Gary Stocklaufer: A Definition of a Father's Love

Man Ready For Foster Kid After Weight Loss Surgery

Tiani Jones
Reporting
CBS11TV (Aug 26, 2007 4:43 pm US/Central)

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS A judge said he was too overweight to be a father. But thanks to a Dallas hospital, a Missouri dad is on his way to being half the man he is now.

When Gary Stocklaufer goes back to court, he'll be a couple hundred pounds lighter, and he believes that should be enough to bring his foster son home.

"They have no excuse," said Stocklaufer. "In two and a half months, loosing 83 pounds on my own, that's pretty good; that's determination."

The determination has to do with a 4-month-old little boy nicknamed Baby Max.

With the help of gastric bypass surgery, Stocklaufer will more than likely drop another 100 pounds in the next month.

(Read the rest of the report)

I believe this says it all!

Soft Underbelly of Education Spending

Well, the Argus Leader now has it's list of state employee salaries that it wanted so bad, salaries that were already available upon request, I might add.

So what does it tell us?

1. $370,992. Matthew Clark, state investment officer, South Dakota Investment Council
2. $365,000. Rodney R. Parry, dean and professor, Sanford School of Medicine
3. $302,000. Robert Perry, executive director, Board of Regents
4-5. $300,000. James Abbott, president, University of South Dakota
$300,000. David Chicoine, president, South Dakota State University
6. $287,600. Charles Ruch, president, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
7. $251,831. Anthony M. Gerdes III, professor and director of the cardiovascular research institute, Sanford School of Medicine
8-12. $247,217. Hartley Alsgaard, psychiatrist, Department of Human Services
$247,217. Steven Cochran, psychiatrist, Department of Human Services
$247,217. Maged Estafan, psychiatrist, Department of Human Services
$247,217. Brad Kleinsasser, psychiatrist, Department of Human Services
$247,217. Ramesh Somepalli, psychiatrist, Department of Human Services

While the media spin machine instantly kicked in to rationalize/minimize the damage, I nevertheless find it interesting that six of the top 11 income earners listed were in the educational field with which the media is so infatuated.

You have a group of schools in South Dakota who are suing another branch of our government to get them to fork over more taxpayer money because they just don't have enough money. Apparently somebody in the education establishment isn't short on money.

Would it help our education funding situation if we weren't paying administrators and paper pushers several hundred thousand dollars? You could squeeze several more teacher salaries out of all that, or a raise for all teachers at the very least.

A point I made a few months ago in my Rapid City Journal column is that too much of those education dollars aren't making it into the classroom. Higher education administrators don't seem to be hurting, though.

I don't want to make more of this than it's worth, but still I find it interesting that in attempting to harass a state Republican administration, the Argus Leader has exposed the soft underbelly of education spending.

(Side note: the head shrinkers on this list aren't doing too bad, either)

Gender-Neutral Restrooms

I predicted some 4 years ago in a column I wrote for Toogood Reports that this would be coming: transgender/gender-neutral bathrooms. Before I'm hailed as a prophet, though, realize that it wasn't a difficult prediction to make, given all the sexual silliness we've seen in the past 20 years.

From Fox News:

It also has gender-neutral bathrooms, a feature added to accommodate transgendered people, as well as those with some disabilities. The four single bathrooms in the new Dudley H. Davis Center — each with a toilet, sink, shower and lockable door — cost about $2,500 a piece to build. Their wall signs identify each as "gender neutral restroom."

"It's about inclusivity and accessibility and the importance of meeting all people's needs, not just a few," said Annie Stevens, assistant vice president for student and campus life.

UVM isn't the only school trying to make its accommodations more accommodating.

At least 17 colleges and universities have included gender-neutral bathrooms in their new construction or in retrofitting residence halls, said Stephanie Gordon, director of educational programs at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

"A multi-use bathroom doesn't necessarily feel safe to transgendered students, because they have concerns about how their gender would be read by others," said Dot Brauer, director of the school's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Ally Services.

How someone's gender/sex is read "by others" is a pretty simple matter for most of us to figure out: if your sex organs are outside you're body, you're a male; if your sex organs are inside your body, you're a female. This is the way God created you, and you should deal with it.

Humoring people who are confused about this, instead of helping them deal with reality, just ends up causing them more pain, and leaves everybody confused and misled (not to mention costing a lot of money by building "gender-neutral" restrooms to humor them).

Open meetings and open records a must for good government

By Gordon Garnos

AT ISSUE: It has been said that South Dakota has some of the worst laws in the nation when it comes to open meetings and open records of government. While this may be true, at least Attorney General Larry Long is attempting to improve both of them. We give him a lot of credit in his attempts, but until the South Dakota Legislature is willing, our state may remain as one of the worst states in the nation for not having adequate open meeting and open records laws. (Full Article)

Americans Without Maps

Wow, talk about uglier than a train wreck! Not the gal, but her attempt to give a "thought provoking answer" to a question.

According to WorldNetDaily, Miss Teen from South Carolina was asked by a judge, "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the United States on a world map. Why do you think this is?" Her answer? Check out the video:



I'm sure this is still a success story in the eyes of liberal Americans. After all, giving an intelligent answer is less important than all the impoverished, victimized people around the world that she showed concern for and wanted to help (not to mention all those U.S. Americans here in America who don't have maps).