Dakota Beacon

In what amounts to a high-stakes game of ‘chicken,’ the big spenders always win, because the fiscal conservatives always blink. They know that a majority of the public fears the disruption of a government shutdown today more than they do a potential major upheaval at some unspecified date in the future. We fiscal conservatives have come across like the boy who cried, ‘Wolf!’ We have warned about the perils of red ink for years, but Armageddon hasn’t come. I think we will be proven right eventually, but we can no more foretell when the federal debt will blow up than one can predict which straw will break the camel’s back.

All personal names and location names have been altered for reasons that should be obvious. This is a recent message home to families from a Company Commander. It is offered to provide readers with insight into the bravery of our soldiers and the sacrifices they make toward our national security and the freedoms we too often take for granted.

Imagine that you’re a young adolescent boy.  Like many your age, you’re shy around girls, perhaps to the point at which even talking to one might make your heart race.  You also like sports, so you go out for your school’s wrestling team.  Then, lo and behold, you’re at a meet, and something hits you like a load of bricks.

Your opponent is going to be a girl. 

You’re going to have to grapple with her.  In front of spectators.  Touching—and being touched in—intimate places. 

There are a bunch of objections I could raise to these statements. Primarily, however, the problem with [Howard] Dean’s comments on the ‘purpose’ and ‘job’ of government is the complete lack of qualification. Dean gives a definition of government that is a leftist definition, provided by a modern liberal/progressive. Howard Dean cannot, logically, honestly, factually, categorically argue that his definition is anything beyond that.

What Howard Dean offered was an expansive modern ‘progressive’ definition of government, that’s fine, but his terms need to be identified as just that…. No, I’m not calling Lawrence O’Donnell and Howard Dean communists, but I am calling them Leftists and redistributionists. That’s what they are, as is their definition of government. Their definition is, first and foremost, theirs—not America’s.

Over the past twenty years I've often written about "the Hive" - my nickname for the informal body of opinion comprising liberals, socialists, outright Communists, and various other strains of "progressive" opinion.

Like an odor, such folk are easier to sense than to define. They include assorted activists for specific causes, as well as more passive enablers, especially in the news media. The Democratic Party is their chief American organ.

USA Today Report Says North Dakota State-Employees Make Marginally More Than The Average Worker

Tucson Episode Illustrates Inadequacy of Obama Care - It is impossible to treat the victims with this kind of speed and with the kind of technology applied to the case of Congresswoman Giffords. Few would likely survive, or if they did by some miracle, we would never expect to see a full recovery.  In such a situation the concept of triage comes into play with the best cases for survival getting immediate attention and the rest waiting until 1) everyone else is taken care of or 2) they die waiting. 

While the Obama administration and Democrats are in contempt of court for continuing to implement a voided law, Democrats like Conrad are still in contempt of the people. Democrats are continuing to rule against the will of the American people. In disregarding our constitution, Democrats are acting like lawless third world dictators. All that’s missing are military uniforms and sunglasses.

It is impossible to treat the victims with this kind of speed and with the kind of technology applied to the case of Congresswoman Giffords. Few would likely survive, or if they did by some miracle, we would never expect to see a full recovery.  In such a situation the concept of triage comes into play with the best cases for survival getting immediate attention and the rest waiting until 1) everyone else is taken care of or 2) they die waiting.

The entitlement mentality in unions has come home to roost. Unions believe they are entitled to whatever they demand simply because they demand it. Our schools, politicians and society condition people to be endlessly selfish. It is perfectly acceptable to live off neighbors and unions are no exception. They have the power to impose their will over the voters. The tax eaters have multiplied faster than the taxpayers. FDR, JFK and LBJ would never recognize the union protestors in Wisconsin as Democrats.

The performance of ND schools and students in scienceis average, higher educationin ND, The sun shines most brightly just before dipping below the horizon, legislative incompetence, Ft. Berthold Reservation, Sara Jane Olson, Essential Air Services Act, “natural decrease” in population, environmentalist Dean Hulse, Olympic stars Jo and Mo, All’s well that ends well

But the worst kind of insensitivity is numbness to Truth.  The Truth is always a defense, as it originates with a source that transcends courts and human-rights tribunals.  And this should make a person wonder, if an entity suppresses it, whose bidding is it really doing?

Ah, the irony.  A government suppresses Truth on behalf of a group that sometimes may call that government as satanic.  Well, I suppose everyone is right about something.

As an educator, I have great respect for all those (and they are many) in my chosen profession who capably and even brilliantly serve our nation’s youth. The fact is, though, that the status quo is untenable.

What is really at stake in the Wisconsin donnybrook is whether individual liberty or government power has the upper hand in our country. We are witnessing a battle for the soul of the republic.

