Patriots, homeschoolers and Americans of all ages and walks have a fantastic opportunity this weekend to brush up on their knowledge and learn new things about America, our founding, the U.S. Constitution, and the principles that helped make the United States the greatest and most unique nation in all of history. Authors John Eidsmoe and Mark Skogerboe will be in Rapid City Thursday, Friday and Saturday for several exciting events.

Randy Wilson, Field Director for Church Ministries with the Family Research Council, was in Rapid City yesterday for the Black Hills Ministry Leader Luncheon sponsored by the Family Heritage Alliance. While he was in town, Shad Olson of the Shad Olson Show interviewed Wilson in his studio. They talked about one of the themes that came up at the ministry leader luncheon: the abdication by the church of its role in being the conscience of the culture, and how that is affecting America’s present and future.

Doesn’t that pretty much sum up liberals and liberalism? “Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave.” – Lyle H. Rossiter; Jr. M.D., author of “The Liberal Mind”

In watching the amazing explosion of Donald Trump on the political scene this year, I keep asking myself what he’s up to. As I wrote in a previous column, some of Mr. Trump’s past professions of liberal beliefs and his political contributions to more Democrats than Republicans, leaves me wondering just who he really is. Why is he threatening to run as a third-party candidate when he has not yet even announced he is running for president?

Many pro-family groups are calling upon parents of children in public schools to keep their kids home during this Friday’s disruptive “Day of Silence.” On Friday, April 15, students participating in the “Day of Silence” will wear pro-homosexuality T-shirts, buttons, and stickers, refuse to answer teachers’ questions in classrooms, make it difficult for other students to concentrate, and generally take over school campuses for the entire day.

School officials have now launched a ban on homemade lunches. At public school Little Village Academy on Chicago’s West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home, reports the Chicago Tribune, instead students must eat school-provided lunches, or not eat at all.

In President Barack Obama’s speech today, he claimed we would not be a great country without our unconstitutional social programs. This should gall any red-blooded American. To claim that we were not a great nation until we began to abandon the freedom and free market that made us the envy of the world, in favor of socialism, is nauseating.

The Family Heritage Alliance held their Black Hills Ministry Leaders Luncheon today, hosted by Parkview Evangelical Free Church in Rapid City. Dozens of pastors and ministry leaders from the area attended the event moderated by FHA Executive Director Dale Bartscher. The featured speaker for today’s luncheon was Randy Wilson, National Field Director for Church Ministries for the Family Research Council, who came to equip and motivate those present to make a difference in our community and our nation.

People caught up in immoral and self-destructive lifestyles spend a lot of time hiding the truth from others, and hiding from the truth themselves. This is certainly true of the homosexual lifestyle, and former homosexual Ronald G. Lee pulls the curtain back in a lengthy expose to show the rest of us what’s really behind “the first few rows of books.”

In the age of gratuitous Hollywood sex and violence it’s not surprising that people are starved for family-friendly entertainment. Unfortunately, many Christian movies over the years have only been of “B” quality. But “The Potential Inside” is what Americans have been clamoring for: Wholesome, pro-family entertainment combined with the high-tech, quality production value we’ve come to expect from A-list motion pictures.

What is it with these God-hating liberals who are running our country? Do they loath the author of our rights and the source of the blessings of liberty so much that they cannot bring themselves to utter the name of the builder of our national house in public? First President Obama leaves out references to God from our national documents, and now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can’t bring himself to mention God.

Jill Staneck calls our attention to a video taken by Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society which highlights the difference between pro-life protesters and pro-abortion protesters. This was taken at an event on April 2 paying tribute to pro-lifer Joe Scheidler. The pro-abortion crowd came along to pay their “respects.” Watch this video and get a feel for the spirit of being pro-abortion.

Award winning journalist and radio talk show host Shad Olson has released a new video report about some disturbing things going on in Rapid City that you probably don’t know about. Alderman Jordan Mason recently revealed that the city has $163 million in debt. He is also looking into the city’s involvement with the Municipal League and the League of Cities–groups that are in bed with socialist billionaire George Soros.

