Luke sings with Luke from Luke


Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn;
and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? -Luke 12;24

This counsel from Jesus was a good starting point for Luke Graner as he performed at the Belle Mehus a while back. You may remember my photos from the event. Being a Bible lover myself, I caught on pretty quickly to the opening tune.

Luke uses a very interesting method to construct his music, using a Boomerang looping device to build his songs in layers as we watch and listen. Many times he’ll have multiple instances of his own voice accompanying him. Thus, for the first song, Luke sang with Luke from the Gospel of Luke. Fantastic.

Wanna see and here it? Dakota Media Access has posted it here (Windows Media format).

Apple Creek flooding

During one of my frequent photography outings around the outskirts of town, I came upon a little bit of flooding out in the Apple Creek area. This portion of Apple Creek Road at the intersection with 106th Street normally has water on both sides, but the water has overtaken the road for the time being.

For a pretty good stretch of this road, the water is not very deep; it’s simply over the surface of the road. I parked the truck well back from the barricades and hiked in for a little while to get some cool photos.

This shows the sign at the intersection with 106th as well as the point where the road emerges once again from the water. Those barricades you see in the distance are not the first ones blocking the road; it’d be a pretty bad experience to come over that hill from the west and only then find out that the road is closed (and under water!)

Hopefully we’ve all seen the last of spring flooding for now, and that things will get back to normal. We’re long overdue for some beautiful spring weather…just ask my kids, my cameras, and my motorcycles!

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!