Dakota Beacon

As the reformation spread through Europe to England, Scotland and Switzerland, great strides were made toward self-government as philosophers and theologians wrote on the significance of personal conscience in the service of political freedom.   As the resurgence of ancient Greek thought accompanied a renewed interest in the arts and learning, the Renaissance took hold to guide the European continent into the modern age.

From a policy perspective, the question is whether to let market forces dictate the pace of private sector investment in additional infrastructure capacity to move this fungible supply of oil from the US northern plains, or to maintain expensive subsidies to create a market for an additional supply of biofuels that itself is a reaction to federal intervention into the market and that will increasingly displace US domestically produced oil that is trading at a discount to the market.  Subsidies for biofuel infrastructure will only make the investment in North Dakota oil less attractive – and it won’t make US energy independence any more tangible.

The time has finally come to call it quits with the dream machine of Eleanor Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.  It has never been a positive force for the West. It is just another reason for us to take a hard look at who and what we are and what we’ve become and could become.  Personally, I am happy to be a product of Western culture.  It has proven its success.  Only when we waver and try to be like the Third World or the socialist culture do we fail.  Our current national predicament is a testament to the truth of this statement.  We should call upon our leaders to repudiate the UN and its program of undermining our Constitution and support those leaders who do so.

There are many experts and intellectual minds who are advisors and counselors to the congress and presidents. Some are firmly grounded in their views of the proper role of government, and they have great respect for the constitution and the limits it places on the role of government. We also have those such as Professor Sachs who have visions of great societies where all people are cared for and have a share of the earth’s bounty. This is a worthy vision that may always be before us as a goal. However, to include in that vision a government that has the power to decide social and economic issues described above is very worrisome--perhaps frightening to some. The American people have seen our federal and state governments grow to become maze-like entities that consume ever-growing tax revenues while its rules multiply along with its inefficiency. Our government threatens to become our master.

With all the feeling and sentiment this poem conveys, we bid adieu to 2011 with mixed emotions -- joy and happiness.

We only pass this way once. Here’s our chance to start the new year fresh making each moment count.

Happy New Year!

The two images—the Nativity vs. Occupy Pittsburgh—are a stark contrast. They were separated by maybe 100 feet of space, but by light years in worldview.

I recently strolled down Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh and was struck by two images. First, there was the stirring life-sized Nativity that each year is displayed on the property of the giant U.S. Steel building. It is an inspiring sight. As I walked along, however, my eyes were distracted by something I was not prepared to see: an assembling of tents with an entrance sign declaring … ‘Abolish Capitalism.’” Alas, “there are two symbols positioned side-by-side in Pittsburgh, perhaps providentially. They represent two visions. One demands the abolition of capitalism; it is a sign of anger and despair. The other brings us goodness and light. If the Occupiers want hope, the answer isn’t in Washington or Wall Street but in the humble manger within their reach … I suggest a stroll down the street.

Katherine Kilbourne Burgum Center for Creativity, The numbers for ND were less shocking, national football championship, Five Finger Death Punch, “I like people with gumption....", an app for Apple devices, new $2.4 million air terminal, the plane costs $7,600 for every hour flown, The writer concludes the UND nickname is “harmless,” The wheat boards recently had their teeth pulled, — then the end of American Crystal is certain, Williston's growth stress, ND Housing Incentive Fund, Hutterite colonies in both Dakotas

In our society we hear a lot of claptrap about the “political class” or the “political elite”.  I submit that we have always had this, that we will always have this.  Those who want a more “egalitarian” political atmosphere need to simply get off their duffs and become the political “elite”.  They can do this by reading, by learning about their Constitution, by following our history, by researching just what our candidates for office have been up to, by not depending upon Fox News, their local newspapers or Time Magazine, but look for themselves.  Our political class can be as sound and good as we demand.  They can be as base and corrupt as we allow. 

Our Constitution was designed to protect these “busy” citizens from their own sloth by restraining the more-or-less permanent “political class” and allowing access to it for anyone devoted enough to apply.  A return to a strict reading and adherence to our Constitution is the guarantee we are all searching for to solve our financial crisis and ensure our liberty.

A Barron’s Magazine (Oct 24, 11) summary with emphasis on North Dakota’s role.

This article is a must read for anyone unsure of the expected extent of the ongoing oil boom in North Dakota.

