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The Gods of Liberalism Revisited

 

The lie hasn't changed, and we still fall for it as easily as ever.  But how can we escape the snare?

 

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Saturday, June 16, 2007

D.C. Republicans Want to Stay in the Minority

Think Republicans learned anything from their whipping at the polls last November? Think again.

From the New York Times:

Comments by Republican senators on Thursday suggested that they were feeling the heat from conservative critics of the bill, who object to provisions offering legal status. The Republican whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supports the bill, said: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

At some point, Mr. Lott said, Senate Republican leaders may try to rein in “younger guys who are huffing and puffing against the bill.”

Lott's comments are indicative of the elitist, out-of-touch, country-club mentality of too many D.C. Republicans. It's what put them in the minority last year.

And with this kind of garbage still coming from them, apparently congressional Republicans are comfortable being in the minority.


Poll: 20% Back Amnesty Bill

From the Business Journal of Phoenix, the amnesty bill isn't playing to well among most Americans:

Only 20 percent of American voters want to revive the controversial federal immigration bill that has the backing of business groups, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, President Bush and Democratic Senate leadership.

A new poll by Rasmussen Reports found that only 20 percent of those surveyed want the bill revived for further consideration. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they prefer smaller steps than the comprehensive approach taken in the proposal. Another 16 percent want the immigration plan put off until next year.

Why is simply enforcing our laws and protecting our borders such a vexing concept for some in our government who swore to protect and defend this country:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.


AP Top Stories












Associated Press - (APTN)

Jun. 16, 2007. 08:50 AM EST

Here's the latest news for June 16, 2006: Gates makes surprise visit to Baghdad, NASA computers up and running, Duke lacrosse prosecutor says he's stepping down, Oklahoma time capsule on display.


Immigration: We Don't Need More Laws


The Heritage Foundation says the amnesty bill, eh, immigration bill isn't needed to enforce our borders.

As many have said, there are already adequate laws on the books to protect the border and clean up illegal immigration.

The Heritage Foundation report outlines four things the White House can do to protect the border:

1. Increase the number of border patrol agents
2. Cooperate with state and local law enforcement
3. Deploy technology and obstacles along the border where they make sense.
4. Target enforcement on specific sectors of the economy.

I can sum up what needs to be done in one sentence: get serious about immigration and border enforcement.


Cabela's Deal Not So Sweet for Some

From the Rapid City Journal, some in city government may be happy over the proposal to put the Black Hills Visitor Center inside the upcoming Cabela's in Rapid City, but the Visitor Center folks aren't thrilled.

Marilyn Oakes of the Black Hills Badlands & Lakes Association (the Black Hills Visitor Information Center is a division of that group) says

"There are a lot of reasons why it might be to our advantage, but 20 times more reasons why it is not to our advantage," she said.

Oakes said, speaking for herself and not as a member of the association, this is an example of wasting taxpayers' money.

"They built this building eight years ago, and now, they're going to throw it away. They're literally throwing away, not only the building, but the land it sits on, which is very valuable and increasing in value every day because of the proximity to Exit 61," Oakes said.

Honerkamp said the association feels the visitor center is in a great location for tourism.

"Basically, we feel we're in the catbird seat here, in terms of a hospitality district where you hear rumors of another hotel, another restaurant, every week," he said.

"That was always the thought about this location. That's why the visitors center was built here and obviously that's why a lot of new development is moving in. It's a very critical junction in the Black Hills."

The topic is generating a lot of "Rapid Reply" comments at the online version of this article.


Hillary Clinton Campaign Withdraws Copyrighted Mother Teresa Picture from Ad-Campaign

Hillary Clinton Campaign Withdraws Copyrighted Mother Teresa Picture from Ad-Campaign

By Peter J. Smith

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has officially withdrawn a controversial photo featuring Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta with the then-First Lady from a campaign ad. The pro-life nun’s order, the Missionaries of Charity, directed them to cease and desist using the copyrighted image for political purposes.

Sister Nirmala, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, requested the Hillary for President campaign to stop using the image that appeared scandalously to link the abortion activist candidate with the order’s humble founder, who was renowned for her advocacy on behalf of the poor and helpless, especially the unborn.

Since 2003, the name and all images of Mother Teresa have been protected by copyright by the Missionaries of Charity. On her deathbed Blessed Mother Teresa had asked her order to guard her name from opportunists who would attempt to use her to advance their own ends. The campaign video was been pulled after the Catholic-based political advocacy group Fidelis alerted the order on May 14, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews.com. (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07051501.html) The new video now omits the nun’s image, and the old video can no longer be accessed on YouTube.

(full story)


Friday, June 15, 2007

Video: Robert Spencer - The Truth About Muhammad, Part 3

The Heritage Foundation: Robert Spencer knows a thing or two about the prophet Mohammed. His latest book, The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, looks at what Islam's founder actually did and taught.






Southern Baptists Question Anthropogenic Global Warming

From the Church Report, Southern Baptists have passed a resolution at their national convention questioning the contention that global warming is human-induced, and warning that the radical efforts called for by the Left will hurt the poor.

The Christian denomination has over 16 million members.

Read the whole report here.


American's Fast Asleep on China


I reflected back on my earlier post about the Chinese supplying the weapons that terrorists are using to kill American soldiers as I read this from the World Tribune:

A new public opinion poll shows a majority of the American people do not see a danger in China’s economic and military buildup, demonstrating that Beijing's efforts to influence public opinion in the United States have been successful.

