Sibby Online

LifeLight Sioux Falls

Sounds like this is the place to be:

Vicki Lieuwen caught up with an old acquaintance.

She listened to Bret Merkle tell the story of the horrific motorcycle accident in 1986 that left him disabled and almost paralyzed. His presentation ended with, "It's a miracle I can walk. It's a miracle I have kids. But the greater miracle is I have a changed heart."

As the crowd filed out of the big yellow tent where he spoke, Lieuwen joined the line waiting to have a word with Merkle or to get his autograph. After she hugged him, she said, "I was his ICU nurse."

The thumping beat of music from two stages acres apart met at the yellow tent, wrapping Lieuwen in a cacophony of Christian rock. A happy throng already into the thousands shuffled about her under the dazzling Saturday sun, and she had just renewed ties with her old patient.

"It's fabulous. The feeling of the spirit is overwhelming here," she says. "This is like what heaven is going to be like."

For her, LifeLight hit the right note.

It harmonized with the experience of many at the 11th annual nondenominational Christian music festival that drew an estimated 320,000 to fields adjacent to Wild Water West last year and seemed well on the way to matching it this year. "Awesome" was a common characterization, as in "she said that it was awesome, and it has been so far."

Pat Powers’ slide continues

The latest BNN ratings have Dakota Voice again at number one. Pat Powers dropped clear down to number 10. And now Powers is losing advertisers:

One of my long term advertising contracts is coming to an end, and what I consider the most popular feature of the SDWC is available for sponsorship effective September 1. The SD Blogosphere Update, which is constantly and continuously updated with the latest South Dakota politically related on-line news is open for interested parties to sponsor on a long term basis.

The South Dakota War College has consistently been (and based on a 12 week average is currently) South Dakota’s top political website.

Again, Pat Powers’ lack of credibility shows through. The BNN 12 week average shows Dakota Voice as the top South Dakota blog. So it can’t be due to lack of popularity for Keloland not to include Bob Ellis on the political blogger section of their web site. It is because he is too conservative. It was about 3 weeks ago that I pointed out BNN’s statistics were not picking up those who linked to Dakota Voice due to an URL issue. Now tha that is corrected, Dakota Voice gets the recognition it deserves.

Pat Powers also says this:

The SD Blogosphere Update is an indexing and aggregation of over 75 South Dakota related websites encompassing a broad range of topic and ideologies, and draws significant return traffic, as it enables readers to take the pulse of the moment on South Dakota’s on-line community and catch up on what the current and hot topics are.

Lie, his Update does not include this web site, so his "broad range of topic and ideologies" is complete BS. If you want a better aggregator of South Dakota bloggers (one that includes this web site) here is a link to BNN. Ther you can get the links to the latest posting from the South Dakota blogosphere without going to SDWC and hear Pat Powers talk about how great he is and that you should give him money. Your tax dollars are already giving Pat Powers money through his wife’s employ in public education. A fact the SD MSM does not expose when Pat Powers promotes the nanny-state preschool.

Bible verses regarding the issue of abortion

Jonathan Falwell uses the Bible to articulate the spiritual aspect of the abortion issue:

The fact is, when we are examining abortion from a spiritual perspective, the ideas of our leaders – both political and religious – don't really matter.

What is, however, of critical importance is what the word of God says on this issue.

Let's look at Psalm 139:13-14, where King David notes how, throughout our lives, God is actively at work in the hearts of His children. David writes: "For You formed my inward parts, You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well" (NKJV).

In this beautiful passage, we see that the God of the universe intimately knows us and ministers to us even when we are in our mothers' wombs. While the Bible never states "abortion is wrong," from this scriptural extract we see that God has a unique interest in us even before we are born.

If this is true – and I believe with all my heart that it is – abortion should never be an alternative for those who are followers of Jesus Christ.

In Ecclesiastes, a book that chronicles how people who seek the vanities of life are unfulfilled without Christ, we see another wonderful verse (11:5): "As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything. …"

God makes everything – this is a fundamental truth of scripture. But man is a destroyer.

I am pro-life not because I want to have jurisdiction over women's lives. I am pro-life because God's word illustrates that He loves us even when we are in our most feeble beginnings.

In the womb, I believe we represent "the least of these" which Jesus spoke of in Matthew 25:40: "… Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

You can suggest that religious leaders have different opinions or that the scientific perspective should be considered, but the bottom line for Christians who live by biblical precepts must be that God has called us to protect those who cannot defend themselves, and that includes those who live within their mothers' wombs.

Obama drinks Marxist Kool-Aid

Ellis Washington writes another fantastic column. This time he goes after the Stalinist indoctrination of public education:

While watching small clips of the Democrats' national convention this week, I was struck by the audience and its reaction to the utter propaganda it was exposed to. Yet, like cult members brainwashed and transfixed by the words of their "leader," audience members robotically accepted the doublespeak, no matter how utopian and outrageous, with repeated and exultant ovations.

