Dakota Beacon

ND’s capitol is “terrible, it’s embarrassing,”; “commands the prairie with simple, lean authority”; “It’s beautiful and simple; offer free college tuition to all Nodaks; legislative leaders and their lemming-like followers; UAS graduates find jobs with drone manufacturers; average full professor makes $100,000; a Buffalo Chip on Jessica Vega; grass is “flammable as gasoline; both parties go away happy; Senate candidate Heidi Heitkamp; meth use and sales are increasing; ND traffic accidents are rising . . .

The ingenuity of Americans to assemble the component pieces of economic energy—and to convert that economic energy into economic abundance and wealth—is an American success story. Wealth generation is the outcome of Americans freely conducting their lives as they see fit in the pursuit of happiness. The perpetual motion machine of Americanism is driven by freedom; the freedom to obtain, assemble, and release economic energy and create wealth.

What other purpose does the Pledge really serve? It teaches an unreflective loyalty to the government, rather than an intelligent attachment to the principles of the Constitution. The Constitution never speaks of the United States as a single and monolithic "nation." It always refers to them in the plural. There is a reason for this, but most Americans have forgotten it. Even Lincoln sometimes spoke of the United States as a "confederacy."

. . . Richard Dawkins suggested that it may have been seeded on this earth by aliens. It is truly hard to believe that a serious scientist would even entertain such a fantastical speculation. This is, however, what happens when even intelligent men try to avoid the obvious implications of science. They start talking about aliens and such.

Will it require increasing other taxes?

How can it be administered?

29,617 voting age North Dakotans signed petitions to place Initiated Constitutional Measure No. 2 on the June 12, 2012 Primary Election ballot. Measure No. 2 eliminates property taxes and requires replacement of the lost revenues with other state revenue sources, without restrictions on how the revenues may be spent by local political subdivisions.

 If we act now to leave $857,012,658 Million in the pockets of North Dakota individuals and businesses on February 15, 2013 and $970 Million in the pockets of North Dakotans on February 15, 2014, the likely rapid diversification of our economy and associated economic benefits to North Dakota residents will be unparalleled! And as the years go by, all areas of our great state are likely to prosper, not just agriculture, oil and their support sectors. We can look forward to a future economy that is diverse enough to weather almost any “economic storm” placed before us; and hopefully without the taxpayer supported “economic development” schemes that “pick winners and losers”!

How does the state pull this off? One tested and well-nigh infallible method is to convince its subjects that it's protecting them from an even worse enemy than itself. This seldom fails. The majority nearly always fall for the idea that if the state is hurting someone else even worse than it's hurting them, it's on their side, and is therefore their friend, protector, and benefactor.

wise monkeys in the Oil Patch, Stein has good words for Nodaks, The candidates offer very different visions, Minnesotans hanging on words of wisdom from ND, the week of oddball trials, The 4 Bears Casino & Lodge, “Tribal members being evicted for oil field development,”  they are effectively confiscating private property, many reservation problems go unaddressed, The Cirrus plant in Grand Forks, Highway 52/281 in Carrington, fraternities and sororities have agreed to an alcohol ban, arrived at the prom in her big red pumpkin, DAKTOIDS

Envy is a deadly sin, but Team Obama desires it as an excellent divide-and-conquer tactic. Axelrod and Obama both cut their political teeth in Chicago, home of Obama inspiration Saul Alinsky, who preached the tactic of “isolating” a target and “demonizing” it. Romney’s riches fit the bill nicely.

The Republican Party may indeed be evolving into a truly conservative party, but the transformation is far from complete. Many rank-and-file Republicans have been becoming more conservative at different rates, so it is not surprising that the candidates struggled to find the “sweet spot” where one could establish himself as the ideal 2012 Republican.

The postulate to be debated was “The world would be better off without religion” which was the first clue to its unbalanced production. The question that came immediately to my mind was “Why not postulate that “The world is better off because of religion” . . .

I have concluded the following.  First, I will never retrieve my original identity.  It's gone forever.  Second, my identity is being bought and sold as would any comnmnodity.