Someday, not too far down the road, Americans are going to wake up and find that not only their frog, but their goose is cooked by a hostile communist nation that has surpassed us in military strength. And unlike us, they have no qualms about using their military.


Nifong to Resign Amid Ethics Trial




















Associated Press - (APTN)

Jun. 15, 2007. 04:51 PM EST

A tearful Mike Nifong said Friday he will resign as district attorney in Durham, North Carolina after the failed Duke Lacrosse rape case. (June 15)


Breaking News: Duke DA Mike Nifong to Resign

Duke DA Mike Nifong says he'll resign

By AARON BEARD, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago

RALEIGH, N.C. - Facing the loss of his law license, a tearful Mike Nifong said Friday he will resign as district attorney, more than a year after he obtained rape indictments against three Duke University lacrosse players who were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.

"My community has suffered enough," Nifong said from the witness stand at his ethics trial on allegations that he violated rules of professional conduct in his handling of the case.

The North Carolina State Bar said Nifong withheld DNA test results from the players' defense attorneys, lied to the court and bar investigators, and made misleading and inflammatory comments about the three athletes, who were cleared of charges they raped a stripper at a team party in March 2006.

(full story)


Letter to the President


Let me add my "Amen!" to "An Open Letter To President Bush" at the American Daily by Doug Edelman.

Here's an excerpt:

Mr. President. You have been amazingly out of touch with the American People throughout your tenure. While I supported you in both elections, staunchly defended your INTENT (though not your implementation!) on Iraq and the War on Terror, and your tax cuts - I must honestly say that as a conservative, you have failed miserably and your approval ratings are in the toilet NOT because America is 70% left leaning moonbats… but because you have lost almost ALL support from the right.

I encourage you to read the whole article.


Chinese Weapons Being Used Against Americans


The Washington Times says new intelligence report indicate China is supplying weapons to terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some arms were sent by aircraft directly from Chinese factories to Afghanistan and included large-caliber sniper rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and components for roadside bombs, as well as other small arms.

Of course, China is playing dumb. But what do we expect from communist enemies?
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that the flow of Iranian arms to Afghanistan is "fairly substantial" and that it is likely taking place with the help of the Iranian government.

Defense officials are upset that Chinese weapons are being used to kill Americans. "Americans are being killed by Chinese-supplied weapons, with the full knowledge and understanding of Beijing where these weapons are going," one official said.

Probably the most tragic element in this equation is that these Chinese weapons being supplied to terrorists who are killing Americas are being paid for by Americans.

With the massive amount of trade goods we buy from China, we are funding the war against our own American troops.

Previous administrations--including that of George H.W. Bush--were foolish to think trading with China would make them more democratic and make them our friends. All it did was make them richer as they laughed at the stupid, gullible Americans.

Trade with China, which never should have started in the first place, should end immediately.


Welcome to the Freedom Poet

Dakota Voice welcomes the Freedom Poet to the blogosphere fray!

Without the Freedom Poet, there likely would not have been a Dakota Voice...and I'm sure that immediately endears him to liberals far and wide.

I met the Freedom Poet a little over three years ago while he was laying the groundwork to bring Alan Keyes to South Dakota to speak. When the Freedom Poet came to Rapid City, he saw some of my rantings in the letters to the editor (or a Forum piece; I can't remember which) of the Rapid City Journal. During our subsequent conversations that summer, he planted the idea of a Christian newspaper in my mind and a few months later, when the opportunity presented itself, Dakota Voice was born.

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone more knowledgeable about this nation's history or its Christian heritage. Facts that I know how to research, he knows off the top of his head. It would also be difficult to find someone more patriotic, someone who loves this country more. He has worked in the campaigns of some of the most principled men in America.

I look forward to the Freedom Poet's future posts here at Dakota Voice.


FreedomPoet says, "Hello"

I'm FreedomPoet.

I seek and serve Truth.

The greatest Truth is God's love for us as expressed by the Cross of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus the only Christ, & the empty tomb of the Risen Savior.

The only perfect written, inspired Scripture is the Bible.

The two Greatest Commandments are that we, 1."Love God with all our heart soul and mind";
and, 2. "Love our neighbor as our selves."Matthew 22: 37&39

America was founded by Christians to promote Responsible Freedom.

Our Nation's non-denominational, Creator-God fearing Creed is the Declaration of Independence.

Our Constitution and Bill of Rights were a contract to protect individual Freedoms and to ensure a Godly government "of, by, and for the people.

I urge all Patriotic Christians to stand together in the cause of True Freedom in their cities, states and throughout America. Sacrifice so that Children are taught in God fearing schools;
and that the 10 Commandments of God are printed on their hearts and in their lives.

Let the Body of Christ elect only Pro-life, Pro Christian Candidates for every office from dog catcher to President; and let all Christian Patriots Support kindred causes like the South Dakota Family Policy Council, and media voices like the Dakota Voice. Do this and Freedom will linger until Jesus comes in Eternal Victory.

May God Bless America with His Truth;

FreedomPoet


Arnold Schwarzenegger to Immigrants: Learn English

From the San Francisco Chronicle, Austrian-immigrant-turned-movie-star-turned-California-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tells it like it is and tells Hispanic immigrants to learn English in order to succeed:

"You've got to turn off the Spanish television set" and avoid Spanish-language television, books and newspapers, the Republican governor said Wednesday night at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

"You're just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the language faster," Schwarzenegger said.

