Maj. Gregory Darlow of the South Dakota Army National Guard will visually present his Iraq War experiences on Saturday, August 11th at Western Dakota Technical Institute in Rapid City, 9-11 am, an event sponsored by the Black Hills Veterans Writing Group. Darlow was Company Commander during the war in Iraq, where his focus was on route clearance and the removal of IEDs.

John Fund has a very informative article at National Review in response to the Government-Worship on parade at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. In case you missed it, the world was treated to socialist adoration for Britain’s pathetic National Health Service in a gala skit glorifying government health care. Having lived under that system for three years, I can tell you: it blows huge, steamy chunks.

Dexter Lutter was expecting an award; instead he got a $20,000 fine. He made environmental improvements on his land — his farm — by taking steps to clean up the water supply and better preserve the soil, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fined him for his efforts. “That’s how out of touch I am,” Lutter says. “I feel like we should have won a medal for what we did, but the EPA tells us we were wrong.”

Increasingly, members of the medical community have embraced a “quality of life” ethic rather than a “sanctity of life” ethic, and doctors don’t have a favorable opinion of children affected with Trisomy 13/18. The proponents of “death as a solution to our social problems” would have us believe that the lives of such children are not worth living.

Democrat congressional candidate Matt Varilek has strongly endorsed Obama Care and its imposition upon the American public. Good or bad, there is no question where the candidate stands. Many

Republicans in South Dakota are beginning to wonder if Governor Daugaard is being as forthcoming. The governor has said that he opposes Obama Care…but has accepted almost $7 million in federal funds for the sole purpose of setting up a health exchange system in South Dakota and implementing the federal health care mandate. Maybe it’s time to send a message to the governor that deeds should match words, or they’re worthless.

These are some pictures taken recently by Airman 1st Class Zachary Hada of the B-1 bomber at Ellsworth Air Force Base. The first shows a B-1 parked, with a lightning storm in the background. The next two show the powerful thrust of the B-1 as it takes off from the Ellsworth runway. When I was in the service, we used to call the noise of those thrusters “the sound of freedom.”

There is some good news to report in the case of convicted sex offender Adam Flanders and his baseless lawsuit attack on Brian Camenker and MassResistance. I previously wrote about the vile and senseless campaign of intimidation being waged by Adam Flanders against website owners and web hosting companies that had posted a public letter Flanders wrote back in 2007 graphically exposing the perverse and illegal activities between adults and children that were occurring inside a homosexual youth group, of which Flanders was a member.

It looks like South Dakota isn’t the only state having trouble with liberal infiltrators in the Republican Party. Republicans in Kansas are working to oust intransigent RINOs who are ruining the GOP brand. Kansas State Rep. Greg Smith cuts to the heart of the issue: “If you don’t believe in that playbook, then why are you on the team?”

This presidential election is the perfect time to deal with several “elephants in the room”-issues which cry out for commitments to finally address these major, long term problems. The candidate who demonstrates the best understanding of the issues and offers reasoned ideas will earn the voter’s support.

On his third voyage, Columbus sailed south along the west coast of Africa and was caught in the doldrums, a notorious condition of no winds and intense heat. After drifting aimlessly for eight days and running low on water, Columbus vowed if the winds returned, he would name the first land he saw after the Holy Trinity. The winds returned and on JULY 31, 1498, he sighted an island off the coast of Venezuela which coincidentally had three peaks.