Dakota Beacon

With sadness we noted last week the passing of a remarkable man.  Jaime Escalante pursued a profession not usually linked with fame.  He was a high school math teacher.  Born in Bolivia, Escalante earned his teaching degree and at his wife’s urging, immigrated (legally!) to the United States.  He found himself in Los Angeles, in an economically depressed area overwhelmingly ethnically Hispanic. 

Upon perusing the teaching materials and textbooks, Escalante was dismayed.  The work expected of high school students in Los Angeles was taught at the 5th grade level back in Bolivia.  It made no sense to him to require less of these kids than he knew they could deliver, and he resolved to put himself and these students to the test.

A little known fact that the biased liberal media will not tell you ... the government denies a larger percentage of medical claims than any private insurance agency. Death panels already exist in the Veteran's Administration, Medicare, and Medicaid systems. Thanks to Obama and your representatives in Washington, you may face one in your lifetime.

The desire of today’s big spenders in Washington to greatly increase their revenues is reminiscent of how FDR financed his spending binge during the Great Depression. During the 1930s, federal revenues from the income tax fell the more tax rates were raised. (Congress, take note.) To raise more revenue, FDR and Congress increased excise taxes—taxes embedded in the price of common consumer goods like gasoline, milk, and cigarettes. The effectiveness of those taxes as generators of government income derived from the fact that those taxes are difficult to avoid, unless you can live without milk, gasoline, etc.

Spirit Lake Nation Tribal member recounts the facts and explains a native view:

Now as for our position on the name and logo the vast majority of Sioux in North Dakota take pride in the name and logo and feel it honors our ancestors.  We understand that there are honorable people who oppose the name and they do respect the people, but there are those also who oppose the name, who do not respect our people.  And as a Grand Forks Herald reporter said after speaking with an opponent he got the impression the “end justifies the means” that tactic, we feel dishonors our ancestors.

This controversy is far from being over, the Sioux having yet begun to fight.  The only way to stop this controversy is for eight council members in Standing Rock to get out of the way and let the people speak.   If by some amazing turn of events Standing Rock voted in opposition to the name and logo the people of Spirit Lake would accept it as long as it is open and honest.

Nazis? Nietzsche? Insanity? Obama? What does it all mean?

First Democrats (the party of slavery, segregation and the Klan) accused conservatives (who passed the Civil Rights Act despite Democrats) of “racism”; now the party of violence and terrorism calls us “terrorists” for peacefully warning people about the horrors of socialism and deviating from our constitution. If socialized medicine is so wonderful, can’t they simply debate the issue?

One sin you don't hear much about is envy: the hatred of the good for being good. Yet it's one of the most basic human temptations, making its first recorded appearance near the beginning of the book of Genesis, when Cain hates -- and kills -- his brother Abel for being favored by the Lord.

This kind of envy is not to be confused with coveting another's possessions. Mere jealousy of wealth can be assuaged by acquiring wealth. But envy arises from the humiliation of moral inferiority. It makes you want to denigrate or even destroy the person you feel is better than you. Usually it takes the form of detraction and slander, but it can even go to Cain's extreme.

When Hitler’s goons fled the concentration camps at the site of Allied guns in the spring of 1945, it was left to the Allies … to grapple with what they suddenly confronted. Once the survivors were freed and carefully transported, what would the Allies do with the camps? For nations like America and Britain, steeped in Judeo-Christian notions of fairness and justice, the options for the camps ranged from the legal, meaning document them as evidence of Nazi war crimes for the Nuremberg trials, to the theological: exorcise them. For the USSR, however, the next step was a no-brainer: use the camps. Indeed, fling the doors open and get ‘em back in business. The communists were not about to waste a perfectly functional, German-built concentration camp. If the Soviet system knew how to do one thing, it was to collectivize and redistribute squalor and death.

We are now not merely disincentivizing economic energy but actively waging war on it. If 51 per cent can vote themselves government lollipops from the other 49 per cent, soon 60 per cent will be shaking down the remaining 40 per cent, and then 70 per cent will be sticking it to the remaining 30 per cent. How low can it go? When you think about it, that 53 per cent of American households prop up not just this country but half the planet: They effectively pick up the defense tab for our wealthiest allies, so that Germany, Japan and others can maintain minimal militaries and lavish the savings on cradle-to-grave entitlements. A relatively tiny group of people is writing the check for the entire global order. What proportion of them would need to figure out the game’s no longer worth it to bring the whole system crashing down?

Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force’s senior officer, Global Hawks at Grand Forks, opponents of the UND Fighting Sioux nickname are a minority, Archie Fool Bear gathered over 1,000 signatures, How do tribal members feel, What is a “coyote stick?, What is “thunder snow?, Armey is one of ND’s most well-known and distinguished figures, Frontier states strategy, Commission on the Future, 120 miles of canals to nowhere, The marvelous machine will go 70 mph on water, ND has its own shaking, he is quick on his feet.

The modern left’s ‘social justice’ strives for economic equality. It endeavors to reduce, if not erase, the gap between rich and poor by redistributing wealth. This is ‘justice’ more akin to Marx and Lenin, not according to Moses and Jesus. It is a counterfeit of real justice, biblical justice. Modern notions of ‘social justice’ are often wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce . . . .

When was the last time we had a government reflecting these limits?  The truth is that Uncle Sam violates the Constitution ever more brazenly with the passage of time, adding to its power and subtracting from our rights.  And it won’t stop unless someone stops it. 