"I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say, and I'm going to get myself in trouble," he said, noting that he rarely spoke German and was forced to learn English when he emigrated from Austria.

Schwarzenegger was responding to a question about how Hispanic students can improve academically. Many journalists for Spanish-language organizations in the audience were surprised by the remarks.

"I'm sitting shaking my head not believing that someone would be so naive and out of it that he would say something like that," said Alex Nogales, president and chief executive of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Notice how this media guy Nogales is trapped by his own short-sided political correctness.

It's call assimilation. A S S I M I L A T I O N. It means adopting the culture of your chosen country. It's how immigrants have succeeded in America for over 200 years.

Or you can refuse to assimilate and just keep working minimum wage or below jobs. Your choice.


Romney Flip Flops on Abortion?


OneNewsNow features a story about a new YouTube video which shows flip-flopping from Mitt Romney on being pro-life:


November 2004: Mitt Romney said he converted to the pro-life position.
Romney said he changed his views after meeting with Harvard scientists on stem-cell research: 'It hit me very hard that we had so cheapened the value of human life in a Roe v. Wade environment that it was important to stand for the dignity of human life.' (Karen Tumulty, "What Romney Believes," Time, 5/21/07)

May 2005: Mitt Romney reaffirmed that he was “absolutely committed” to support the pro-choice position.
Six months after he claimed to have converted to the pro-life position, Romney stated: "I am absolutely committed to my promise to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion and choice and so far I've been able to successfully do that and my personal philosophical views about this issue is not something that I think would do anything other than distract from what I think is a more critical agenda ..." (Mitt Romney, Remarks At Press Conference, 5/27/05)




Changing your mind is one thing (I used to be pro-abortion myself). Changing your mind back and forth every so often is quite another.


Big Bang Violates Scientific Principles

Answers in Genesis, those diabolical, unscientific people use science to show why the Big Bang theory is unscientific.

Read it all here...if you dare.


Thursday, June 14, 2007

Fred's Appeal– He’s “Anybody But Those Guys!”...for Now

By Paul E. Scates

He hasn’t even declared his candidacy, yet he’s running dead even with the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. He hasn’t raised any money to speak of, while they’ve raised over $50 million, yet more people are talking about Fred Thompson than Romney, McCain and Guiliani. Naturally, the handlers and spin-meisters of the other Republican candidates are frustrated, bothered and upset at such a turn of events. (Full Story)


Top Al Qaida Operative Captured



A friend sent me this news photo. Can you identify this terrorist operative?


Czech President: "Global Warming" Threatens Freedom

An excellent column by President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic at the Financial Times. Here's an excerpt:

As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.

The environmentalists ask for immediate political action because they do not believe in the long-term positive impact of economic growth and ignore both the technological progress that future generations will undoubtedly enjoy, and the proven fact that the higher the wealth of society, the higher is the quality of the environment. They are Malthusian pessimists.

The scientists should help us and take into consideration the political effects of their scientific opinions. They have an obligation to declare their political and value assumptions and how much they have affected their selection and interpretation of scientific evidence.

Apparently there remains a little bit of sanity in the world.

Go read the whole article here.


New Study: Abstinence Works

LifeSite.net features a story about a new abstinence study done by Dr. Stan Weed of the Institute for Research and Evaluation in Salt Lake City.

This study appears to dwarf the recent--and flawed--study done by Mathematica Policy Research touted by sexual anarchists in their goal of ending funding for abstinence education. That study examined 2,000 students, but the IRE study followed 400,000 students in 30 states for 15 years. The MPR study took kids from high-risk segments rather than a broad cross-section, only looked at four abstinence programs, and the kids didn't receive the follow-up education essential to reinforce positive behavior.

Here's what the new study found:

The most successful abstinence programs were those that emphasized the risk of pre-marital sexual activity. They showed how abstinence fully protects a young person from STD’s, teen pregnancy and emotional trauma. They underlined the importance of self-control and responsibility and gave students the positive goal of a stable and committed marriage towards which to work in future. At the same time, however, researchers also found that it was crucial to re-educate adolescents about abstinence each successive year.

Dr. Weed concludes, “Well-designed and well-implemented abstinence education programs can reduce teen sexual activity by as much as one half for periods of one to two years, substantially increasing the number of adolescents who avoid the full range of problems related to teen sexual activity. Abandoning this strategy…would appear to be a policy driven by politics rather than by a desire to protect American teens.”

Teens aren't just highly evolved animals that can't control their urges. They live in a sex-saturated culture that's terrified of making a moral judgment, but they can discipline themselves.


Religious People More Charitable

Some findings from Barna at ChurchExecutive.com reinforce other findings we've begun to see over the past 2-3 years which show, contrary to the popular accusation hurled by liberals who want to take money out of your pocket and give it to someone else, that conservatives are more charitable than liberals.

One of the most significant differences between active-faith and no-faith Americans is the cultural disengagement and sense of independence exhibited by atheists and agnostics in many areas of life. They are less likely than active-faith Americans to be registered to vote (78% versus 89%), to volunteer to help a non-church-related non-profit (20% versus 30%), to describe themselves as “active in the community” (41% versus 68%), and to personally help or serve a homeless or poor person (41% versus 61%). They are also more likely to be registered to vote as an independent or with a non-mainstream political party.

