Dakota Beacon

. . . how unbelievable the Bakken story has become; the state may be producing 1.6 million barrels of oil a day; ND historically punches above its weight; about $10,000 for each resident; Tell the Bison to Go Roam Somewhere Else; Fargo has a relatively large Somali population; never living more than a few miles from the place he was born; one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps; narratives about daily life; the shaming of fatties; a heroic, dedicated advocate of Indian rights . . . .

Either way, 636,000 homeless is an eye-opening statistic, as is the sight of the homeless. I recently visited California. I was stunned by all the homeless I encountered in beautiful, wealthy towns like Santa Barbara. It’s impossible to walk down the street and not get asked for money. Not coincidentally, perhaps, it was just reported that Erin Moran, star of the 1970s hit TV show, “Happy Days,” is homeless.

All of this begs a question: Why isn’t this being talked about?

. . . growth in ND sales tax collections, the number two state in the development of entrepreneurship, Tough to find another name, Three Affiliated Tribes refinery project, TEDs are tax-exempt borrowings created by the Stimulus Act, The first new oil refinery to be build in decades, Minot Northeast Bypass, we can invest in a glorious future, universities in North Dakota are accomplishing far less than they could and should be, 11 families have decided to move, one of ND’s “most lovely churches, So she drove over them with her car, Muskrats 1 -- Railroad 0, DAKTOIDS . . . .

This dreadful decade has produced a Republican Party that is fractured into factions and sharp little shards. Swaggering party plunderers strut out onto the stage, wrapping themselves in faux conservatism while brazenly refusing to apologize for their high life in the hot tub. And pro-lifers, once more, are taken for granted, and betrayed.

Is it in our national interest to deter aggression and maintain a stable global order?  If the answer is “yes” then a 4 to 5 percent investment of our Gross Domestic Product, as we have seen for the last 70 years, is acceptable.  If the answer is “no,” then America can no longer meet its responsibilities as a leader in the free world.

Mr. Burton's comments illustrate the thinking that permeates today's culture. The Mr. Burtons of the world view other people's earnings and future earnings as something they have a right to claim. And they think it is appropriate to attack anyone who challenges this thinking.

The apparent lies surrounding the Libya tragedy are a huge scandal for Obama, and, with the mainstream media’s failure to aggressively cover the story, the debate was a golden opportunity to get the truth out. Enter Crowley’s Passion. She snuck into the ring, without Obama even tagging her, and hit Romney from behind with a chair while the ref, Crowley’s Brain, was looking the other way. And, as was established later, she was wrong. It was, as Thomas Sowell wrote  recently, a display of what Obama himself is guilty of: confident ignorance.

Lastly, there’s something else Biden should know about Catholic doctrine. The Church teaches—and this was reaffirmed by the Pope several years ago—that politicians who publicly support abortion automatically excommunicate themselves.

So the fallacy of the PONVI position is revealed when we apply it to other things. “Personally, I’m opposed to rape, but I understand the world is shades of gray; “Personally, I’m opposed to slavery; I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, Mr. Lincoln.” Would we consider this a moral and compelling reason to not prohibit these things?

This is an extremely sensitive and important issue. Dementia is a tragic and heart-breaking affliction. We need to re-examine our values. Are we on the path to the grim sports future as depicted in the 1976 movie “Rollerball” where the craving for violent entertainment leads citizens to devalue the lives of athletes?

  . . . the tallest building in the state; A symptom of too much? Is the porridge too hot or too cold? PowerFuels has grown from 40 to 1,100 employees; millionaires are hard to spot; We are a hot spot in the country; guilty of “ignorance, not criminal intent; ND will have a three-tier college system; Shirvani “is moving with unusual alacrity; CHS nitrogen plant near Jamestown; A man camp in Jamestown! North Dakota has one of the most acute drunken-driving problems in the United States; The victims were from four other states; the Spirit Lake Tribal Council has gone beyond dysfunction; horse manure slinging; DAKTOIDS . . . .

"The only other option is to actually support my side with real ideas, sound reasoning and appeals to virtue. I can’t do that!"

Comes now some organized mischief whose ultimate goal is to perform an end-run around the Constitution and undo the Electoral College via the back door. And once again (surprise!), the effort is largely bankrolled by George Soros (whose aim is to transform the United States of America into a socialist state). Old Uncle George shrugs off criticism that his stealth attack on freedom-loving America amounts to "opportunity for me, but not for thee." Furthermore, he thinks his money talks and says you and I will obey his orders. Or as his staff people have gleefully warned, "That ship has already sailed."

According to a study by the Government Accountability Institute, Obama failed to attend a single Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) in the week leading up to the recent anniversary of 9/11 and the chaos that erupted in the Arab world. The mere fact that we were approaching 9/11 was a crucial enough reason to attend not one but all the briefings. President Obama attended none.