Vaclav Havel was not just a man of politics and intellect, but a man of the arts, theater, literature—and, yes, of God. He exhorted the West and the wider post-modern world to seek ‘transcendence.’ Hitchens might have figured God ‘the ultimate totalitarian,’ but Havel saw God as the solution to totalitarianism, as tyranny’s antidote, as the fountainhead of freedom. This was something Havel deeply admired about America and its roots—its fusion of faith and freedom and the recognition that the latter cannot genuinely exist without the former.

Havel had a lot to teach to Hitchens. Hitchens would have listened to Havel. Indeed, of all people on this planet who God might have chosen to counsel a stunned Hitchens as he sits outside the Pearly Gates shaken in awed confusion, Havel would have been perfect, the one intellectual to merit Hitchens’ intellect and respect.

    So certain were those disciples that countless early Christians bore witness to the truth of the Gospels by suffering the most excruciating martyrdoms imaginable. They set off a huge chain reaction of martyrdom, converting even many of their torturers, who were immensely moved and impressed by this superhuman courage.

   The resistance to Christ's ideas, which got him crucified, has continued ever since. Jesus remains the most hated as well as the best-loved man in human history. And as he predicted, his followers have been hated and persecuted too.

     Secularists use the mantra of "separation of church and state" as an excuse for keeping God's word out of our public life. We are allowed to worship privately, but we mustn't act collectively as if God has spoken to us. We are to act as agnostics, which means as virtual atheists.

CP Holiday Train, Marvin Windows is a family-owned company, poverty there is rising, school district reports 91 “homeless” students, Raising the road effectively shortened the runwa, Amtrak service in ND doesn’t make sense, What does a county due when it’s desperate?, repeating “Fighting Sioux” seven times, He apparently sees Nodaks as Lilliputians, the Legislature has devised a maze, a family alleged to have taken three cows with calves, Humorist, cowboy and legislator Ryan Taylor

Ideology can be and often is a terrible thing. Emotionally-invested dogmatists of all stripes share at least one common behavioral flaw, the propensity to be absolutely sure that whatever the ideology deems true must be true.

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After reading my article, “The Latest Education Fad Inverts Justice” (June 21, 2011), a government employee with a city’s “restorative justice” program sent me an email which started off cordially, giving the impression that the discussion might proceed in a levelheaded manner.

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Wrapping up with a threat seems to be a cherished tactic of dogmatists. With some religious fundamentalists it’s the threat of eternal damnation and suffering if you don’t toe the dogma line. With certain other zealots, the threat of public abuse seems to be a favorite punishment for opposing the respective doctrines.

The EPA is going to continue to act politically, despite what they told Senator Hoeven.  As we pointed out early on, North Dakota's out-of-control state budget growth simply cannot withstand a crackdown on oil production.  With the growth in state spending over the last decade, we simply cannot allow for these revenues to disappear because of an over-zealous federal agency.

Consider Roman civilization and the early Christian church. All the false gods combined could not give Rome sufficient basis for life, morals, values and ultimate decisions. Building upon people’s opinions does not provide an adequate base. Roman gods depended upon the society which made them. They were amplified humanity, not divinity. When Roman society collapsed, the gods went with it. During the chaos of the Roman decline, in desperation, people eventually accepted authoritarian government.

Long before the human race embarked on its sin-ridden path, the three persons of the Trinity entered into a compact whose purpose was the redemption of sinful men. The Son would be incarnated in a human body in which he would absorb the penalty of men's sins. The Father would administer the dreadful punishment and the Holy Spirit would then work faith in the hearts of people through which they could appropriate Christ's redeeming sacrifice.

Christ did not have to undergo the agonizing ordeal. He agreed to it voluntarily long before he entered human history. The Bible tells us he was the “Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

Lewis was alarmed by another development we now take for granted: state control of education. He wrote: "I believe a man is happier, and happy in a richer way, if he has 'the free-born mind.' But I doubt whether he can have this without economic independence, which the new society is abolishing. For economic independence allows an education not controlled by Government; and in adult life it is the man who needs, and asks, nothing of government who can criticize its acts and snap his fingers at its ideology. Read Montaigne; that's the voice of a man with his legs under his own table, eating the mutton and turnips raised on his own land. Who will talk like that when the State is everyone's schoolmaster and employer?"

Before we jump to the conclusion that China’s economic model is the way of the future, we should remember that we have heard similar projections before. In the late 1980s, commentators raved about the Japanese economic model. Predictions abounded that the Japanese economy was so powerful and unstoppable that it would soon surpass our own and be the wealthiest in the world. Like the Chinese state today, the Japanese government worked closely with businesses to forge an industrial policy that (allegedly) would prove far superior to a free-market model. Then the wheels fell off and the bubble burst. Since then, Japan has struggled with economic stagnation and malaise.