One of the outcomes of this profile – and one of the least favorable points of comparison for atheist and agnostic adults – is the paltry amount of money they donate to charitable causes. The typical no-faith American donated just $200 in 2006, which is more than seven times less than the amount contributed by the prototypical active-faith adult ($1500). Even when church-based giving is subtracted from the equation, active-faith adults donated twice as many dollars last year as did atheists and agnostics. In fact, while just 7% of active-faith adults failed to contribute any personal funds in 2006, that compares with 22% among the no-faith adults.

Maybe people of faith remain more in touch with the ideas this nation was founded on: charity with an emphasis on personal responsibility.

Or maybe people of faith are just more in touch with God's admonition to help one another--they just believe in doing it themselves, rather than reaching into someone else's pocket to do it.


Bush Polling Low, Congress Lower Still

From MSNBC:

In the poll, Bush’s approval rating is at just 29 percent. It’s a drop of six points since April, and it represents his lowest mark ever on this question in the NBC/Journal poll.

But President Bush's numbers aren't the worst:
Also in the poll, only 23 percent approve of the job that Congress is doing, a decline of eight points since April. That number is within striking distance of the 16-percent rating Congress held in October 2006, just before Republicans lost control of both the Senate and House in last year’s midterms.

Democrats have only had Congress for about six months, and they've already driven their numbers this low!

If Bush would just quit spitting in the face of his base, his numbers would go up. I admire his persistence in the War on Terror, but this flirting with global warming and insistence on amnesty for lawbreakers is just wrong, wrong, wrong.


Comprehensive Sex Ed: 2.6% Abstinence

An article from the Washington Times finds "comprehensive" sex ed overwhelmingly teaches condoms over abstinence. Surprised? I didn't think so.

A federal report issued before today's expected House Appropriations Committee vote on abstinence-education funding says the curricula for comprehensive sex education overwhelming push condoms and downplay abstinence.

For instance, the "Making Proud Choices" curricula, developed for middle-school students ages 11 to 13, mentions "condom" or "condoms" 650 times and "abstinence" or "abstain" 18 times, said the report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

The accepted definition of "comprehensive" sex education is that it teaches youth about both sexual abstinence and protective methods for sexual activity, said the report. However, the review shows that "abstinence is a very small part of these curricula," said Harry Wilson, associate commissioner of ACF's Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

Abstinence did get a mention 2.6% of the time in the program mentioned above. For liberals who basically run the education system, that's probably considered pretty good.

But if 97% of your message is "wear a condom when you do it" and 3% is "don't do it," what message are kids most likely to get?


More Liberal Propaganda

From CNS News:

American attitudes toward political and social issues are trending in favor of "progressive" positions and have been for some time, according to a report released Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America.

I saw this posted on Clean Cut Kid yesterday and chuckled. The person who posted it "commander other," tried to calmly pass it off as coming from "unimpeachable nonpartisans." Uh huh. Go pull my other leg.

Right away the term "progressive" in the title of the report gives it away. Nobody but liberals who want to hide liberalism use the word "progressive."

I also noticed this farce was put together by Media Matters for America, another joke of an organization that desperately tries to paint any balanced or even slightly conservative-favoring element in the news as evidence of some "vast right-wing conspiracy."

It is true that liberal policies do well in polling. If you ask the right question the right way, you'll get the answer you want. People have also been trained by pop culture to know what the "right answer" is, and not wanting to be painted as a backwards Bible-thumping rube, they will give the pollster the "intelligent" answer.

But liberal policies in the majority? Even after decades of propaganda from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and a host of others...I still don't think so. Too much independent polling shows a near-even split on many issues, with the majority falling to a more conservative position most of the time.

It wouldn't matter if 99% of people thought liberal policies were the best way to go; all that would mean was 99% of the people would be wrong. Popular opinion doesn't dictate what's right and wrong.

More from the CNS News piece:
Other polls, however, paint a different picture.

A May 2007 CBS/New York Times poll found that 58 percent of Americans want it to be harder, or impossible, to obtain an abortion, while 39 percent said it should be "generally available."

A 2006 Pew Research poll found that 31 percent of Americans believe abortion should be "generally available" while 35 percent believe it should be available only in cases of rape, incest, and to save the mother's life. Eleven percent said it should not be available at all.

The report says views on same-sex marriage are also changing in favor of more liberal policies. Support for homosexuals and lesbians to marry has risen 10 points in the last 13 years of Pew Research surveys, but public support is still at only 37 percent. A majority of Americans (55 percent) still opposes same-sex marriage.

In a May 2007 CNN/Opinion Research poll, 24 percent of respondents supported same-sex marriages, 27 percent supported civil unions and 43 percent supported neither.

The numbers were largely unchanged from October 2006 and were down from a November 2004 Associated Press/Ipsos poll, which found that 35 percent of respondents favored allowing homosexuals to marry, while 61 percent opposed it.

This is just another piece of Leftist propaganda. As liberals have long done, they just want to try and engage the "herd instinct": tell the public what direction the herd is moving (so they claim), and hope the herd instinct will kick in and get them to move in a direction the herd really wasn't moving in the first place.

Nice try. It might fool "progressives" into feeling better about themselves, but I don't think it'll fool most folks.


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Why the Obsession with Paris Hilton?

By John W. Whitehead

The melodrama surrounding Paris Hilton shows how perverse news reporting has become. It boggles the mind that newsworthy items of great importance are pushed to the background in order to cover someone who impacts society in no positive way and has no obvious talent other than getting in the news.

