God's Word for Friday, 04JUN21

Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

1 Chronicles 29:11 (King James Version)

David blessed God in full view of the entire congregation: Blessed are you, God of Israel, our father from of old and forever. To you, O God, belong the greatness and the might, the glory, the victory, the majesty, the splendor; Yes! Everything in heaven, everything on earth; the kingdom all yours! You’ve raised yourself high over all. Riches and glory come from you, you’re ruler over all; You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand to build up and strengthen all. And here we are, O God, our God, giving thanks to you, praising your splendid Name.

1 Chronicles 29:11 (The Message)

Gov. Palin Signing Legislation Today

Governor Sarah Palin will be signing several pieces of important legislation today.

• House Joint Resolution 27 reasserts Alaska's state sovereignty.
• HJR 17 opposes the 'Blair Holt' firearm legislation in Congress.
• Senate Joint Resolution 3 expresses the state’s desire that the federal government allow firearms in national parks.
• SJR 10 supports passage of a federal act establishing a national reciprocity agreement that would allow people with concealed weapons permits greater latitude in crossing state lines.

Gov. Palin will be the guest of Michael Dukes on his Fairbanks 2nd Amendment KFAR radio broadcast at 4 pm ADT (8 pm Eastern). Ted Nugent will be calling in, as well.

You can listen at www.kfar660.com if you've a mind to. Be aware that their website requires an add-on called Abacast to play.

Luck's Rants: The Patrick Henry Caucus

Please take a moment to read this post at Luck's Rants. It's about states taking the next logical step in the effort to reclaim their Constitutional sovereignty.

It's worth the few minutes it will take to read it.

Standardized Education? Perhaps not in Alaska

Palin opts out of test standard for education

PLANNING: Alaska is one of only four states not to join effort


Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to opt out of an effort to write nationwide education standards in reading and math has some Alaska educators cheering and others dismayed.

Palin on Sunday rejected what nearly all other states have accepted and said Alaska has chosen to "monitor but not yet actively participate" in the process of standardizing K-12 education.

Forty-six states have signed on to the initiative to devise standards for reading and math testing that would let the performance of students in one state be compared with those in another.

The effort is in its development stages, with state and federal education officials, and others, trying to agree on what the core standards should be. Agreeing to adopt the standards is a step for later. Besides Alaska, the other states that have turned away from the effort are Missouri, South Carolina and Texas.

. . . snip . . .

Palin is taking the wait-and-see stance and not eliminating the option of adopting the standards later. "If this initiative produces useful results, Alaska will remain free to incorporate them in our own standards," she wrote.

Read the rest here.

* * * * *

Governor Sarah Palin knows more about the educational difficulties in Alaska than any D.C. politician, with the exceptions of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rep. Don Young (R-AK).

The remote villages - ninety percent of which are off of the road grid, such as it is - are inacessible except by air. Our Bush communities, in many cases, are like a third world country, including the poverty & lack of many basic resources like running water.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to attract educators to a place with only a couple of dozen children, hundreds of miles from the nearest road, and with no formal school building. Alaska's policy-makers are charged with whatever measures may be necessary to provide a decent education to those who need it. That wasn't supposed to include the U.S. Congress!

Gov. Palin has chosen once again to assert Alaska's sovereignty, and I salute her for taking this stand.

10th Amendment & States' Sovereignty

This hasn't been discussed much over the last 30 days, as other events have crowded it out of the news.

Alaska's legislature passed the statement of 10th Amendment rights & state sovereignty unanimously (both houses) on April 19, and the bill is now awaiting transmittal to Governor Palin.

If you want to see what your state is doing - or not doing - check out http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/02/23/state-sovereignty-resolutions/.

Alaska vs. "Stimulus" Funds

Much has been made of Governor Palin's request for only part of the porkulus. Let's see why:

The feds say Alaska could have more weatherization funds, if only we'll develop & adhere to a Uniform Building Code. Sorry, can't help you. What works in Juneau or Anchorage won't work north of the Arctic Circle (325 miles north of Anchorage). You can't dig footings in permafrost, just as an example. You can't lay water & sewer lines, for the same reason. Many villages have no running water, but bring in blocks of ice for their water supply. Porta-potties are the norm.

The feds say we could get more money for air quality funding, but we'd have to amend our statutes first. Nope.

They say we can get more money to expand the unemployment program - except that, in two years when the federal money dries up, Alaska would promptly go in the hole for the new, larger program. No thanks, again.

To quote Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell: "In all these cases, Washington is clearly trying to overtake Alaska with its agenda, and we are standing against that interference. In Alaska, our freedom is not for sale."

States Seek To Regain Their Sovereign Power From The US Government!

INSIGHT on Freedom: States Seek To Regain Their Sovereign Power From The US Government!

I had little idea that this was going on; I'd heard only about New Hampshire's bill in any detail. Apparently many State governments are fed up with unfunded Federal mandates.

This may be one of the most important articles you read this year, but it's worth the five or six minutes that it will take. It pays to stay informed.