promoting wealth creation, but by creating losers.”

Christopher Manion describes the prophetic encyclical on contraception and the family, Humanae Vitae, published in July 1968, which foresaw the culture of death, the destruction of marriage, and many other phenomena that have come to pass. 

Cancer. This is a powerful word. The very mention of cancer raises concern and alarm. The emotional power of this single word conjures thoughts of deadly malignancies, interminable suffering and death.

Knowledge, too, is powerful. Knowing something about the type of cancer helps us deal with it rationally. This is particularly true of skin cancer. Unlike internal cancers, skin cancer can be touched and seen and, in doing so, the mystery of the unknown diminishes.

I speak from experience. My first bout with skin cancer culminated with surgery in 1977. I wish I knew then what I know now. I wish my physicians knew then what they know now.

Charlie Gard’s fight for life has moved people across the world. Yesterday, the parents of Charlie Gard announced that they will end a legal battle that sought treatment for their son outside of the United Kingdom. In this article, Richard D. Kocur asks, “How did it come to this?” Kocur argues that socialized healthcare and bureaucratic shot calling often remove treatment decisions from family members—in Charlie’s case, his parents. 

Thus the reason we are not securing our borders is simple, and one of the oldest motivations among mankind – GREED. We have greed of Democrats for votes, Republicans for cheap labor and illegals for having what is ours without earning it or fighting for it in their own countries.

LOW PRICES; "SO FAR, SO GOOD"; THE MAGIC CITY NAME; JAILS CLOSE TO HOME; A REGIOANAL BENEFIT; DON'T BOTHER TO LOOK UP; THE BAD SEED; THE BANK OF JOHN DEERE; TELEMEDICINE; THE BITE; THE CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS; JANEE HARTEAU; DAKTOIDS

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion in the media (and social media) about gender identity. In this article, Dr. Gary Welton looks at the psychology involved with the cultural concepts of masculinity and femininity and argues that past, as well as current, approaches are wrong. Welton writes, “Instead of physical surgery to attempt to change biological gender, we instead need to adjust our thinking about what it means to be masculine and feminine in our modern world.”

Mysteries of the actual locations of Indian villages prevail.

Could you imagine lightweight boxers complaining they don’t get the money and exposure of the heavyweights, calling the different treatment “staturism”?

This is essentially the situation at the Wimbledon tennis championships this week, with, for example, Hannah Wilks at theGuardian writing, “A new analysis of matches scheduled on Centre and No 1 courts shows that Wimbledon organisers routinely favour male tennis players over their female peers.” She calls this “sexism” and “sex discrimination.”

Actually, it’s called marketing.

Many researchers who study the development of young people have begun to think less about linear stages of child development and have focused more on the holistic context of the child—notably the nature of their relationships. In this article, Dr. Lisa L. Hosack examines what healthy relationships do for children and argues that a significant outcome is that of resiliency. Hosack writes, “While we may actually be unable to eliminate chronic stress in the lives of many children, we may be able to build their resiliency levels through high-quality relationships.”