Worse, this is apparently nothing new. Obama attended only 43.8 percent of his Daily Briefs in the first 1,225 days of his administration. For this year, he attended a little over a third.

This is stunning, and there’s no excuse for it.

And since were thinking innovatively, let’s take the last legislative session’s action and take it to its logical conclusion… let’s fund K-12 Education entirely with state funds!

Moreover, consider all the implications of letting the ghosts of the past influence our present. If we’re rejecting Christianity because of them, we not only deny ourselves the faith, but also deny it to the children we may have in the future. Likewise, if we let those who once hurt us control our voting decisions, we not only hurt ourselves with bad government, but also the children to whom we will bequeath it.

"A 'bigot' can be defined as a guy who gets caught practicing sociology without a license. The ideology of the taboo-monger posits bigotry everywhere just beneath the surface in all the lacunae of idiomatic speech, more or less the way the old physics posited the ether filling all the unexplored spaces in the universe. They think it must be there, so for them it's always plausible to impute it. "Civil rights" is now based on the presumption of guilt-against whites. If you're not in lockstep with Progressive Attitudes, you're a bigot until proven otherwise."

A truer picture of the dire employment situation is provided by the 600,000 rise over the previous month in involuntary part-time workers. According to the BLS, "These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job."

In a world where far too many high school graduates cannot combine two grammatically correct sentences or command a sixth grade proficiency in math and science, who cares if they “know” all about technology? We’ve placed tools in the hands of children to use as toys then marvel that they actually learn how to use them.

. "The strike is definitely exposing some of the rifts within the Democratic Party and making them worse. You do see unions more isolated than ever before."

It is the forcible transfer of wealth by government from taxpayers to special interests and political cronies—the unfree, not the free market—that is the unfair way of getting rich.

Just consider Ronald Reagan, a man so affable he won even the hearts of many ‘80s Democrats. How likeable did he seem at the 1980 Nashua, New Hampshire, primary debate when he angrily shouted, “I’m paying for this microphone, Mr. Green”? He was playing hardball, not Mr. Nice Guy, but it was a defining moment that evoked cheers and helped pave his way to the presidency.

The latest entrant to the discussion of same-sex parenting is Mark Regnerus from the University of Texas. Dr. Regnerus found that having at least one parent who (at any time) had a same-sex relationship is associated with an increased risk for negative outcomes. A firestorm of controversy has erupted. Charges of academic misconduct have been leveled. The charges were investigated by the University of Texas which concluded that misconduct had not occurred.

I encourage you to view the debate…it was very revealing of the positions of the two candidates. After viewing it, ask yourself if you believe Gulleson to be an “Independent Voice”?

However, public decadence is something like obscenity, in that it may be difficult to define, but you know it when you see it. In the final analysis, Governor Romney’s instincts are correct, because so much of what passes for the issues of the day—joblessness, politicians apologizing for America, entitlement reform, the unconscionable public debt—can be understood by reference to the fact that too many of our citizens and most of our leaders have forsaken the politics of virtue and instead have succumbed to decadence. And as Mr. Romney and many others understand, an American republic under such circumstances has not long to survive.

It appears from e-mail traffic that senior Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod attempted to influence the Gallup Organization data collection process after Gallup published polls unfavorable to Obama. Gallup then resisted a law suit compiled by Obama’s Justice Depart on an unrelated matter. The suit has not yet been served to the Gallup Organization. Intimidation comes in many subtle forms.

Trying to grow sustainable economic prosperity by resorting to government spending is doomed to failure because bureaucratic spending is not predicated on economic profit-and-loss calculation. During my years at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an oft-heard consolation was, “That’s okay. We don’t have to make a profit.” By their very nature, government spending decisions have no regard for profit and loss.

Autumn is a gastronomic delight. Fresh garden produce has been available all summer long, but autumn is the crowing glory of the growing season. In our land of plenty there is an abundance of fruits and vegetables. There is something very special about serving up home grown produce fresh from the branch and vine. Everything from apples to wild fruits and berries come into season.

Unlike the Washington-supported Saudi royal family that absorbs most of their nation's oil income, Qaddafi allocated the oil money to Libyans. In Cynthia McKinney's excellent book, The Illegal War On Libya, Stephen Lendman writes that Qaddafi "wanted Libyans to share in the country's oil wealth, a notion foreign to America and other Western societies. Under his 1999 Decision No. 111, all Libyans received free healthcare, education, electricity, water, training, rehabilitation, housing assistance, disability, old-age benefits, interest-free state loans, as well as generous subsidies to study abroad, buy a new car, help when they marry, practically free gasoline, and more."

Based on past experience, one could believe that events in the summer and fall of 2012 constituted teachable moments, just as German perfidy and aggression in 1939 convinced western leaders that Hitler was a fraud. Instead, the American embassy in Cairo responded with another Munich Moment, by issuing a statement of such breathtaking pusillanimity that one could wonder which side in the issue they actually represented.