Now,  how can Robinson consider herself an honest reporter when omitting the most newsworthy aspect of the story? Stokes’ claims should have been juxtaposed with the police chief’s. But it seems to me that the reportage just reflects the police investigation: both may be examples of going through the motions, of not wanting to “mess with” something politically incorrect and perhaps dangerous. 

The law suit was filed against government agencies and certain elected officials. The same elected officials that had just passed amendments to the state’s Corrupt Practices Act which they are now blatantly violating.

. . . money to lawyers and criminals, repeated failures by the Board of Higher Education, a tenuous chain of events, out-of-control beast, a pattern of embezzlement, a shortage of wizards, a $10 million lettuce greenhouse, Bravo and Buffalo chip awards, Leafy Spurge and Prairie Roses, Magnus made a very risky decision, Hansen seemed jolly and friendly his entire 89-year life, DAKTOIDS

“An amazing story of how local newspapers manipulate the news.”

It is beyond remarkable that Heitkamp says she advocates a balanced budget amendment for the United States Constitution with some exceptions. And, in her view, that balanced budget amendment will somehow fix the massive debt of 15.5 trillion dollars, and reverse three consecutive years with over 1 trillion dollars deficit spending.

But it is very sad to see a coalition named “keep it local ND” that adamantly opposes the Measure 2 tax reform. It is a coalition of business interests rather than homeowners. The coalition’s tax priorities are very different than the homeowner’s tax priorities. For the coalition to criticize Measure 2 in order to preserve their business interests and ignore the homeowners interests is very self serving and morally wrong.

Alas, no one in Cuba has a payroll quite like Fidel Castro. At the time, Forbes magazine published its annual list of the world’s wealthiest leaders. Placing eighth was Castro at $110 million—a conservative estimate that doesn’t begin to account for the billions of dollars in land, industry, and resources he has personally confiscated

We should support measure 2 because owning a home should be a right, not a privilege.

Will Americans ever awaken to what has happened to their country? Some vigilant souls have seen it all along. Many were aware of it long before I was. No doubt more are learning every day.

A much more instructive case was decided in May 1935 and involved striking down a law that, if anything, dealt with a much more egregious invasion of the private sector by an act of Congress, the National Industrial Recovery Act, which was part of the original New Deal.

The author argues that the public is always ahead of the politicians and that the time is ripe for an effective leader to win election with real budget cuts.

We’re used to hearing stories about law enforcement being intimidated by organized crime – in places such as Colombia and Mexico. But in the US? This is yet another example of our descent into Third Worldism.

The Republicans in Congress will not go against a sitting president of their own party. They won’t even go against a weak-kneed sitting Speaker as it is now.

Also, what the president refuses to recognize is that the Founders did not intend the federal government to be constituted entirely by direct popular election. The government is to be made up of a mixture of elected and appointed officials to resist, among other things, the power of short-lived majorities to destroy long-standing constitutional protections.

Dean is charged with murdering his mother and stealing her car, Brazilian psychotherapist and creator of Diva Dance, a younger, hipper readership, don’t expect to find obituaries there, the top ranked counties are in the Red River Basin, the extent of disparities may be surprising, The Supreme Court took a pass, Tex Hall, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the fastest-growing “micropolitan” areas in the nation, DAKTOIDS

They love the inefficient generation of electricity from farms of tall windmills, although these devices bear no resemblance to the classic windmills of travel books. Moreover, the level of maintenance required for a wind farm is high in relation to the electricity generated.

Since there have been lots of earlier films about Christ, you might expect Gibson's critics to name one that got it right - showed just the proper degree of torment - or at least admit that the earlier, softer versions failed to do justice to the horror of nailing a man to a cross.

Their party leaders flagrantly ignored legitimate constitutional objections (and numerous other criticisms) raised by opponents. These objections were so well-placed that they now hold the potential to place a dagger in the heart of their prized legislation.

During the last decade, several major cultural trends—especially increased anxiety, the prominence of our entertainment culture, the impact of the therapeutic worldview, and concerns about the breakdown of the family and the impoverishment of personal relationships—have shaped American views of heaven.