South Dakota voters will be asked to vote on at least three ballot issues come Election Day 2012. One of them is a referred measure and the other two are initiatives. It is important to study these issues so they can be discussed and cussed between now and November of next year. They are now in the Attorney General’s office waiting for him to put a title and write an explanation on each of them. One of them is on the National Popular Vote movement and the other establishes a state sales tax increase of one cent.

The MSM and left-leaning journalists and pundits are still trying to garner political capital by claiming that the Tea Party “terrorists” are responsible for the drop in our credit rating by S&P by holding-up the increase in the debt limit for political reasons. The Chinese are threatening the same, but they make clear that it is our rising debt, not a delay in raising the debt limit, that concerns them.

Just a vanity post here. My daughter Karissa attended the annual Teen Age Republicans (TARs) Camp.  This year it was held in the Black Hills at Camp Rimrock, a beautiful camp nestled in a small canyon west of Rapid City.  Young people came from all over South Dakota for the camp, and though my daughter [...]

The best of the best at Dakota Voice last week, including: ACLJ Victorious over Atheists in Texas; SOS: Speaking of Seniors – Practical Advice for VA-Medicare Billing Problems; Micromanaging America’s Farms Out of Business; The Day the Strength of Men Failed; Nearly Three Quarters Believe Global Warming Data Falsified; Senator Reid ‘Disconcerted’ By Tea Party Politics’ Poll: America Hates ‘Debt Deal’ ‘ and more!

In the debt negotiations of the past couple of weeks, it became very apparent that maintaining the welfare state Democrats have built is more important than many things to them–more important than the financial health of our nation, more important than your freedom, more important than your property rights, and more important than the US Constitution. You should take a look at what Democrats consider more important than financial responsibility.

Let’s face it, if your contentment level is tied to your 401(K), you’re probably not feeling too good right now. One natural law that operates in all arenas is “that which a man sows, he will also reap.” In the financial realm, that means if you sow profligacy, you reap poverty. So hang on. It’s looks like we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Obamacare is a masterpiece in its achievement of leaving no corner of our personal freedoms unviolated. It hijacks our pocketbook, our autonomy of action, and our conscience. The result is to leave us economically and morally impoverished. Americans need to sober up. Repeal of Obamacare is on a growing and most challenging list of things to do.

We were warned in no uncertain terms months ago, back in April, that if we didn’t get our fiscal act together, the United States risked a downgrade of our AAA credit rating, and again a few weeks ago that if we didn’t cut a minimum of $4 trillion, we would be downgraded. Well, congress stonewalled, capitulated, and patted itself on the back for manufacturing a worthless deal to cut less than $1 trillion. Now S&P has downgraded our credit, and America will pay the price for our leader’s foolishness.

America’s definition of poverty differs from how many other countries would describe it. You know America is indeed a blessed nation when its poorest households are described as having a refrigerator, television, and microwave. But only about 90 percent of the population has a cellular phone. Your government means for you the taxpayer to remedy that last 10 percent. Only in America is poverty described as a person with a place to live, a way to buy food, air conditioning and a cell phone.

This video is a message from future generations of Americans, the people yet unborn that we are already saddling with crippling debt. Yes, we are trying to live high off the hog at the expense of our children, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The only thing missing is a clip showing both senior citizens and middle-age Americans reaching into a baby crib and stealing the child’s candy, bottle and toys.

Guardianships are like adoptions in that it is the obligation of the guardian to look out for the ward he has been put in charge of. Unlike adoptions, the guardian is supposed to act on behalf of the ward and make decisions as the ward would make for self if capable. And then there is the attorney to insure the rights of the ward. So, where has Kevin Moshier (the appointed attorney) been when Gary Harvey’s wishes have been trampled upon?

Some people think it’s “harsh” to give criminals long sentences. Yet if David Tiger, the young man who killed one Rapid City police officer and seriously wounded two others, had been made to serve the full sentences he had been given for his long list of previous crimes, Officer McCandless would not be dead and Officers Armstrong and Doyle would not be in the hospital in critical condition. What will it take to force our judicial system to get serious about protecting the public?