Who is Paris Hilton? And what has she done to warrant such extensive coverage? Apart from being born to opulent wealth and starring in a homemade sex video, reality TV series, minor film roles and a self-titled music album, there is little that sets this 26-year-old DUI offender apart from the mass of poseurs that haunt the pages of celebrity gossip magazines. (Full Story)


Gas Mileage Standards Upcoming in U.S. Senate

CAFE standards have resulted in more dangerous automobiles

WASHINGTON, June 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Senate will be debating energy legislation this week and next. One provision, requiring huge increases in motor vehicle fuel economy (CAFE) standards is a bad idea. (Full Story)


South Dakota Execution Law, Policy Revised

From KELO, the implementation of a new execution policy that clears the way to execute Elijah Page as he requested last year.

The new policy, which takes effect July first, lists the three drugs prison officials will use in Page's execution. One renders the inmate unconscious, the second stops the inmates' breathing, and the third stops the inmate's heart.

The legislature cleaned up the state's execution law during the last session to remove elements that gave Governor Rounds concern over legal challenges to the law.


Video: Robert Spencer - The Truth About Muhammad, Part 2

The Heritage Foundation: Robert Spencer knows a thing or two about the prophet Mohammed. His latest book, The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, looks at what Islam's founder actually did and taught.



Illegal Immigration "Line of the Day"


Pat Powers at the South Dakota War College sums up why the illegal immigration amnesty proposals are so unpalatable to most people:

Better to secure our borders than to go "oops, we missed you as you snuck in. Have a cookie."


Completely Rebuild the Education System.

Seems I'm not the only one who's had it with the public school system. TownHall.com features two columns from two nationally syndicated columnists today that point out the public school system is an abysmal failure.

From Dr. Walter E. William's latest:

ABC News anchor John Stossel produced a documentary aptly titled "Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids" that gives a visual depiction of what's often no less than educational fraud. During the documentary, an international test is given to average high school students in Belgium and above-average New Jersey high school students. Belgian kids cleaned the New Jersey students' clocks and called them "stupid." It's not just in Belgium where high school students run circles around their American counterparts; it's the same for students in Poland, Czech Republic, South Korea and 17 other countries.

The documentary leaves no question about the poor education received by white students, but that received by many black students is truly disgusting and darn near criminal. Stossel interviewed an 18-year-old black student who struggled to read a first-grade book. ABC's "20/20" sent him to Sylvan Learning Center. Within 72 hours, his reading level was two grades higher.

Williams points out how beneficial to the consumer competition is in the private sector, and advocates it for the education system through vouchers and/or tax credits.

Williams says ABC's John Stossel and "20/20" sent an 18 year old student who struggled to read a first-grade book (I graduated with and got the same diploma as students like this--22 years ago!) to Sylvan Learning Center and the student was reading two grade levels higher within 72 hours.

Johah Goldberg's column makes similar indictments against the public education system:
Out of the 100 largest school districts, according to the Washington Post, D.C. ranks third in spending for each pupil ($12,979) but last in spending on instruction. Fifty-six cents out of every dollar go to administrators who, it's no secret, do a miserable job administrating, even though D.C. schools have been in a state of "reform" for nearly 40 years.

I recently pointed out in the Rapid City Journal that close to half of the education staff in the public school schools aren't even teachers.

Goldberg's article also says the D.C. school district, what should be a bastion of enlightenment in our nation's capital, has an average of nine violent incidents a day in a system of 135 schools.

Golberg asks:
Really, what would be so terrible about government mandating that every kid has to go to school, and providing subsidies and oversight when necessary, but then getting out of the way?

This is essentially what some advocate when we call for "thinking outside the box" and completely redoing education in this country.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. The socialists think they can break that axiom by just throwing more money at the education system (notice that their most substantive idea for improvement is either more condoms or more money--or both?).

Some mental giants out there say I have no right to say anything about the public education system because we homeschool our children. I'd like to remind these pinheads of two things: (1) I still pay the same taxes for the miserable failure we call an education system, and (2) have you ever stopped to consider WHY I don't have my children in the public education system?

Even the best of public schools are forced by judicial secularists to teach children, directly or indirectly, that their faith and values are something they need to leave in the pew on Sunday morning. That is a message I will NOT send to my children. In fact, the opposite is true.

I care too much about my children to see them short-changed academically and turned into mindless drones that just regurgitate Leftist dogma for the social engineers.


Iranian Aggression

From Breitbart.com:

A senior U.S. diplomat accused Iran on Tuesday of transferring weapons to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan—the most direct comments yet on the issue by a ranking American official.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, speaking to reporters in Paris, said Iran was funding insurrections across the Middle East—and "Iran is now even transferring arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan."

In non-appeasement-minded civilizations, this type of activity is often known as "an act of war."


Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Video: Robert Spencer - The Truth About Muhammad, Part 1

This is the author of one of the books used by Dr. Richard Wells in his recent study of Islam. This is Part 1 in, I believe, 7 video parts. I'll post the other parts on subsequent days.

The Heritage Foundation: Robert Spencer knows a thing or two about the prophet Mohammed. His latest book, The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, looks at what Islam's founder actually did and taught.


Illegal Immigration: From Bad to Worse?


From My Way News:

President Bush pressed divided Republicans on Tuesday to support him on immigration overhaul, saying "status quo is unacceptable."

I agree, Mr. President. But changing the status quo at the price of amnesty is unacceptable also.

We need to lock down the border, allowing legal immigrants only through, and send all the lawbreakers home. THEN we can talk about guest worker programs, etc.


