Traveling back and forth from the nation’s capital provides good perspective on the bold contrast between the realities there and the rest of America. Washington is booming today while working Americans in cities across the rest of our nation struggle to see the economic light of day. It’s time to return America to Main Street. Main Street should not be strangling while Washington parties.

Union thugs in San Diego are going after a 16 year old girl working at Albertsons grocery, demanding she join the union and pay dues. It’s this kind of forced unionism that is just one of many things about unions that disgusts me…and millions of other freedom-loving Americans. This is fantastic! This 16 year old girl has more guts than a lot of adults. She’s going to go far!

Some of the faith of Tim Pawlenty presidential supporters has been shaken recently by the surfacing of a radio spot the former Governor did a few years ago along with current EPA Secretary Lisa Jackson urging Congressional passage of the controversial Cap-and-Trade Climate Change Bill, seen by most Conservatives as a disastrously expensive, business-threatening, job-killing piece of legislation that monstrously expands Government control over our lives.

Join us as we take a trip to Imagination Land, that wonderful land where there are no religions, no bad feelings, and no guilt. In Imagination Land, there is always enough money to pay for everything everyone could ever want. One day, a magic suit named Barack came to this land. Barack was always present for difficult decisions, and though his closest friends were haters, terrorists and dirtbags, he himself never did anything wrong. Come, see the wonders of Imagination Land and Barack the Magic Suit!

A candidate forum was held Tuesday night for Rapid City mayoral candidates at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. All the declared candidates were present: incumbent Mayor Alan Hanks, Alderman Sam Kooiker, Alderman Ron Weifenbach, and local businessman Peter Wernicke. This video features a question from the about “who is on the hook” for the $2 million Cabela’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

Medicare inefficiencies can leave elderly customers holding the bag for large bills. Some private insurance companies offer services to help deal with these problems, but not all do. Errors and inefficiencies are par for the course when dealing with government bureaucracies; do we really want all Americans subjected to this?

What happens if the government shuts down? Well, nothing really, and the consequences of a shutdown are really rather mundane. The worst part of it all, Congress would still be working, oh, and all government museums and tourist sites will close. For a more in-depth look at what day-to-day life would be like during a government shutdown, here are a few common questions answered.

A candidate forum was held Tuesday night for Rapid City mayoral candidates at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. All the declared candidates were present: incumbent Mayor Alan Hanks, Alderman Sam Kooiker, Alderman Ron Weifenbach, and local businessman Peter Wernicke. This video features a question from the audience about the use of 2012 funds and whether a greater percentage of them should be allocated to infrastructure.

A candidate forum was held Tuesday night for Rapid City mayoral candidates at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. All the declared candidates were present: incumbent Mayor Alan Hanks, Alderman Sam Kooiker, Alderman Ron Weifenbach, and local businessman Peter Wernicke. This video features a question about TIFs (Tax Increment Financing) and how the mayoral candidates propose ensuring those are used fairly with regard to new developers and existing taxpayers.

This really is a heartbreaking time in America’s history. We face the assault by evil on every front. Our nation is truly falling, crumbling from within, under the weight of widespread societal and institutional corruption, and it’s understandable that many of us may have the desire to check out. But if we don’t stand firm against the homosexualization of our institutions, our culture, our schools, and our laws, we will become a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.

Would you be surprised by a school official who admitted they want to indoctrinate children with a different set of values about humans sexuality before those children absorb their parents values? You shouldn’t be. Our government has been playing games with the truth about dangerous behaviors for a long time.

During last night’s Rapid City mayoral candidate forum, a question was asked from the audience about privatization of government services and whether the candidates were in favor of this. Among the replies, Alderman Sam Kooiker said he has already been looking for such opportunities and helping implement them. Then he said that he was hoping the voters would help him “privatize” our current mayor on Election Day.

Comedian Paul Shanklin channels Barack Obama on “Old People” (a fresh take on Randy Newman’s “Short People”) on the Rush Limbaugh show to deal with the high costs of health care under a government system.

