Dakota Beacon

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.

A TV series called “Boomtown,  Middle East broadcaster Al Jazeera, the number of large farms is increasing, Omar Mohamed Kalmio, a few circus performers tag along, substantial libertarian streak, You must be kidding!, the raccoon story, UND Fighting Sioux issue, small rural post offices are still needed at any cost, EQIP will share 90 percent of your cost, a bill to give $250,000 to recent immigrants, The last supper

The Black Swan teaches us that history proceeds in leaps and cataclysms, not stages. Wars, assassinations, revolutions, and natural disasters are Black Swan events, perfectly 'post-dicted,' but by definition, impossible to predict. And the consequences are huge and horrible.

The first two years of the Obama administration can be is examined in the context of extracting relevant points from "two books that should top any reading list for progressives who believe in 'winning the future.'" Depicting a latent "version of civil disobedience or revolution [that] will result not in a gradual decline but rather in a precipitous drop in economic production, accompanied by a leap in the unemployment rate, public union strikes, a surge in energy costs, and a collapse in the stock market," the author proceeds: "Throw in a foreign-policy disaster for good measure, and you have a flock of Black Swans." "The results will be a country unrecognizable from the one we currently inhabit.

As we pay tribute to Ronald Reagan, we look back at an era when people around the world voted with their feet for capitalism over socialism. Refugees fled from East Germany to West Germany, North Korea to South Korea, and mainland China to Hong Kong—always away from less freedom and prosperity toward greater freedom and prosperity. Human beings still have the same preference and make the same choice today. Sadly, though, today businesses and individuals are leaving the United States in favor of less economically oppressive locations.

A great president whose understanding of the superiority of the private-property order over socialism contributed so much to freedom and prosperity, both at home and abroad, in the aftermath of the Cold War. Yet the economic understanding that was one of the key pillars of Reagan’s philosophy and policies remains largely unknown today.

So we deny children the exciting smell and look of a smoke-filled room. We deny them time to invent their own games. We protect them from the normal bruises and scrapes of play. We disarm them from the normal boys' knives in schools and public buildings. We plan all their play. We fill their minds with sex. Instead, in the words of Pink Floyd, we should "Leave those kids alone."

I wonder when he’ll pen a story about how Muslims often consider infidels unclean and don’t even want to touch a Koran that has been defiled by kafir hands.  Something tells me we may have to wait for that one, as Day and his militant secular ilk haven’t finished destroying Western civilization yet. 

These dummies just can’t wait to be dhimmis, can they?  

Everyone loves a revolution until it is hijacked. This was true of the French, Russian, Cuban and Iranian revolutions to name a few. America must not kid itself when viewing Mubarak’s departure through rose colored glasses. Egypt’s first election should not be its last one.

America, not to mention Europe, Japan, China and Russia, has a strategic interest in keeping the Suez and other choke points in friendly hands.

We must not lose sight of our good and noble purpose as we help people find the blessings of freedom. As many have said, the United States is the last great hope of freedom for millions of oppressed people everywhere. I firmly believe that. As we see events in Egypt today we see the struggle play out before our eyes how people desperate for freedom will put their lives before
the battle tanks of tyrants.

The commitment to religious tolerance is the result of a struggle from the earliest days of English colonization between the followers of a broad-minded ideal of English America and a narrow-minded view. Although few will be surprised that the roots of American religious liberty go back this far, many may be surprised to learn that four kings of England -- two Protestant and two Catholic -- rather than the people or Parliament were the champions of religious tolerance during this struggle.

The time is now for the state to get out of the retirement planning business, normalize salaries to where interest groups claim those levels should be, empower state workers to control over their own finances, and do so without breaking the bank or creating a never ending bailout.

So people can choose to believe the heart strings-tugging but false argument of spread-the-wealth zealots like Barack Obama and the Economics Policy Institute. But putting policies into action based on that belief would mainly serve to discourage the efforts of the people who create the jobs that funnel the income to people who need the jobs. Without jobs, the poor are unable to buy things. And they have been buying more and more things for some time now. America's lowest earners are far wealthier than their low-earning predecessors.

No suspects; no motive, Hostile and abusive, a state of acute frustration, What keeps the Fighting Sioux issue alive, South American students, It's hit us straight in the face overnight, little Houston, Watch out for the Dakotas!, Annual Devils Lake FD Fishing Tournament, Closing to the outside world?, “bravos” and “buffalo chips”, rivers and trains were the major weaknesses, DAKTOIDS

So then, in the ditzy liberal quest for a "renewable future," the ditzy French government pulled a typically ditzy liberal stunt: reduce your carbon footprint by increasing your carbon footprint.

There go those darned unintended consequences again. You know, the ones that come from ditzy liberal panaceas?

As Secretary of Education Bill Bennett knew, Ronald Reagan’s memory was not only good but exceptional. In fact, several of Reagan’s closest advisers, two of whom dated back to the gubernatorial days in Sacramento, have told me that they believe Reagan had a photographic memory. Knowing that Reagan’s 75-year-old brain remained sharp, Bennett confidently put Reagan on the spot in front of a group of educators in the East Room of the White House…. This exchange doesn’t strike me as evidence of an addled brain. This clip needs to be watched to be appreciated. Reagan had no notes, no TelePrompter—and no onset of Alzheimer’s.

Calling the U.S. Constitution "The Commandments" may seem like something that an overly enthusiastic, strict interpretationist might do. And that's exactly what Harvard history professor Jill Lepore implies in an article in The New Yorker, titled "The Commandments."

Obama proclaimed “this is our generation's Sputnik moment” which was puzzling to say the least. Anyone less than a half century old probably did not get the connection. His was a clumsy metaphor.

To be sure, the SOTUS avoided depth and appealed more to people's feelings with flowing rhetoric and smooth platitudes. In that case, one may wonder if there is any difference between the SOTUS and Superbowl beer commercials.

SOTUS 2011 quickly fades. Words. Just words. Does anyone even remember them now?

The news from Egypt has thrust President Obama’s State of the Union off the front pages. While that news is critical, so is further analysis of the State of the Union, especially from an economic perspective. My previous column focused on the political dimensions of the State of the Union address, about how Barack Obama has already entered full campaign mode in an attempt to woo the 5 or 10 percent of the swing vote that he needs for re-election. Today, let’s look at the economic aspects of the speech. One would hope that, after two years of failed policies and economic stagnation, President Obama would have seen the need for a changed economic strategy. Alas, beyond a few cosmetic touches, Obama’s approach to economics remains substantially unchanged.

Would Republicans nominate a presidential candidate who pushes thoroughly-debunked biofuel nonsense? Were the party to select Newt Gingrich, it will have nominated, in the Wall Street Journal's words, "Professor Cornpone."

Professor Cornpone hasn't yet officially announced, but he is running for President.