And it is time we stopped it.  The states should send a message: Black Robes, if you won’t do your job, we will do it for you.  No state resident shall be compelled to buy health insurance, and we will not cooperate in the enforcement of such a mandate.  Furthermore, no federal agents may enter our territories for the purposes of such enforcement.  And if they do, they will be arrested.

The Congressional Research Service confirmed in a memo Wednesday that rapists and sex offenders may get federally subsidized Viagra and other sexual performance enhancing drugs under the recently passed health care reform law.

N.D. congressional delegation votes not only for government funded pre-birth infanticide but also your tax money to facilitate erections for perverts!

Today the North Dakota Policy Council filed a complaint on behalf of Erling Haugland against the City of Bismarck for violating tax increment financing laws. The complaint was served to Bismarck city attorney Charlie Whitman this morning and was filed in District Court in Bismarck.

Pushing for universal health care rather than solving existing problems, President Obama has demonstrated that he is a radical governing from the left. Unbelievably, North Dakota’s congressional delegation, wittingly or not, follows his lead.

If our congressional delegation won’t solve straight forward problems like the doctor fee enigma, what good are they? What purpose do they serve?

Is it time for regime change?

Pitcher Mark Buehrle is hit by the line drive to his left foot, runs toward first base, makes the most amazing upside down, between the leg, flipping field for the out.

YOU MUST SEE THIS!

America won independence and established our Constitution by uniting, in a common goal, very diverse groups.  The Constitution was riddled with “compromises.”   Thoughtful men accept honorable compromises.  Those who wanted to break the colonies into squabbling factions were the British.   The Tea Party activists who wish to splinter conservatives will insure that the conservative revolution fails.  Sixty percent of America, fighting for the same general objectives, cannot lose…unless the majority chooses to splinter itself into helpless minorities.

The Democrats endorsed a candidate for the Public Service Commission who supports cap and trade and renewable mandates. He even once said, "The road to the climate summit in Copenhagen goes through Bismarck."

We are first in lignite coal production, fourth in oil production, sixth in electricity exports. We are even 10th in wind production. We also meet all ambient air quality standards and reclaim our coal mines to productivity levels that exceed pre-mining.

All of these accomplishments can be undone by one rogue regulator whose agenda is not North Dakota's agenda.

This is interesting and widely unknown.  I knew some of these “facts” but not all. All these facts have been verified.

Just in case some of you young whippersnappers (& some older ones) didn't know this. It's easy to check out, if you don't believe it. Be sure and show it to your kids. They need a little history lesson on what's what and it doesn't matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts!!!

Consolidation of rural school districts has occurred over the last 50 years as a way to improve school district efficiency. This paper evaluated the cost impacts of twelve consolidations (all twelve combined two districts into one) in rural school districts in New York between 1985 and 1997.

Administration and transportation costs were dramatically reduced for all three levels of consolidation studied. Consolidation of “administration” and/or “transportation” sectors ONLY may be worth investigating when outright consolidation is not practical due to travel times.

In this famous parable, Jesus illustrated … the two forms of Christian charity: first, assistance provided personally and directly to another; second, rendering assistance indirectly by donating one’s own property to those who have the time and skills to tend to those in need, in lieu of our own hands-on assistance.

Let’s suppose that the Samaritan, upon spotting the badly wounded man, also sees a rich man walking by. Let us then suppose that the Samaritan is a big, powerful man who intimidates the rich man into handing over enough money to pay for the wounded man’s care. The man in need would still receive the help that he so desperately needs, but would the Samaritan still touch our heart, and would he have acted selflessly? Would we remember him as a paragon of Christian virtue and charity?

North Dakota taxpayers have been told repeatedly that they would see a 16-17% decrease in their combined income and property taxes in 2009.

This assertion is based on the fact that the state income tax rates were reduced and property taxes were to be reduced by a mandatory reduction in school property tax levies because of increased state funding. It is a given that property taxes did decrease since a large portion of that tax is in school taxes.

However, some of the anticipated saving was negated by an increase in property values. The increase in taxable valuation was required by some state mandate, we are told.

North Dakota Joins Multi-State Lawsuit Challenging Individual Mandate Provisions In Government Healthcare Law

So do the Church’s critics really care about sexual abuse?  Some do, for sure.  But there’s no doubt that many of those using the issue to attack the Church do not.  And “using” is the key word.  If they truly cared about sexual abuse of youth, they would take pains to emphasize that it isn’t limited to the priesthood.  Oh, I’m not saying they would necessarily do this to defend the Church; they would do it to truly expose the problem.  Instead, they’re simply interested in exposing the Church — to ridicule — and to this end use these abuse victims as a convenient vehicle through which to attack a hated adversary.  This is typical of the left, which makes a practice of using people as human shields, props and political hammers.

Albert Einstein told us that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. The bureaucracy of our federal government, the elected, the appointed and the hired;  have broken, ruined, our Post Office, our Social Security, our Medicare, our Medicaid and Amtrac. In God’s name, what makes them think; what makes us think, that healthcare will be any different?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “all options are on the table” to halt Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. The problem with this superficially aggressive stance is that it makes no matter whatsoever what is, or is not, on  the table when no one sits down to talk. This is the state of the current state of affairs on diplomatic talks versus the imposition of tougher economic sanctions.

Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, was in Canada last week. She criticized Ottawa for not inviting aboriginal groups to a meeting on the Arctic, and for not including the facilitation of abortion in the Canadian government’s “maternal health” initiative to developing countries. These might seem curious priorities for the global superpower at a time of war, but, with such a full plate over at the State Department, it’s no wonder that peripheral matters like Iranian nuclear deadlines seem to fall by the wayside.