Matthew Henry, the eighteenth century English preacher and author of the renowned commentary that bears his name, began his examination of Proverbs 31 with the following words: When children are under the mother’s eye, she has an opportunity of fashioning their minds aright. Those who are grown up, should often call to mind the good teaching they received when children. King Lemuel concludes his well-known description of the “virtuous woman” taught to him by his mother and recorded in Proverbs 31 with these words: Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Though it may seem morbid to rejoice and celebrate over the killing of a person, his demise offers those afflicted by the tragedy of 9/11 an important sense of closure, and the men and women who have put their lives on the line in the War on Terror a feeling of great triumph. It also offers an opportunity for moderate Muslims to reclaim their faith from a man who hijacked it in the name of global jihad.

As Americans celebrate Mother’s Day 2011, I doubt many will be thinking about any connection between their Mom and budget negotiations in Washington. But there is a connection. Mother’s Day became a national holiday by way of a resolution passed by Congress in 1914. Although since then the country has grown to become the world’s undisputed superpower, at the same time key social realities that helped enable us to get to this point have changed and eroded.

Andrew Klavan takes us on a tour of the hilarious world of abortion. You never knew abortion could be so liberating, or that killing your children could provide so many opportunities, did you?

The Sioux Falls School District will join the Yankton School District on Tuesday, May 24th to be the first two local elections in the state to utilize the State Election Reporting Systems for their local races. The new system is expected to make voting easier for the citizen, as well as save money for the taxpayer.

A large number of people believe Herman Cain won last night’s first GOP presidential debate in South Carolina. That was the consensus of a focus group held after the debate, and it continues to be heard from other sources as well. Perhaps his best line of the night was when Cain was asked about his lack of experience working in government. He replied that most of the people in Washington D.C. today had plenty of government experience, “And how’s that working out for you?”

This short video clip is from the focus group discussion following last night’s first GOP presidential debate in South Carolina. Frank Lutz asks the group if they think Barack Obama is a socialist, and I’d say about 80-90% of the hands go up. When Lutz asks the (stupid and obvious) question why, the simplest and best response is, “Ask Joe the Plumber.”

The first Republican presidential debate was held tonight in South Carolina. Participating in the debate was Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, businessman Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Candidates were asked about a variety of topics from the war on terrorism, to government interference in the free market, to abortion and drug legalization, to marriage and homosexuality.

All of President Barack Obama’s “pussy-footing around” on not releasing photos or videos of a dead Osama Bin Ladin is really keeping the followers of the “religion of peace” lulled and subdued, isn’t it? Maybe it’s time to update the bumper stickers and t-shirts from “How’s that ‘Hope and Change’ working out for you?” to “How’s that Pussy-Footing around working out for you?”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has started a revolt — a pro-democracy revolt in favor of taxpayers and workers. Taxpayers are fed up with trillions in extravagant union-backed public worker benefits, as are fiscally conservative state leaders. And many of the states taking on the extravagant pay and demands of the union bosses are winning.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation had tried to stop the National Day of Prayer but on April 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit rejected FFRF’s lawsuit and allowed the National Day of Prayer to continue. As the National Day of Prayer is already underway today, Alliance Defense Fund attorneys say they are ready to offer free legal counsel to any government entities legally challenged for recognizing events related to Thursday’s National Day of Prayer.

From the beginning of the release of information about the strike on Osama Bin Laden, we were told that President Barack Obama considered a bombing or missile strike to take out Bin Laden. Ultimately, one of the key reasons President Obama decided against a bomb or missile strike was the fact that we would very likely have no physical proof left that we had indeed got Bin Laden and we got the right guy. But after having started well, Obama has now muddied the waters by refusing to release a simple photo, and by giving an honorable burial to a monster bereft of any sliver of honor.