According to News in Faith, former Ambassador and fiery speaker Alan Keyes will be coming to Rapid City next month (May 2011). Keyes’ appearance will be part of a Festival for Life, sponsored by the Faith and Family Foundation. The festival will take place over three days and feature many events including a parade and a showing of “Blood Money,” a behind-the-scenes look at the abortion industry and its effects on women.

You have to watch the video for yourself to get the full gut-punching effect of it. It shows Delaware DOT employees ripping up basketball hoops from people’s front yards because of a neighbor’s complaint. The disrespect and contempt for private property rights is stunning to comprehend that this is happening in America.

If you’ve ever traded licks with liberalism, if you’ve ever sparred for long with a purveyor of the liberal mindset, you’ve probably noticed an important truth about this “philosophy” whether you’ve put words to it or not. Archbishop Thomas Wenski recently did that when he described the mindset which “holds that anyone can essentially create his or her own reality.” When something as fundamental as a common reality cannot be agreed upon, what hope is there for meaningful dialog?

The budget deal struck this weekend between Republicans and Democrats to cut $38 billion from this year’s budget leaves many conservatives conflicted. On one hand, it’s only a fraction of the $1.6 TRILLION budget deficit, but on the other hand, this battle has changed the entire dynamic of the budget fight. And Speaker Boehner seems to understand the source of Republican power: the energy of the Tea Party patriots.

South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant announced today that a group of South Dakotans have filed paperwork with his office to refer Senate Bills 38 and 43 to a vote of the public. The bills are part of South Dakota’s compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act (commonly known as President Obama’s Health Care reform) and a successful referral would put the measures to a public vote during the November 6, 2012 general election.

Would you like to see a pretty brazen example of how liberals ignore truth, facts and reason in favor of their bankrupt ideology? Look no further than the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, and how liberals have worked hard to kill it. Speaking of killing, while liberals loooooooooove the choice to kill your own child, that’s about the only “freedom” they like. Freedom to educate your child as you see fit? How dare you!

Despite the obvious truth, despite the clarity of the American way, the Marxists and class warfare pimps among us would still have us believe that it is not only right to penalize some of our fellow Americans for being successful, but that such greed can actually close the budget deficit. Recently, Mary Catherine Ham has illustrated the fallacy of this thinking, as has Bill Whittle, and now Reason.TV has yet another illustration of this truth.

Valhalla isn’t a word the average person is going to work into a conversation every day. However, Valhalla, has slipped into more conversations over the past several months–ever since some sorehead got all cranky-like because he found out former Governor Rounds was keeping secret a little hideaway in the heart of our Black Hills for his friends and for his personal use. So, along comes our new governor, Dennis Dogood. He assures us there won’t be any secrets while he is on his watch.

Investment advisory firms are required to file disclosure documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the past, investment advisors had to complete two forms each year: ADV Part 1 and ADV Part 2. This past year the SEC published new rules for the second document required by investment advisory firms like ours. The requirement changed from a checkbox response to a “plain English” narrative brochure. Even if the nature of a firm’s business has not changed, added information and the new format are mandatory.

These are the best of the best articles at Dakota Voice last week, including: Radical Homosexuals Target CA School Kids for Indoctrination; School Official Admits Goal: Replace Parents Values; Democracy and the Role of America in the Middle East; Bitten by Cruel Logic; GOP Gets Serious: $4 TRILLION+ Spending Cuts; Citizens Guide to a Government Shutdown; Are Unintended Consequences the Intention?; and more!

I imagine the folks over at Planned Parenthood are desperately trying to figure how they can best spin the latest results from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), released last month. According to a 2006–2008 survey commissioned by the CDC to the National Center for Health Statistics, sexual activity among teens has dropped dramatically. According to the study, 68 % of boys and 67 % of girls (age 15 to17) have never had sexual intercourse. This information corroborates another CDC report released just last week showing that teen birth rates have reached their “lowest levels in nearly 70 years.”

By creating idealized visions of great men like Martin Luther King Jr., we dehumanize them. This process not only shortchanges the profundity of their accomplishments, it provides the rest of us with a convenient “hero exemption,” a justification for a self-centered disconnection from the outside world and an unwillingness to stand on principle in the face of adversity.