If you’re Val Kilmer, this is where you were this weekend

One of my all-time favorite actors (easily top five, if not top three) came to Bismarck this weekend. While his primary visit is to take part in the AIHEC conference at the Civic Center, my sources indicate that he also took in the Impact Fighting Championship event on Saturday night.

I was directing the video feed of the IFC on Saturday night but didn’t see Mr. Kilmer on any of my cameras below. That’s okay; it was dark, and the camera guys were focused on the contents of the ring. That includes a thrilling victory by local favorite Leo Kuntz in the main event. I took the photo above while we were setting up our video cameras and preparing for the event.

So even if he wasn’t at the fights, Mr. Kilmer has been performing at the Civic Center himself in promotion of his Mark Twain project. He’s also been involved with issues facing the Native American community for many years.

I sure wish I could meet him, but I doubt that’ll happen Oh well, when Hollywood options my life story I’ll insist that he get the part…

ND Dept of Public Instruction partners with abortion factory, “pro-incest” group, other activists to steer sexuality of North Dakota children


You’d think it wouldn’t happen here, but under Wayne Sanstead’s watch it certainly will…if we aren’t vigilant. Recently the Department of Public Instruction scheduled a conference to “educate” teachers in partnership with abortion factory Planned Parenthood. As Plains Daily reports, “the conference’s keynote speaker is Kurt Conklin, School Health Project Coordinator at SIECUS (Information and Education Council of the US).” So what’s that?

SIECUS is a group which thinks that kindergarten children should be “educated” about their sexuality by teachers without regard to their parents’ belief system. Not only that, groups like this advocate for the queer agenda, and have added another letter to the acronym. Now it’s “LGBTQ”: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, and “questioning.” The ones they’re most particularly interested in is the Q’s, since it’s those that they hope to mold and shape into the good little homosexuals of tomorrow… regardless of how their parents feel about it. In case you think I’m overreacting, Time Magazine referred to this bunch as “part of the pro-incest lobby.”

SIECUS also is quite proud of its “No More Money” campaign, which it formed entirely to combat abstinence education such as that currently taught in North Dakota (and which is being bolstered by legislation this session). Guess who is on their list of supporters? Click here: it includes mostly homosexual advocacy groups and abortion mills…including GLSEN, the organization that was caught teaching school kids the technique of “fisting” and showing them porn. If you don’t know what that is, don’t look it up. I wonder if Wayne Sanstead knows?

Answer, one of the other organizations tied to this thing, has an interesting Vision and Mission page. It includes the line that “teens are responsible decision makers.” Really? Is that why we’re limiting their driving rights this session? Is that why we keep alcohol out of their hands? I guarantee that if you give a teenager another naked teenager, the LAST thing they’ll be is a responsible decision maker. But organizations like SIECUS, Answer, and Planned Parenthood are NOT concerned with responsibility.

The Say Anything Blog and Plains Daily broke this story several days ago, and provided this web form which you can use to contact Supt. Wayne Sanstead to give your feedback on this debacle. Shortly after they did that and people responded, Dr. Sanstead announced that the conference was canceled with no reason given for its cancellation.

Recent information has now revealed that this event is not canceled, but merely postponed. They’re simply waiting for the legislative session to end and for the heat to blow over so they can have their sex indoctrination session as planned without you knowing about it. The organizers’ own words indicate that instead of canceling their event, they’re merely postponing it “until the conclusion of the session. We have low numbers at this point, so lets use that as justification.” …”I hope we’ll find a way to re-group and make this happen when conditions are more supportive!” Click here to download the actual emails to prove it (PDF format) or peruse them below:

The conference was supposed to be about sex education, but as you can see admitted in the emails above and in the planned conference agenda, it focused heavily on the homosexual agenda. This includes a “charge to address LGBTQ issues” and a push to develop “environments inclusive” of these deviant sexual behaviors by your children. Sandra Tibke’s own assurance to these folks says that “This conference will cover the importance of adolescent sexual health as a whole but will take a large chunk of time teaching about LGBTQ issues.”

The question that needs to be asked is: Why would she need to assure someone that homosexual topics would feature prominently? Clearly the promotion of this activist agenda to introduce homosexuality etc. to our children is important to the people involved in this conference. Click here to download that agenda (PDF format) or peruse it below:

I wonder how many North Dakotans would approve of this being brought into our education system with the sponsorship of Dr. Sanstead’s Department of Public Instruction?

I’ve never been anything but forthcoming about the fact that I believe what the Bible says about homosexuality: it is a sin, period. But even if you don’t subscribe to my point of view on this, don’t you still think that the sexuality of a child is best handled by their parents, not activists?

I believe you can still use this web form to contact Dr. Sanstead and let him know what you think about this sort of thing. I encourage you to do so.

Once again, here’s a link fest for you to track this thing as it has unfolded.

Plains Daily: DPI Plans Sex Education Conference in Partnership with Planned Parenthood

Say Anything Blog: Tell North Dakota Public Schools To End Contract With Planned Parenthood

Plains Daily: DPI Sex Education Seminar Sponsored By Planned Parenthood Canceled

Plains Daily: DPI’s Sex Ed Conference Only Postponed Until After Session

Plains Daily: SIECUS Sex Ed Not in Line with ND DPI’s Stated Values

PDF: Conference “Save the Date” flyer

PDF: Conference agenda (including plenty of sessions on “LGBTQ” youth)

PDF: Emails regarding postponing the conference “until the conclusion of the session. We have low numbers at this point, so lets use that as justification.” …”I hope we’ll find a way to re-group and make this happen when conditions are more supportive!”