Who's Fooling Whom?


Video from 1992 showing Al Gore blasting George H.W. Bush for ignoring Iraq's terror ties.

From Breitbart.com:

In the 1992 speech Gore condemns President Bush for "blatant disregard for brutal terrorism, a dangerous blindness to the murderous ambitions of a despot."





Gore says Bush Sr. hid Saddam's terrorist ties from the American people. He and his buddies now bellyache that Bush Jr. had no right to invade Iraq because Saddam had no terrorist ties.

They condemn the president for not being aggressive enough, then demand appeasement the next.

Are Democrats schizophrenic or what?


When Your Evidence Melts


I don't know how we're going to break this to Al Gore, but get the paddy wagon and straight jacket ready.

Reuters says the shrinking snow on Mount Kilimanjaro is NOT due to Al Gore's favorite bed-time story "Global Warming."

The researchers attributed the ice decline to complex interacting factors, including the vertical shape of the ice's edge, which allows it to shrink but not expand.

The article says it's been shrinking for more than a century, with most of the shrinking occurring prior to 1953. It also quotes Philip Mote of the University of Washington as stating the icecap on Kilimanjaro has probably come and gone "many times over hundreds of thousands of years." Naaawwww! Say it isn't so!
Fluctuating weather patterns related to the Indian Ocean also could affect the shifting balance between the ice's increase, which might have occurred for decades before the first explorers reached Kilimanjaro's summit in 1889, and the shrinking that has been going on since.

Actually, information of this nature about Kilimanjaro has been out for some time, but since it never seems to make the front page like all the Gore doom-and-gloom does, each new mention of it deserves to be pointed out.


Environmental Outrage


Didn't take long for my prediction about Denver's environmental wacko proposals to start coming true.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

People around the country accused Denver on Monday of embracing a "crackpot" scheme to fight global warming after the city's plan drew widespread attention on the Internet.

After the online RockyMountainNews.com version of the story was posted as the lead item on Drudgereport.com, the phones started ringing at Mayor John Hickenlooper's office. Many of the calls were from people accusing the city of embracing a radical environmental agenda.

(They forgot to mention that the story was featured here on Dakota Voice, but that's alright :-)

These greenie policies aren't even close to being in place yet, and already people area speaking out. Maybe there's hope for us after all.


President Bush's Remarks at Victims of Communism Memorial Dedication

Memorial to lives were cut short by men in pursuit of totalitarian power

WASHINGTON, June 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush at the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial:

Washington, D.C. 10:35 A.M. EDT (Full Story)


The Polluting Prius

The San Francisco Chronicle has an enlightening article that says the Toyota Prius, the driving choice of those who truly care about our earth-goddess Gaia, is actually worse for the planet than a Hummer.

A 450-page report by the Oregon-based CNW Marketing Research, an "automotive marketing company," has come to this startling conclusion: The Hummer H1, H2 and H3 are more energy efficient than a Toyota Prius hybrid and many other smaller vehicles.

But what about all those reports that the Toyota Prius gets about 50 miles per gallon, and the Hummer averages about 8 to 10?

According to the CNW report, titled "Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles from Concept to Disposal," that's not the way to calculate energy efficiency. You also have to factor in the amount of energy it takes to produce the vehicle before it gets on the road -- and the amount used to dispose of it.

By that calculation, the Hummer comes out far ahead. In "dollars per lifetime miles," a Prius' "energy costs" average $3.25 per mile, compared to a mere $1.95 per mile for a Hummer H3.

Of course, the environmental wackos just can't let that stand:
Enter the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based environmental think-tank, with a counter-report alleging that the CNW report is based on "faulty methods of analysis, untenable assumptions, selective use and presentation of data, and a complete lack of peer review." Among its most flawed assumption: the average H1 Hummer is assumed to last 35 years, and travel 379,000 miles, while the average Prius is assumed to last only 109,000 miles over 12 years.

Change these "assumptions" and you end up with an opposite result -- that the Prius and others like it consume far less "lifetime energy" than monster vehicles such as the Hummer.

I don't see anything unreasonable in these assumptions; a made-tough Hummer would likely be expected to last longer than a over-complicated piece of plastic foreign trash. Presumably these "assumptions" are according to manufacturer specs.

They don't really say how you "change these assumptions," but I'm guessing it's the way liberals usually "change assumptions": ignore reality. That's how everything becomes possible in the liberal fantasy world: ignore facts and reality, then all things (like man changing the earth's environment, creating free quality health care, making everyone happy and equally wealthy, etc.) can happen.

Gotta love liberals! They're like that slow child that tries real hard.


Fathers are Heroes

By John W. Whitehead

In a world of dead-beat dads, workaholic parents and latchkey kids, fathers who set an example for their kids to grow by and who sacrifice so they can give their children a better life are heroes. But like many children, it took me a while to fully appreciate just how special my father is.

Along with thousands of other young men, Dad joined the Army in July 1943, less than a month after he and my mother married. After fighting on the battlefields of England and Europe, he returned home to Tennessee in October 1945. His homecoming was marked by the end of shoe rationing and my conception. (Full Story)


Monday, June 11, 2007

My Little Warrior

My daughter Karissa just earned her yellow belt in Ju-Jitsu tonight, and boy is she jazzed. She started about 5 months ago (with a month missed when we were doing a lot of traveling), and though we've only been able to go about twice a week, she eats it up and would go more if I had the time to take her.


