In the interest of fairness, next week in St. Paul, Minn., the Republicans will put on an equally galling display of political theater, spectacle and doublespeak, saying whatever the audience wants to hear. To me it's all beyond the pale.

Presently, I am a new professor at Savannah State University where I teach five classes – three sections of American government (mostly freshman), American judicial process and international law (upper classmen). From the beginning, I am constantly admonishing my young students to "think critically," "think outside the box," "don't follow the crowd because they may lead you and your generation into the abyss which may take years to recover from."

During my lectures, as I look into their bright, radiant eyes so full of hope and promise, I am saddened because when I hear their opinions, oftentimes I hear the Stalinist Party line – a litany of confused, utopian, impulsive and irrational ideas on the pivotal issues of our time.

Confusion? How could it be otherwise for our young people in this age of compulsory K-12 education in our Stalinist public schools; propaganda factories full of anti-education, intellectual perversity, violence, failure and despair? Irrational ideas? How could it be otherwise, with our bloated, inefficient government where political hacks on both sides of the aisle are suppose to represent "We the People," yet they have never read the black-letter text of the U.S. Constitution and, therefore, have little clue what this precious document means according the original intent Constitution's framers?

Washngton then goes into how Barack and Micelle Obama public education Kool-Aid drinkers:

Time will not permit me to address the redux of FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society programs Michelle, Barack and other speakers at the DNC promised all Americans. They are programs of which a growing number of historians, ministers, politicians, intellectuals and others deduced have done more harm to destroy the black family than hundreds of years of slavery in America. Yet Harvard-educated, Kool-Aid drinking Michelle and Barack, as dutiful servants on the liberal plantation, speak the propaganda that their masters have taught them to the letter.

As one who attended Harvard 20 years ago just after Michelle graduated from law school and concurrent with when Barack entered law school, I saw firsthand as students were regularly presented liberal propaganda as unassailable fact by certain faculty members there who pushed a Marxist, socialist or liberal worldview.

However, I purposely used my short time at Harvard not to take the easy road, by drinking the Kool-Aid, by uncritically accepting the Marxist and socialist ideas of the Ivy League, but to transform my worldview from god-state liberalism to Ronald Reagan conservatism. I made this transition, ironically, thanks to several shrill Michelle Obama-like angry feminists who ranted and raved against me at a party of all places, and drove me into the conservative camp.

Liberals love to use the class warfare rhetoric of Marxism to imply that education will lead to some abstract utopian enlightenment ("… and to make sure that every child in this nation has a world-class education all the way from preschool to college").

Nevertheless, with their coveted Ivy League pedigrees from Princeton, Columbia and Harvard, Michelle and Barack Obama seem unwilling or unable to think critically, to think independently as I am attempting to teach my young, college freshman students at SSU.

Lacking a consistent, strong father figure, I am convinced Barack Obama is not a fully developed and balanced man. But his historyhas shown him to be a magnet to extremist people and toward perverse, socialist ideas, thus he is a perfect prototype of a Manchurian Candidate.

Michelle and Barack Obama are two very famous people of my generation, born at the tail end of the Baby Boom generation. They have not only drunk every drop of Kool-Aid (i.e., Marxist propaganda) that Columbia, Princeton and Harvard could pour down their throats, they wiped their mouths and went back for seconds.

One of my main goals as a college professor is not to make converts of my students to either the Democratic or Republican Party, but to teach my students how to think critically in all things, and even if they are occasionally thirsty, to remember the tragic deaths of those 921 followers of the Rev. Jim Jones cult 30 years ago and to never, ever drink the Kool-Aid!

Time for Americans to get off the Marxist Ko0l-Aid that is served up in public education.

Obama’s Trojan Horse

Star Parker makes this point:

There's a lot of speculation about why the Obama campaign has not soared. Why, when today's voter identification with the Democratic Party is 13 points higher than with the Republican Party, is the presidential race virtually tied?

I think it's because of the sense that the foundation of the whole Obama enterprise stands on emotional quicksand.

There are two ways that the Republicans can handle this.

One is the way Obama himself in his acceptance speech suggested they would: To drive a negative campaign and feed the many doubts that already plague the Democratic candidate.

The other is to reach out to the troubled hearts and minds of Americans today with a vision of substance.

Obama suggested in his speech that his lofty visions would be dismissed as a "Trojan Horse" for the abandonment of traditional values. He said this amounted to making a "big election about small things."

This was the most significant misstatement of his speech. Traditional values are not "small things." They are the biggest things. And the only terra firma that we really have in an uncertain world.

John McCain can hammer Obama into the quicksand on which he stands. Or he can point the way to the firm ground of real values on which this country was built and on which we must continue to stand.
I hope Senator McCain chooses the latter.

Secularists causing more problems

From WorldNetDaily:

Officials in Mesa County, Colo., who have been warned by atheists and "freethinkers" that they are being watched, have been told they will get help if they are sued over a policy that allows invocations to open public meetings in the Western Colorado region.

