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David Strom on Ahmed TV: a conversation about how conservatives and liberals see the world.

Posted by  on Wednesday, October 12th 2011     
Policy fellow David Strom was asked to explain the “conservative way of thinking” to liberal-leaning Egyptian immigrant Ahmed Tharwat. David and Ahmed have been facebook friends for several months, and after some correspondence and a meeting at a Caribou Coffee, David and Ahmed decided to try an experiment: a half hour conversation on Ahmed Tharwat’s TV show on how liberals and conservatives see the world differently. Nobody changed their minds, but perhaps a bit of cultural comity resulted.
Belahdan appears on TPT 2.2 Sunday and 10:30 am, and several times throughout the week.
category: Commentaries, David Strom, TV Appearance
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It is Columbus Day! A reminder from the 56 Club.

Posted by  on Monday, October 10th 2011     

Here is a reminder from our friends at the 56 Club.

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Enjoy this “real” history lesson from our favorite American historian, David Barton’s “WallBuilders.”

Celebrate Columbus Day!

Monday, October 10th is Columbus Day. Traditionally observed on the second Monday in October, Columbus Day commemorates the landing of Columbus in the “New World” (on a small island off Florida) on October 12, 1492. Although Christopher Columbus clearly was not the first European to visit the “New World” (Vikings had traveled here centuries earlier), he first widely publicized, and thus “discovered,” its existence to the Europeans. Columbus undertook his first voyage facing the prospect of great danger. The professional opinion of that day not only assured him of the impossibility of his proposed endeavor, but it also warned him that dragons and death awaited him beyond the charted waters. With such advice coming from the intellectual leaders of his day, his decision to embark on this unprecedented journey must have been difficult. So, then, why did he set out? Columbus himself answered that question in his own writings:

[O]ur Lord opened to my understanding (I could sense His hand upon me) so it became clear to me that it [the voyage] was feasible. . . . All those who heard about my enterprise rejected it with laughter, scoffing at me. . . . Who doubts that this illumination was from the Holy Spirit? I attest that He [the Holy Spirit], with marvelous rays of light, consoled me through the holy and sacred Scriptures . . . they inflame me with a sense of great urgency. . . . No one should be afraid to take on any enterprise in the name of our Savior if it is right and if the purpose is purely for His holy service. . . . And I say that the sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end of the world is the preaching of the Gospel recently in so many lands.

Interestingly, in the 1892 Supreme Court decision Church of the Holy Trinity v. U. S., the Court unanimously affirmed that America was indeed a Christian nation. In so doing, it cited dozens of precedents from American history, including that of Christopher Columbus, acknowledging:

From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation [that America is a Christian nation]. The commission to Christopher Columbus . . . [recited] that “it is hoped that by God’s assistance some of the continents and islands in the ocean will be discovered,” etc.

It is especially because of Columbus’ religious motivations and convictions that today he has become a villain for most modern educators and writers, who regularly attack and condemn him. They have adopted the deplorable modern educational practice of deconstructionism – of attacking traditional Western heroes, values, and institutions.
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And .. as always .. hope to see you at our weekly Tuesday meeting!!!
Perkin’s in Eagan at 6pm
God Bless America!!!
God Bless Our Troops and Veterans!!!
category: Blog Posts, Commentaries
tags: 

A Quiet Revolution: Oil Security is Within Our Grasp by Bill Glahn

Posted by  on Tuesday, September 27th 2011     

Just when it seems that all the news is bad, a ray a light peeks through the clouds. Our dependence on foreign oil, a bugaboo for Presidents dating back to Nixon, has finally begun to recede. And the biggest reason can be found next door inNorth Dakota.

 

As with the natural gas revolution of recent years, the latest oil boom is powered by new drilling techniques, most notably the use of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Informational Administration (EIA) reports that the share of imported oil fell below 50 percent in 2010, the first time imports represented less than half the total since 1999. (Canada is our number one foreign supplier, withSaudi Arabia andMexico alternating in second and third place.)

 

Our foreign oil dependence peaked in 2005 above 60 percent. The decline in imports can be attributed to a decline in consumption, related to the economic recession, and an increase in production, with North Dakotabeing the fastest growing state. The EIA reports that North Dakota ranks fourth, behind only Texas, Alaska, and California in oil production. Production levels in North Dakota are double their 2008 levels. The Wall Street Journal reports that, if current trends hold,North Dakota will move into the number two spot, afterTexas, by the end of the decade.

 

It may surprise some to learn that the U.S.is the world’s third largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabiaand Russia. It will surprise even more to hear that there are published reports that investment bank Goldman Sachs believes the U.S. has the potential to become the number one oil-producing country in the world, as early as 2017.

 

This story, from National Public Radio, describes the oil boom in North Dakota and gives one a feel for the jobs and economic development produced by domestic oil production. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, estimates that by shifting federal policy on oil drilling we could create an additional 1 million jobs inAmerica.

 

Other advanced nations likeCanada(world no. 6),Norway(world no. 13), and theU.K.(world no. 19) don’t seem squeamish about developing their natural resources. Neither should we.

category: Bill Glahn, Climate Change, Commentaries, Energy, Environment
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