My daughter is the yellow belt in the middle. Her instructors in the back: Sensei Jack Smith who tested her, Sensei Clay Soby, Sensei Patrick Clinch, Sensei Doug Langworthy (5th Degree black belt who owns the dojo), and Sensei Chris VanNorton.

Note: if you noticed the small American flag in the background, it's because the dojo's regular American flag is currently flying in a B-1 bomber over Afghanistan and Iraq, and will be returned to the dojo after a tour of combat duty (the father of a couple of the students flies a B-1).


Creating Monsters

The Orange County Register features a story on how sex offenders are getting younger and more violent:

Some psychologists blame the increase -- 40 percent over two decades -- on a society saturated with sex and violence and the fact that many of the accused were themselves victims of adult sexual predators. Others say there aren't more children committing such crimes, there is simply more awareness, better reporting and a general hysteria about sex offenders.

I don't think "more awareness" can deflate the statistical truth of a 40% increase.

No, it goes far beyond being explained by "more awareness" or "more laws." I've investigated enough sex crimes and been involved in enough investigations from my time in law enforcement to realize kids don't just come up with the kind of behavior we're seeing these days on their own:
Recent incidents range from two 13-year-old boys in Omaha, Neb. who were accused in January of videotaping their assault of two 5-year-old girls and a 3-year-old boy, to the 8-year-old Buffalo, N.Y. boy accused of assaulting a 6-year-old boy after he saw a prison rape scene in an R-rated movie.

Or this:
Maloney represents the family of a 6-year-old boy raped by a fellow kindergartner. In an interview with a police officer, amid discussions about Pokemon, the boy revealed that a classmate attacked him in the bathroom and raped the boy.

Usually, the child who commits sex crimes has been victimized himself, or has been exposed to sexual media, or both.

When you couple the kind of stuff some kids are exposed to in the home, with the fact that they are without any kind of moral support in the public school system, it's little wonder you have this kind of horrible behavior.

Children are taught in school that faith and the moral code that comes with it is to be marginalized if not ridiculed (why else would such a potentially important area of life be completely sanitized from public view, were it not a marginal or silly subject?), and we wonder why they commit immoral acts.

Children are taught that we are just highly evolved animals, with no moral accountability to a higher authority, and we wonder why they act like nothing they do really matters?

Human beings will never act with complete moral responsibility; it just isn't in our nature, given that we have been fallen beings since the time of Adam and Eve. But when we teach children, either directly or indirectly, that there is no moral accountability, we lose any hope we might have had at a healthy, ordered society.


Denver: Stiffing the Citizens for a Fantasy

The city of Denver is getting serious about fighting the myth of anthropogenic global warming.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

Denver may ask residents to make personal sacrifices to combat global warming. Ideas being considered:

• Making heavy users of electricity and natural gas pay more

•Charging residents who throw away a lot of trash

• Setting energy-efficiency standards for new construction

• Giving carpoolers and hybrids priority for parking

Meanwhile, as Drudge points out, Denver just saw it's coldest June morning in 50 years, and 9 of 12 warmest years for Denver occured before 1955. (This reminds me of how the global warming conference in D.C. this past winter was cancelled TWICE due to blizzard conditions).

This trash proposal sounds like they want to charge residents $10 a month to fund the replacement of alley trash bins with garbage cans so they can THEN charge you still MORE if you produce more than your good-citizenly allotment of trash.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that all this malarkey about man-made global warming is all fine and dandy with the average person responding to a poll. But once you start hitting people in the wallet like this, I think they'll start asking for a little more proof than Al Gore's dashing smile.


From WorldNet: Killing as a career choice

Killing as a career choice


Posted: June 9, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Bobby Schindler

You have probably heard by now that Dr. Jack Kevorkian was released early from prison last week for "good behavior" after serving only eight years of his 10- to 25-year sentence following his conviction for second-degree murder.

He was convicted for killing a man – by lethal injection – that had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease – a murder he had the audacity to videotape and release to "60 Minutes" in an effort to promote the legalization of assisted suicide.

You might have even had an opportunity to witness the news footage of Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" warmly embracing the doctor as he left prison. Perhaps you watched the interview with Mr. Wallace that aired this past Sunday giving rise to the "hero's welcome" that has begun for the man who takes pride in the moniker "Dr. Death."

(full story)


Studies: Death Penalty Saves Lives

Time Magazine features a story on how the evidence says the death penalty deters crime. I know: given that our legal system is radically slanted in favor of the accused, and given that the average time between sentencing and execution is 12 years, it's a wonder there is any deterrent value. Yet studies show there is.

"Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it," said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. "The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect."

A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?"

Note that Naci Mocan opposes the death penalty, yet admits his research shows a deterrent effect.

Notice this graph that illustrates a remarkable trend: as executions go up, murders go down. The lines don't exactly shadow each other (but then, there is no swift execution of justice, either), but the trend is completely unmistakable.



Note that flat line of executions for the first few years of the graph came after the U.S. Supreme Court ban on capital punishment from 1972-1976.

From the article, here are some of the findings on the death penalty and deterrence:
— Each execution deters an average of 18 murders, according to a 2003 nationwide study by professors at Emory University. (Other studies have estimated the deterred murders per execution at three, five and 14).

— The Illinois moratorium on executions in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides over four years following, according to a 2006 study by professors at the University of Houston.