Adversity is often opportunity in disguise and hereby affords a readymade opportunity to turn the tables on Liberals and Democrats. What a great opportunity to defeat the liberal planet-saving nostrum of coercing people to behave in certain ways contrary to their instincts, to wit: buying hybrid and electric cars. Using Rule #13 from Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” wouldn’t he be proud of those who would effect change. Alinsky’s Rule # 13, you will recall states, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” On second thought, use of Rule #13 by conservatives isn’t exactly what Alinsky had in mind. Nevertheless, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

I was quite impressed by the computer, which easily beat the two most successful ‘Jeopardy!’ players of all time. Some might see this victory of a machine over human champions as a cause for concern, perhaps thinking of Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey. While there may be some cause for concern, it is not of the ‘Space Odyssey’ variety. In truth, humans are firmly in control of any dangers.

Indian Health Service hospital at Belcourt, pleaded guilty to stealing 49,000 hydrocodone pills, Worry in Winnipeg, flood update for February, Grahams Island State Park, Somali crime gangs, Carrington High School wrestling team, B-52s are not a strategic necessity, German-made combine, Edgar Hetteen, state income tax rate of 14%

Well, Justin Bieber has lost his political virginity.  And it was taken by, of all people, the stoners at Rolling Stone magazine.

Excerpts released from an upcoming interview with the teen star included political statements that, as some reading this will know, have earned him criticism in conservative circles.  What fewer in the right-blogosphere may realize, however, is that they also brought him lashing from the left.  Attacked from the right, attacked from the left…yikes.

The truth is that anthropogenic global warming remains an unproven theory with much of it resting on climate computer models programmed with the equations and assumptions the builder thinks causes global warming. The resulting 50-100 year forecasts reflect his opinion and 100% of the time provide the result he programmed in.

Why anyone would think a chaotic system can be accurately represented this way, when there is nothing for natural cycles, changes in the sun, magnetic fields, geothermal heat. It lacks key deep ocean data as well as information regarding interactions involving water vapor and feedback mechanisms/climate sensitivity.

We simply cannot let North Dakota reach the absurd levels of government that exist in liberal Wisconsin (or Minnesota for that matter). We simply must not let our government employees in North Dakota become so large in numbers and so “entitled” that they act as unprofessionally as those public employees that are currently embarrassing all of the residents of Wisconsin!

Today, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed $150 million dollars worth of income tax cuts:  $100 million for individuals (HB 1289) and $50 million in corporate income taxes (HB 1189).  The corporate income tax bill went a step further by creating a Flat Tax for corporate income @ 4.9% with a $75,000 exemption.

While the action by the State House is a good first step, there is plenty of work to be done

There are some in this state, including newpaper editorial boards, that believe any discussion of changing the way the North Dakota University System operates should be 'shouted down'. 

Hopefully, that anti-intellectual opinion will be ignored for a more academic approach to addressing the challenges faced by the higher education establishment in North Dakota.

Although times have changed, there will always be bullies. There always have been. Does anyone seriously believe the illusion that a law will curtail bullying?

What will happen is that an expansive government, that fount mistakenly seen as the source of goodness and fairness and justice, will task the ND Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop a “plan.” In so doing, the taxpayer once again will be on the hook to pay for someone else’s nostrum.

Brace yourself. This isn’t going to be pleasant. If you’re in a bad mood or get easily upset, you may wish to pass on reading this article. The country is in even worse shape economically than we thought. We awoke on Feb. 14 to find that this year’s federal budget deficit is going to be larger than previously projected—a record $1.65 trillion.

Given the magnitude of governmental fiscal woes, the struggle in Washington between Democrats who talk about (but don’t propose) a possible spending freeze in one small corner of the federal budget, and Republicans who claim to want to cut $100 billion of annual spending, is a cruel joke. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns! The financial condition of governments at all levels is worse than it ever has been. Neither political party seems ready to address the crisis in any meaningful way.

Believing what's always felt good comes easily. But growing up requires accepting truths that our younger selves denied. Toys don't arrive via air-sled from the North Pole. I am not major league pitcher material. And there indeed are people determined to do nothing positive with their lives.

Growing up is hard work.

Why do I bother disrupting the prospect of a relaxing evening at home (especially when I've been gone all week) to go to a Lincoln Day dinner -- on an off election year when I've been to a hundred of them in my lifetime?  The answer may not be self evident, but bear with me as I try to explain.

Most important is that the Declaration documented the fact that the king forfeited the colonists' allegiance because he treated the colonies more like an enemy country than as part of his realm. Deceiving the American people into seeing American Independence as only a matter of natural rights and not a more complex matter of violations of natural, prescriptive, and positive rights was a disservice to the 100,000,000 people watching the ga

North Dakota is on the verge of a movement that will save thousand if not millions of lives. I believe that by the middle of March of 2011, the leaders of this state will recognize and act on irrefutable truth. There is HB1450 that is working it’s way through the 2011 legislature. If enacted the new law inserts the scientifically precise definition of Human Being as a definition into Title 12, the North Dakota Criminal Code.

Something must be remembered about a government of the people, by the people and for the people: It will look like the people.  So the question is, does Egyptians’ collective face look better than Mubarak?  If the answer is no, you’re better off keeping him than agitating for a republic that wouldn’t be kept long, anyway.