We have yet another report out of the Workers Paradise of Great Britain of long wait times for surgeries in their National Health Service. Liberals in the United States are Hell-bent on socializing our system, even as evidence pours in from across the globe that, no, socialism still isn’t working anywhere that it’s tried. The latest from the BBC reports “alarm” among surgeons over wait times.

Shad Olson has produced another excellent video report, this time on the outcome of the 2011 South Dakota Legislative Session. Conservatives wanted the South Dakota legislature to balance the budget this year by cutting government spending with no new taxes. Some say they did that, but you have to say that the vehicle license fees which were raised significantly are only a “fee” and not a “tax” in order to do that.

Sparks flew several times between incumbent Rapid City Mayor Alan Hanks and one of his challengers in the upcoming June election, Alderman Sam Kooiker at a candidate forum Tuesday night. The forum was held at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. All the declared candidates were present: incumbent Mayor Alan Hanks, Alderman Sam Kooiker, Alderman Ron Weifenbach, and local businessman Peter Wernicke. The event was sponsored by the College Republicans and Citizens for Liberty.

While Congress battles out the remainder of the budget for Fiscal Year 2011, the House Budget Committee is already one step ahead. The federal government’s spending spree is no longer sustainable and the House Republican Budget Committee’s proposed 2012 budget contain big changes to the main drivers of America’s debt — entitlement programs.

About a year and a half ago, Kitty Werthmann of the Eagle Forum in South Dakota spoke in Rapid City about her experiences growing up in Nazi-controlled Austria. Her presentation was entitled “Socialism vs Freedom.” She has since been sought out by the Sean Hannity Show and Glenn Beck program for interviews. Now area radio talk show host Shad Olson is working on a documentary featuring Werthmann. It is called “America at Risk” and you wont’ want to miss it.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has put together a great video which paints a very clear picture of the two possible futures America has. One of those involves fiscal responsibility, living according to constitutional limits on the federal government, and prosperity. The other possible future involves us continuing to spend as if money grows on trees…and ruin for our great nation.

If you think there is no objective truth, no transcendent moral standard, that we are all simply products of millions of years of evolution who behave according to our particular genetic disposition, there are some things you might want to think about. You see, ideas have consequences. They always do. Any time you embrace a philosophical idea, you wittingly or unwittingly embrace the logical conclusions that come with that idea. This short film hops onboard a popular idea and takes it for a spin. Are you ready?

Last night the Black Hills Collegiate Debate Union hosted a debate for and against the repeal of ObamaCare at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. John Quinn officiated. Dr. Ed Picardi argued in the affirmative for the repeal of ObamaCare while Dr. Kevin Weiland argued against the repeal of ObamaCare. Floor speeches (three minutes each) from student members of the union were also allowed.

I just read Glenn Beck’s “The Overton Window.” The Overton Window is not a distraction from the real world, but a focus on the world as it is. So, if you’re looking for an escape from the world, this book is not for you, but if you don’t mind looking reality in the face and staring into the eyes of the truth behind the lies of the world, I recommend a dose of The Overton Window.

Many people desire the benefits that society bestows upon those who are married, but by no means do all of them truly qualify for those benefits. Of course, it generally wouldn’t go over well with someone if they were told that they, and their potential spouse, did not meet those qualifications. Nevertheless, it’s an incredibly challenging undertaking that cannot be pulled off by just any two people who want to play house. There are long-term consequences not just for the couple but for others as well.

Republicans have been wrestling with Democrats over this year’s budget to get them to move up from their paltry proposed $6 billion in cuts to $30 or $60 billion in cuts–which is still far short of the $100 billion in cuts GOP supporters were expecting. But for next year’s budget–the first budget year House Republicans will have full control over–the GOP seems to be getting serious. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) went on Fox News Sunday yesterday to talk about the Republican proposal to cut $4 TRILLION or more (yes, $4 TRILLION or more) over the next 10 years.

The government drifts rudderless into the whitewaters of war, the mission changes with each new speaker at the podium, and the President appears more interested in sporting events and vacations than in doing his job. With a foreign policy this well directed, the unintended consequences are the only consequences we should count on, which makes one wonder how unintended they are.