— Speeding up executions would strengthen the deterrent effect. For every 2.75 years cut from time spent on death row, one murder would be prevented, according to a 2004 study by an Emory University professor.

This last point is specifically interesting. Justice should be swift, to be fair to both the guilty and to those who await justice. An average of twelve years to execute a tried and convicted murderer spits in the face of justice. And as this shows, it weakens the deterrent effect. If the convicted murderer was executed within a year of being found guilty, cause and effect would be much more closely tied together...and would save more lives.

There are a number of articles here on the deterrence effect of capital punishment.

The death penalty would be good for society even if there were no deterrent effect; it forever removes the danger to society from someone who has demonstrated disregard for human life. It also demonstrates the value we place on human life, in that we require the ultimate penalty for the wrongful taking of human life. And it provides as close as we can come to justice for the one whose life was taken, and the loved ones who were robbed of that person's life.

It's also completely Biblical, having been dictated to man by God after the Flood, and has never been recinded, not even when Christ walked the earth as a man.


Sunday, June 10, 2007

DV Poll Results: Why Bush is Getting Involved in Global Warming

Here's the results to last weeks's Dakota Voice poll: "Why did President Bush suddenly get involved in cutting 'greenhouse gasses'?":

He changed his mind 15.38%
Tony Blair convinced him global warming is real 15.38%
He wants to please the Left in pursuit of legacy 38.46%
To expose other nations' hypocrisy, knowing they're not serious either 30.77%


I tend to think it was the 4th answer, but wouldn't rule out the top answer either. The main reason I think #4 is because, while Bush isn't always right, he's not the dummy some think he is. And while most of the world has shaken a finger at the U.S. for not signing Kyoto, we're doing better than most if not all who did sign it--especially Europe.

Thanks to those who participated. The new poll question is up in the left hand corner: What do you think will be the next development on the illegal immigration issue?


Do adults need to play "what if" games?

By Gordon Garnos

THE ISSUE: When our children were small, they seemed to always be asking, "What if...?" Usually these were innocent little questions, but once the game got under way, there was no stopping the what ifs. These kids seemed to search into the depths of their thinking to come up with another "What if?" After a while this game got a little tiring. "What if...?" seems to be a universal question for both our little ones and a lot of adults as well, as you will see. (Full Story)


Texas: Is Death Row Safer Than a Hospital Bed?

THE WORLD HAS GONE MAD

By Carrie K. Hutchens

The article on DallasNews.com, "Boy at center of life-support case dies" by Michael Grabell (May 30, 2007) covers the story of two year old Daniel Wayne Cullen II, who was born premature and with severe breathing problems. A story that takes us to his eventual hospitalization and the ethic's committee deeming him futile. A story of a mother's fight to save her son and the reprieve she won in his behalf. (Full Story)


Democrats Got Religion


Have you noticed lately that it seems like federal Democrats have got religion? Don't worry: it won't last. But when you do hear it, just remember for these national socialists, Christianity isn't something that happens inside a person, and it certainly has nothing to do with try to be holy as God has commanded us to do.

Frank Pastore in his TownHall.com piece knows exactly what's up:

The actors knew the script. Director Wallis had coached them well. Real Christians care about poverty and global warming. No more of that sin-salvation-Jesus stuff for us. Don’t talk about heaven and hell, we’re for the Kingdom now! Let’s raise taxes and the minimum wage, grow government, start more unions, provide universal health care and child care, with free college for everybody–including illegals. And above all, let’s replace greedy-selfish capitalism with generous-loving socialism and truly achieve social justice. Vote out poverty now! Raise taxes on the rich!

Folks like Hillary Clinton and most of her Democrat competitors have religion, but it isn't Christianity. It's a religion that worships man as the ultimate force of reason in the universe. That's why it's okay in their view for "every man to do what's right in his own eyes."

Theirs is also a religion which worships the "Government god." For liberals, they see government as the almighty entity which cares for people (kind of a "Government-Jireh"). They see government as being the one to whom we can go for all our answers and all our solutions. Government can do anything and be anything and fix anything. It is all powerful, and the source from which all blessings flow.

And since they also worship the reason of man, this goes hand in hand with their worship of government. Because government is made up of many men. You can trust a group of bureaucrats that make up government; you can't, however, trust an individual man. He might think for himself, and get off the plantation.

So when Dems try to fool you into thinking they've got religion, just remember what kind of religion it is that they've got.


South Dakota's Healthy Economy


Despite what the doom-and-gloomers who can never be pleased if someone makes more money than they do, South Dakota's economy is doing alright, according to KOTA and a report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

We're doing better than most states, and are in the second highest quintile:

Nationally, South Dakota had the 16th highest growth rate. In the seven state Plains Region (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND and SD) South Dakota posted the highest growth rate.

Thank God for a prosperous nation and a prosperous state!


Terrorists Cross Border

Need a reason beyond just upholding our laws to secure our borders?

From NewsMax:

Counterterrorism authorities have come to fear that the porous U.S.-Mexico border provides entry into the United States, not only for illegal aliens, but for Islamic terrorists as well.

And these same Islamic terrorists may also be using Mexico as the conduit to bring nuclear devices into the U.S. for a WMD attack. These are among the chilling disclosure from Paul L. Williams, author of the just-released book "The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World."

According to Williams, al-Qaida has already hatched plans to smuggle nuclear materials across the Mexican border and use them for a mammoth simultaneous attack on several large U.S. cities.

Terrorists would be fools not to take advantage of our essentially open border.


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