Though Pastor Terry Jones was denied a permit to demonstrate outside a mosque and jailed for asking, he eventually held a peaceful protest in front of the Dearborn, Michigan City Hall. Adherents to the “religion of peace” met his peaceful protest with yelling and screaming, throwing shoes and bottles at the peaceful demonstrators. Some may disagree with Jones’ burning of a Quran, but he has deftly succeeded in exposing the “religion of peace” as having plenty of volatile and violent followers.

A senior troubleshooter with an insurance agency says ObamaCare is already causing problems for seniors with health care providers passing the buck and leaving seniors stuck with bills. He has noticed this particular problem only in the wake of ObamaCare which reallocates massive amounts of money from Medicare to ObamaCare.

Knowing that the unemployment rate is 9.5% in D.C. might surprise you when you learn that D.C. politicians, labor unions, and community organizers are trying everything they can to block one of the largest job providers and retailers in the world from coming to Washington. These supposed “leaders” want to prevent Walmart from setting up shop, which would prevent the creation of hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs for D.C. residents.

Historian David Barton does an excellent job of illustrating how Democrats are at odds with America. The Leftists who make up the Democrat Party are at odds with America not only according to the divergent poll results between their agenda and the will of the American people, but more importantly between their socialist agenda and and the constitutionally-prescribed manner of freedom and limited government that has been summed up in the phrase “the American way of life” for 200 years.

Ronald Reagan often spoke of a “three-legged stool” that undergirds what I call “complete conservatism.” The legs symbolize a strong national defense, strong free-market principles and strong traditional social values. For the stool to remain upright, it must be supported by all three legs. If you snap off even one leg, the stool collapses under its own weight. What do you suppose holds together those three legs of the stool?

If you find an investment no longer meets your needs, you quit investing in it and find a worthy substitution. That is exactly what is happening within the public school system. Taxpayers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their return on their public school education investment, so they are finding other solutions.

Sunday night, President Obama rushed to put out a statement taking credit for the kill, but the credit goes entirely to the U.S. Military, not that charlatan in the White House. Obama is probably just hoping for a boost in his dismal approval ratings. Well, I have news for Obama. His ratings will only be boosted among his unthinking fanatics. The rest of us are not going to be distracted by bogus-looking online birth documents or convenient kills of most-wanted terrorists. The reality for most of America is what this man and his administration are doing to our country.

What does the economic turmoil of the past few years have to with Christian faith or theology? In short, everything! I believe the free market economic system is the best available for promoting human creativity and flourishing, creating a sustainable and stable society, and alleviating poverty. However, I also believe that free market capitalism is among the most monstrous and oppressive systems when severed from a coherent ethical framework and compelling moral restraint.

The British Daily Mail has several photos and diagrams of the compound in Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden was holed up, as well as some video of the compound burning. Other troubling reports are beginning to trickle in that Osama Bin Laden’s body may have been buried at sea. Supposedly this was done to conform to Islamic practice of burying a dead body within 24 hours.

President Obama publicly laments the rise in fuel prices. However, could this rise in energy costs be government policy? This isn’t a supply problem. Mr. Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu believes that Americans should pay for gas at the same rate as Europeans which at the time of his statement was seven to nine dollars a gallon.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently changed the disclosure requirements for investment advisors from a checkbox format to an essay style. I wasn’t convinced, however, that the new disclosure format would separate the sheep from the wolves or help consumers better understand the difference between fee-based and fee-only financial planning. Here are some principles to help you determine if you need further advice or not.

A South Dakota legislative committee is scheduled to examine the dozens of sales-use tax exemptions this summer. These exemptions total more than $500 million annually in what could be tax collections. That $500 million would be quite a windfall for the state. Did all of those exemptions pass a thorough testing, or just a seat-of-the-pants type of test as to their value for the people of South Dakota? Hopefully, we’ll find out.

This is video from Fox News of President Barack Obama’s press conference held late Sunday night, announcing that U.S. forces had killed 911 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and had taken possession of his body. Obama stated that a lead on bin Laden’s location had been obtained last August, and that today he became convinced that intelligence was good enough to carry out a mission to capture or kill bin Laden.