China runs the risk of ending up like every other country (including our own) that has squelched free markets—broke and stagnant.

“SAD” (seasonal affective disorder), Need a little kindness?  Go to Jamestown, agriculture and energy will continue to push North Dakota's economy, “North Dakota is on the move", American Crystal Sugar workers, more Global Hawks will go to Grand Forks AFB, “Lee Enterprises moves to refinance”, procedures to make the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo disappear, Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, Lady Bravehearts, trusted source of information for women, "they’re going to pick on you”, "She was not being properly medicated"

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” 

                                                                                     - Frederick Douglass

Douglass was a Republican in the days when that affiliation was new, radical and untried.  The following are a few of his thoughts about what that association meant to him:

“I am a black dyed in the wool Republican and I never intend to belong to any party other than the party of freedom and progress.”

“I recognize the Republican Party as the sheet anchor of all the political hopes of a colored person, and as the ark of his safety.”

Logical syllogisms have their value, but their utility is ultimately limited. They can satisfy the mind, but they do not quench the deepest yearnings of the soul. They bring little hope or consolation, and they certainly cannot save.

God, on the other hand, can save. He offers salvation through His Son, for “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.”

So “evangelical” voters will either sit out next November or vote for Obama or another candidate should a publicly-unrepentant Gingrich become the GOP nominee? Land’s sanctimoniousness is a sight to behold. What’s more, Land’s warning exudes recklessness. Would any clear-headed person reject an Obama opponent on the basis of that opponent’s lack of ideological purity? Would evangelicals really return Obama to office by not supporting the most viable opposition candidate?

Daily the MSM treat us to the allegations of sexual improprieties supposedly committed by Republican Herman Cain. No allegations are substantiated, accusers never filed charges and accusers are unknown except one. On the other hand, darling Democrat John Edwards’ adultery remained quiet until after the National Enquirer broke the story. The MSM had to respond lest their poor journalism become an embarrassment.

After a busy day, who wants to slog through MSM propaganda? As the MSM loses revenue paralleling their loss of readers and viewers it falls to the hard left moneyed patrons like George Soros to fund their distortions.

Adult entertainment star Jenna Jameson will appear at two nightclubs this Saturday

 Attention Red River Females: You could get your own free publicity if you play your cards right.

This is nothing but a free promotion by the Fargo Forum. Since when did porn stars, showing up for paid entrance into gentleman's club constitute news? Apparently a slow newsday for the publication of record in Fargo.

Exploration and production of Marcellus Shale is certainly a sign of the times in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, exhibited by the boom towns that have been revived from drilling activity. These times are producing the creation of real jobs and money infused into local communities, and this is just the start. No doubt, Marcellus drilling also provides distinct challenges, which are being hotly debated, and which indeed need to be carefully considered. For now, though, the economic benefits in these dire economic times are undeniable.

An important effect of natural gas production in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia is simple: jobs. In contrast to America’s chronically high unemployment rate, the Marcellus-generated job activity within these regions can only be described as a gold rush.”

Spiritwood Energy, the plant is on standby, “fracking”, near catastrophe for the ND economy if the EPA, Tiny town allows tiny man camp, Happy Hunting Grounds, They came well-equipped for Black Friday, the bedlam and antics, ND’s largest farm advocacy organization, Newcomers will be the big political unknown, seven of the names can be traced to one man, UND plans to buy large quantities of refined glycerin, UND officials are warily eyeing the elves, The Kleinsasser scholarship?, ND was picked the #3 best-run state

Berg rightly rejects Senator Hoeven's backing of EPA's assurances

Congressman Rick Berg has justifiably come out in disagreement with Senator John Hoeven's support of "assurances" the EPA has made to not over-regulate the practice of "fracking" in the Bakken oil play.

Once a year, “the place was flooded with people. That time of year was Deer Season, when out-of-town hunters arrived like an incoming Army, loaded with rifles and bullets. ‘Army’ is a good metaphor, given that a large portion of the hunters were World War II vets. They came from the mills and mines of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. They came to shoot a deer.

This week hunters across America storm the woods loaded for deer. For yet another indication of how times have changed, consider this account of Deer Season a half century ago: …. My grandmother always took in boarders during Deer Season. In fact, the whole town did. Up and down every street, hunters knocked on doors asking if the home was taking boarders. Bear in mind, these were complete strangers carrying guns and lots of ammunition. And yet, there was never any fear that they were a threat to a household…. It was very different. There was also a general trust of hunters, a trust I believe is still merited and shared in those areas.