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” the saying goes. Make sure you tell and/or email everybody you know about this surreptitious activism, designed to take decisions about your child’s sexuality away from you and put it into the hands of the people you are supposed to trust with your child’s education. Make sure you contact Dr. Sanstead and tell him what you think of his department’s little sex-fest with these organizations, and insist that DPI cut ties with them immediately and permanently.

Juxtaposition, redux

That’s a lot more instances of the letter X than one usually finds in one of my blog post titles. This is a windmill north of the Regan wind farm from my photo trip a couple of Saturdays ago. It stands in stark contrast to its giant neighbors. It’s old, it’s not an eyesore, and it’s far less likely to be subsidized by tax dollars. It’s also not portrayed as a panacea by rabid environmentalists and corporate shysters alike.

Having said all that, I just think it’s photogenic. A springtime juxtaposition of the same nature on the south side of the wind farm can be viewed by clicking here.

Well…

Time to start “pumping out” some more photos of things protruding from the snow, before it’s time to start bringing out the new Spring Collection! I can’t wait for things to green up and for it to be nice out once again. I plan to take my little boys out on photo trips now that they’re old enough and seem to have a knack for it.

Think Spring!

Basking in the sun

Today’s edition of “old stuff poking out of the snow” brings us this retired implement, standing guard on a hill south of Hensler. It was bitter cold despite the beautiful, sunny blue sky. The snow in the ditch I crossed for this photo was deep too. This shot prompted me to investigate a purchase of some snowshoes…

Welcome to Bismarck. Restrictions in effect. Only one catch: you may have to guess what they are

It’s that time of year again: the ubiquitous “Restrictions in Effect” signs are popping up around the periphery of Bismarck. Restrictions of what nature, you ask? If your only source of information is these signs, I suppose it’s anyone’s guess.

I first saw these signs go up three years ago (and every Spring since) and thought they were pretty funny. It’s because of the load restrictions on Bismarck roads, which I heard about on the radio, but the signs are vague enough to omit that detail. It’s only after someone figured out what was missing (maybe they read this blog) and wedged a little “Load” in there that the signs made sense:

This is how the corrected signs look. I was actually surprised to find an unmodified one posted up along Divide Avenue this afternoon. As you can see in this post from last March, I was almost second-guessing whether I’d even seen the signs without the word “Load” inserted. Today’s sighting of one of the original signs is a bit of a vindication, I suppose. Now someone’s going to have to dash up to Divide Avenue with another “Load” sticker!

Barney

The remains of this old barn reside just northwest of Mandan on Highway 25. I’d photographed this structure before, but I don’t think I have done so while it’s been covered with snow. I like the range of colors.

A number of familiar old “fallen farm” structures around town have finally succumbed to old age and fallen completely. There’s only a certain window of time in which these photogenic pieces of history may be captured, and after that they’ll simply collapse into piles of rubble and rot. I’m always intrigued by the thought that these were new at one time.

Somebody once stood back at the completion of building them and stopped to survey a job well done. Somebody was excited to finally have that barn or that new home. Somebody grew up, worked hard, or maybe even passed away in many of these crumbling old buildings. That’s why I think I’m so drawn to them; a photo of a decrepit farmhouse, barn or shed is merely a starting point from which one can look back and surmise what it could have been like back in its glory days.

Square Butte Horses (updated with larger photo)

One of the last things I did on my weekend photography outing was come down Highway 1804 and River Road in my truck, looking for a good shot of the Square Buttes across the Missouri.

I already have the best views of these unique formations marked in my GPS. I was dismayed to see the clouds begin to roll in a little while before sunset, but there was still color in the clouds before they began to thicken.

Adding to the mix was a pair of horses grazing in the field along the highway. I was sitting in my truck when I nabbed this quick shot and a few similar to it, and then I bolted home. I had just received a phone call from my four year old, wondering when Daddy was going to be home. “Soon,” I told him…and put the wraps on a pretty decent photography day. I’ve got plenty more from that trip that I haven’t posted yet, but they’re on the way.

Traumatic April Fool’s Day experience

I have the sweetest, most wonderful, beautiful wife…BUT yesterday she pranked me hard. I came home from lunch to find her sitting on the couch, crying. Confused, I attempted to figure out what was wrong so I could “fix” it. I am a guy, after all. She simply sobbed, “I left something on the kitchen table for you.”

Even more confused, I made my way to the kitchen to find the above: a CUTE little photography-related onesie with a little pink stick laying on it. Huh? I looked at it, saw two lines, read the writing on it, and internally FREAKED. Putting on my best calm, reassuring husband facade, I came back to the living room to assure her that everything will be okay. We’re all going through a lot of lifestyle changes right now, including her becoming a stay-at-home mom, so really this isn’t as scary as it could be. Of course, inside my head are all the flashes of guy-type panic, but I’m not going to let her know that.

That’s when, through her genuine tears, she sobbed, “April Fool’s, honey!” And started laughing. I was so shocked, I didn’t know how to react! Internally, of course, I felt enormous relief…but I was still off-balance emotionally from trying to process the idea of a Baby Number Three.

Of course, I can appreciate a good prank as much as the next guy. I wasn’t angry (again, probably due to relief) and simply gave her a hug and assured her that even if it HAD been true, I’d still have been okay and that I love her very much.

I later found that she borrowed the stick from a friend who’s expecting. You’ve got to love a girl who will go the extra mile for a little fun. Thank God that this day only comes once a year!