This video montage shows that support for Barack Obama is dropping like a stone–even among liberals. Several liberal talking heads make some astonishing admissions–not only about Barack Obama, but about some of their own pet causes and projects. The narcissistic Obama, of course, doesn’t see his own vulnerability. Perhaps he can Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom his way on out of the White House.

So, now we have the so-called “debt deal” out of Congress. What’s the deal? In reality, when we look at the black and white of it, the citizens of America are getting one of the biggest shafts the government has ever shoved at us, and tacked on to that wicked shaft is a brand-new, powerful committee that is a dream-come-true for any Constitution-hating communist.

I’ve been watching the number of people who believe in anthropogenic global warming (AGW) fall for several years now. At first, many if not most people were willing to give scientists the benefit of the doubt. But after mountains of evidence to the contrary, embarrassing gaffes by High Priest Al Gore, ClimateGate, and IPCC goofs, the idea of AGW may soon be a cheap throw-away joke on late-night TV. This new poll finds a huge majority believe scientists have falsified the data to support their own theories and beliefs.

It’s truly amazing, the level of audacious projection of which these Leftists are capable. Just when you think liberals couldn’t possibly get farther away from reality, they set a new course for deep space and engage at Warp 9. We now have spending-addicted liberals who think you can keep borrowing trillions of dollars who are calling Tea Party people “addicts” who are suffering from “delusion and psychosis.”

It looks like very few people were fooled by the worthless waste of time that Washington is trying to pass off as a “debt deal.” As reported by Newsmax, Rasmussen finds a whopping 22% of Americans like this stinker. Even most Democrats don’t like it.

Tolkien called it the “day the strength of men failed” when the people of Middle Earth failed to destroy the One Ring. So it was with the votes to increase in the debt ceiling, as the American people have received little in exchange for allowing it to keep all of its powers to borrow with abandon. Politicians who have spent decades in Washington simply refuse to give up their “Precious” — and we can only hope that their lust for power won’t be all of our undoing.

According to ABC News, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says the rise of the Tea Party has been “very unfair to the American people.” I think he means, “…very unfair to Americans who want to leech off the hard work and enterprise of others.” He is also “disconcerted” by the rise of Tea Party patriots.

The relationship between Hollywood studios and faith audiences continues with Lionsgate’s forthcoming WARRIOR, an intense glimpse into the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) and a portrait of a family who finds wholeness and healing after devastation by alcoholism. Faith-based leaders are responding enthusiastically to early screenings of the film, citing its artistry and urgent focus on forgiveness as the key to healing.

Farm life is different than most ways of life these days. It’s a tough life that requires the children from an early age to help get things done and make the bottom line. But now, thanks to your meddling, way-over-the-edge-of-the-Constitution government, it may soon be a lot harder on farm families to meet the bottom line…and put some out of business altogether. And it seems to stem from an attempt to implement UN environmental regulations on a local level.

PowerLine blog has been running a contest for the video which best illustrates the financial problems we’re facing in America, and the winner has been announced. You’ve already seen one of the good ones in the “Dawn of the Debt” clip. This is the winner of the contest: “The Spending is Nuts.” This cute video tells the story of America through a group of squirrels who create their own free society where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed…but corruption eventually threatens their way of life.

It is really nice to see a bit of good news among all the wretched stories of communist treachery in Washington and across the nation. This past Friday, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) succeeded in beating back the atheist group, Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), in its efforts to prevent Governor Rick Perry from taking part in the Day of Prayer in Texas.

Think back just a few years and remember what it was like when a Republican got off the reservation and didn’t behave the way the bulk of the Republican Party expected them to. Such behavior was considered daring, praiseworthy, laudable, and met with congratulatory tones for displaying “independent thinking.” Fast forward to 2011 when some Republicans refuse to go along with useless “solutions” that don’t accomplish anything with regard to our fiscal problems. Why are Republicans no longer applauded for “independent thinking”?

President Barack Obama has dreamed up some new mileage standards for our nation’s auto makers. Manufacturers will undoubtedly meet these socialist utopian standards in the same fashion they’ve been doing so since the 1970s when the federal government entitled itself to meddle in the affairs of private business: the auto industry will produce even cheaper, crappier, flimsier vehicles than before.