The offer of help comes from Alliance Defense Fund, whose senior legal counsel, Mike Johnson, said, "Public officials throughout our country need to be encouraged and reminded that they can and should resist the increasingly radical demands of secularist groups with regard to invocations before public meetings."

The organization's offer to Mesa County includes any challenge to such activities if the commissioners adopt a model prayer policy that has been written specifically to meet the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

"It is sad that some radical secularist groups are trying to eliminate one of our oldest and most cherished American traditions," Johnson added.

The dispute in Grand Junction involves the Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers, along with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, American Atheists, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

The organizations have reported in local news reports they are "watching" the commissioners' actions.

"As you know, there is simply no question that a legislative body may open its sessions with an invocation," ADF told the commissioners. "Public prayer has been an essential part of our heritage since the time of this nation's founding, and our Constitution has always protected this activity. Moreover, such prayer can include sectarian references without running afoul of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause."

The activist law firm said the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed such an interpretation, and indeed, that very court opens with the words, "God save the United States and this honorable court."

"Our country's Founding Fathers opened their meetings with prayer," Johnson said. "Those who oppose Christian invocations are essentially arguing that the Founders were violating the Constitution as they were writing it."

Thune on Palin

From the Argus Leader:

Some South Dakota Republicans say Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate will appeal to the GOP's conservative base and women voters, and demonstrates that McCain still is a maverick who wants to reform government.

"Gov. Palin is a great addition to the ticket," said Sen. John Thune, who is a delegate to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul that begins Sept. 1.

"This decision proves John McCain is serious about changing Washington. Her experience as a reform-minded governor and a mother of five will have broad appeal and will richly add to the future of this country," Thune said.

Government preschools cause behavior problems

Bob Ellis weighs in on the preschool issue:

As Sibby Online points out, the recent Argus Leader report on gains made by 3-year-olds at a pilot preschool program aren't all they're cracked up to be. In fact, they're mostly meaningless.

No one disputes there may be immediate, short-term gains for children in a preschool setting.

However, as I pointed out a few days ago, these results usually don't last very long into a child's academic career. In fact, one study found the gains are dissipated by spring of the first grade.

There are also considerable behavioral problems which arise with children in preschool, including increased aggression, biting and hurting others. And studies have found that these results are long lasting.

When you consider that preschool gains are dubious at best, and produce very real behavioral problems, and that budgets are already tight, it really makes no sense to push for a universal preschool system.

Children do much better with greater parental involvement. Instead of unsound programs at taxpayer expense that take children out of the home, we should emphasize parents spend more time, not less, with their children.

Palin: Member of Feminist for Life of America

Bob Ellis posted a Vote Yes For Life press release:

VoteYesForLife.com is absolutely thrilled with the announcement of Sarah Palin as John’s McCain’s Vice-Presidential candidate. What a excellent choice!!! Sarah is the current Governor of Alaska. Prior to governorship she was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska for two terms. When elected she became the first woman to be Alaska’s governor and the youngest governor in Alaskan history at 42.

Sarah is strongly pro-life and belongs to Feminist for Life of America, a leading pro-woman, pro-life organization that has championed reducing abortions by helping pregnant and parenting students with financial aid and other resources.

Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd are the parents of five children. Her fifth child Trig was born with Down syndrome. As many as 80 percent of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome become victims of abortion, but ending the pregnancy was not an option the Palin’s would take. The day after Trig’s birth, Todd & Sarah Palin released the following statement, "Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."

VoteYesForLife.com is so very encouraged by such a strong pro-life Vice-Presidential candidate!!!

Who is Sarah Palin

From WorldNetDaily:

Sen. John McCain has burst into the national conversation about Barack Obama's big night with a stunning choice for vice president, bypassing conventional picks such as Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty to tap Alaska's 44-year-old first-term Governor and former beauty queen, Sarah Palin.

…

Palin's strong pro-life views were highlighted earlier this year when she and her husband Todd were informed she was carrying a Down syndrome child but chose to carry through with the pregnancy.

"We've both been very vocal about being pro-life," Palin told the Associated Press. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

The day after the birth, the Palins said in a statement: "We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."

The Palins have five children, including an 18-year-old son, Track, who joined the Army last year.

Pro-life leaders already are hailing McCain's pick.

"Absolutely brilliant," said Mathew Staver, chairman of the activist legal group Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law.

Staver is attending a meeting of like-minded leaders in Minneapolis, ahead of the Republican convention next week, and he says Palin has "electrified conservatives."

"The excitement was palpable among conservative leaders when they heard that Gov. Palin was Sen. McCain’s choice for vice president," he said. "There is a high level of optimism among conservative leaders that the McCain-Palin combination is a ticket that will connect with values voters."

Staver noted that along with a strong pro-life record, she is "pro-marriage" -- a reference to her opposition to same-sex marriage -- and a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association.