During the colonial period in America men defined themselves by their level of community involvement and fatherhood. Marriage and fatherhood were seen as being among the highest aspirations in a man’s life. Today’s culture in general (and as a result, many fathers themselves) has reduced the role of fatherhood to something nonessential or unnecessary.

For those of you who enjoy C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” series and their big-screen adaptation, the official trailer for the third movie, “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” is now out. The movie is coming in December 2010, and the trailer says it will be in digital 3D.

The problem of the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig is bad enough, but our federal government wants to “help” the residents of the Gulf area with a 6-month moratorium on oil drilling. This will be devastating to the Gulf economy. It will be crushing to the tens of thousands of families affected by it.

Two centuries later, the worst fears of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have been realized. Washington, D.C. is no longer a place where humble men with noble hearts go to serve their fellow citizens; Capitol Hill has become a glorified country club; it represents elitism personified. Our representatives truly live by a different set of rules than the rest of the American people, and they use the power of their office – the power bestowed upon them by your vote – to ensure that they remain exempt from the standards that guide the rest of us.

Do you ever get the feeling that our education system has been taken over by morons? I do, especially when a school bans little plastic toy soldiers because the toy figures have tiny plastic guns about an inch long. With “educators” like this, is it any wonder recent generations are full of idiots?

Given Islam’s harsh treatment of homosexuals and especially women, it strikes me as rather odd that President Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would try to bar military recruiters and ROTC from the Harvard campus over the the fact that homosexual conduct is considered incompatible with military service, yet would welcome a center for Islamic studies (and $20 million) from Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz.

More Americans say they want BP to remain “in charge of” cleaning up the Gulf oil spill rather than have the federal government in charge. It’s no wonder the founders in their infinite wisdom constitutionally limited the federal government to a very few specific powers: they knew big government would only mess things up and quash freedom.

When Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC) recently assaulted a student on a public sidewalk who asked him a polite question, the “mainstream” media didn’t have much to say about that; they were probably too busy covering all the racist, violent Tea Party patriots. But Etheridge’s Republican opponent, Renee Ellmers didn’t get a tingle up her leg as she watched this.

F-22 Raptors and F-16s are engaged in military exercises off the coast of Virginia, with F-22s outnumbered more than 3-1. Even at those odds, this maneuverable and stealthy fighter comes out on top. The F-22 is vital to American air superiority in any conflict.

Liberal talker Ed Schultz made it clear that he would rather have a song that sings about oil spills and the loathing of America, over a patriotic, country-loving song like Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” What must it be like for liberals, to loath what most Americans love?

Liberal opponents of Shad Olson’s newly launched radio talk show have launched an organized campaign against stations carrying his program, peppering Rapid City’s KIMM radio station with dozens of complaints. Unfortunately for the “tolerant” Left, they have been vastly outnumbered by those who love the show.

We figured he would do it, and he did. On Tuesday, Barack Obama used the Gulf oil spill to push another part of his radical, leftist agenda. In his first-ever Oval Office address to the nation, he demanded that we all embrace his brave new clean-energy world, whether we like it or not.

As previously announced, the “On the Right Side” event is coming to Sioux Falls and Rapid City this weekend. For Rapid City, the location has now been set at the Ramkota Best Western off I-90.

According to a report from Israel Today, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Nile TV, “The American President told me in confidence that he is a Muslim.” Is Israel Today making this up? Is the Egyptian Foreign Minister shining us on? Or did it really happen?

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been at it again: speaking of common sense American values openly in public, popping the fantasyland bubble of liberals where ever he goes. This time it was at a town hall meeting in Perth Amboy, NJ on Tuesday, June 15, 2010. The subject: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Do good people do bad things? Can people really commit atrocious acts while genuinely believing they are doing something good? The overwhelming evidence from history proves it. Therein lies an important lesson for Americans today, and for the rest of the world.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says not terrorism or belligerent Marxist or Isamofascist countries will be the leading cause of conflict in the future, but rather anthropogenic global warming–something actual science indicates doesn’t even exist. That is why most Democrats shouldn’t be trusted with a position higher than assistant dog catcher.

The NAACP recently came unhinged over a Hallmark audio greeting card they thought was racist, even though the theme of the card makes it obvious it isn’t talking about what they claim. If you grope for examples of racism in the public square, the odds are you will find some…whether they exist or not.

Some people are mentally unwilling or unable to accept the evidence that communist China is a belligerent nation that the U.S. will have to contend with sooner or later. Yet the signs are unmistakable, from the general Marxist hostility, to over acts of aggression against the U.S., to growing statements of animosity from China to the United States.

You seldom see this kind of honesty and candor in the “mainstream” media. Yet an AP writer explains how unreal are liberal expectations of doing without petroleum products in our modern world. Watching a reality show of that would make Survivor look as boring as watching paint dry.

The majority at the U.S. Conference of Mayors voted to condemn Arizona’s illegal alien law. Only in the liberal mind is defending the national security of the United States and enforcing our laws considered “un-American.”

This morning was the inaugural edition of the new Shad Olson Show on KIMM radio and other stations. Olson started with an update on his transition from KOTA TV anchorman to radio talk show host, followed by a chat with Jim Thompson, and an interview of Pastor H. Wayne Williams, the Rapid City pastor who endorsed South Dakota gubernatorial candidate Gordon Howie from the pulpit.

The federal government recently took a fresh look at the ban on blood donations from homosexuals due to the risk of AIDS transmission. The panel recently released its findings: the ban should remain in place to protect public health.

Networks such as Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) feed off federal funding from CPB. This year alone, American taxpayers are spending $420 million to fund CPB. That’s $420 million too much.

For all intents and purposes, democratic government is breaking down, and we are approaching a crisis point in American society as greater numbers of those on the left and right are beginning to recognize. They see a government that is not only malfunctioning; it is also a government that is spinning out of control. And a government out of control is one that won’t listen.