Category Archives: Government

North Dakota adds ten new coal-powered cars to its state fleet

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The state fleet grew by ten this week as the DOT purchased several Chevy Volts. These are electric cars with a range of about 40 miles, so I don’t think anyone will be running from Bismarck to Fargo (or Minot, or Glen Ullin for that matter) with them without kicking in the backup gas-powered generator. I wonder if they’ll make interesting little git-around-town vehicles. They’re going to be distributed around the state to the eight motor pool regions for state employees to use on official business. GM has suffered dismal failure in trying to convince the general public to buy these things, so I hope the state was able to leverage a sweet deal before spending our tax dollars on them.

If you sense apprehension in my words, don’t get me wrong. I’m not fundamentally opposed to electric cars; I think it’s a good idea to explore new technologies. After all, the “brick” cellular phone of the 90’s had to precede the smartphones of today. What I do oppose are any simpletons who claim they’re “saving the Earth” by purchasing one. Apparently people like that think their outlets are juiced by the Electricity Fairy or something. Let’s face it: these things are NOT going to be charged by windmills or solar panels…period. Thankfully I don’t get the impression that anyone at the state is making any of these pie-in-the-sky claims. This isn’t the first set of electric vehicles to frequent the capitol; there are still some GEM electric vehicles in use as well.

All “saving the planet” BS aside, I don’t know if I see these things as nearly as big a boondoggle as the state’s fascination with ethanol blended fuels. Those are a sure-fire loser, with less thermodynamic potential than gasoline, propped up by taxpayer subsidies in a perverse shell game, while wreaking havoc on the food market. These cars are drawing power from North Dakota lignite-fired power plants, and we can be quite proud of that. I just try not to think of the fact that each one of these cars may already have as much as $250,000 in taxpayer money already subsidizing it.

Wayne Sanstead’s DPI folks training to coerce your children’s view of sexuality

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Yes, that’s right: they’re at it again. The last time Wayne Sanstead’s staff at DPI tried to get away with this, parents and others spoke out and got it cancelled. It was only six months ago, but they’re back.

According to the NDEA website, DPI is going to be presenting at an NDEA “Own the Change” conference this week (where have we heard that word “Change” so often before?) at Century High School. Its keynote speaker, Jo Anderson Jr., “has a background in community organizing” and spent time in Illinois (as did our president) “working particularly on efforts of the union” before landing a cushy gig as an Advisor to the Secretary of Education.

Well…Hope™ and Change™ come to North Dakota public schools! That’s no surprise given the NDEA’s involvement; however, DPI’s is even more perverse:

Sandy Tibke, one of Sanstead’s own staff, is going to be training teachers on normalizing “LGBTQ” behavior among our children. By the way, notice they’ve added the “Q” for “questioning”. That means if your child gets confused about sexuality issues, guess who’s ready to do the advocating counseling? Not you, I’d bet. Notice, by the way, how they keep adding letters to the acronym as they attempt to normalize additional deviant sexual behaviors. How long until they add a second B for Bestiality, or who knows what else? Maybe Ms. Tibke has the answer.

We’d like to think that North Dakota is resistant of all this Hope™ and Change™ – but Wayne Sanstead’s DPI is persistent in trying to fly it under our collective radar. Here’s my post from the last time they tried to sneak this garbage into our schools. The groups they affiliate themselves with are the same cadre of twisted freaks who got busted teaching “fisting” and “rimming” to school children in Massachusetts in 2009.

How do you suppose you “start creating a safe school environment” for deviant sexual behavior? Easy: tell the other kids that their parents are hateful bigots, their religion and faith are wrong, and that the perverts are the normal ones. Undermine parental authority and the free exercise of faith and religion guaranteed by the First Amendment, and squelch any opposition to the advance of the queer agenda in our school system. Intimidate the kids and the parents with threats of “discrimination” and “gender bias” and you’re free to do whatever you want!

The only ones dealing with children’s sexuality should be their parents – but that’s apparently not the way DPI sees it. I hope this comes out in future elections, by the way. Homosexual advocates tell us to “stay out of our bedrooms” but they’re hell-bent on getting into our childrens’ classrooms!

THANK YOU to Janne Myrdal of Concerned Women for America for posting this on the Say Anything Blog. As she points out, you can call the DPI at 701-328-2260 or e-mail wsanstead@nd.gov to urge them to abort this “training” and keep the homosexual agenda out of North Dakota’s public education system.

Oh yes…here’s where I back it up. Here are the PDFs from the NDEA:

Program for the “Own the Change” conference (PDF)

NDEA website describing the event (PDF)

Hot Air has a disturbing look at where this sort of thing is headed: “Do safe schools require an iron fisting?”

Cutting to the corps of the issue… with lots of web links, as usual

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The Army Corps of Engineers has some tough questions to answer. I don’t envy them. A recent investigation is turning up some very interesting emails regarding the Missouri River flood situation.

The most notable passage I’ve read so far is where Todd Lindquist writes, “I’m headed home. I no longer look people in the eye and tell them the forecast is 85,000 cfs from Garrison.” As it turns out, releases would eventually exceed that number by another 70,000 cfs… a fact North Dakota would be told only gradually.

There have been plenty of people making the case that the river was horribly mismanaged prior to the flood event. I wouldn’t argue with that. Now it’s time to figure out where everything went sideways and to prevent it from happening again.

In a way, I have a lot of sympathy for the Corps of Engineers; after all, they have strict guidelines to which they must adhere, guidelines which result in quite a juggling act as they struggle to make many competing interests happy. That’s quite an unenviable position.

Any investigation and resulting action that is taken in the aftermath of the Missouri River flood needs to be more than a simple headhunt. It also needs to take a long, hard look at the way the Missouri river system master management manual is written. Perhaps the dams should be returned to their original intended purpose: flood control. That way when barge traffic, recreation, and an endangered bird begin to cause mismanagement of the system, people’s lives and property don’t become casualties of the resulting mess.

Umbrage, and some useful links to boot

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I couldn’t help but wince a bit when someone at a daily Missouri River Flood Briefing repeatedly mentioned misinformation on “the blogs” and by “the bloggers” a couple of days ago. Personally, I was sitting in one of the Operations Centers doing my job instead of blogging, but I was still a little put out by that remark.

I don’t know there WERE so many Bismarck- or Mandan-specific blogs, actually. I like Randy Hoffman’s site and (even though we’re ideological opposites) I enjoy Cat’s writing. So who’s spreading all the misinformation?

Well, certainly it isn’t me. In fact, aside from some campy photos of the swamped riverboat, I’ve been far too busy to even get out an see the flooding in person. Even if I did, I think the past several years have proved that I’ve behaved responsibly overall in what, where, when, and how I post stuff on this site.

I guess it’s not so much personal offense as it is the way many people speak about “bloggers” with disdain. Having worked in the communications industry for decades, I could cite plenty of examples of irresponsible journalism from various media outlets in this town. Having a set of call letters or a printing press doesn’t give you any more credibility than the guy who has discovered a story and wants to articulate it.

Being a “citizen journalist” or “blogger” doesn’t make one righteous or noble, either; however, anyone who claims having a J-school degree somehow gives you a)credibility, b)accuracy, or c)integrity needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

As you should have deduced by now, I’m an information junkie. As usual, I have a few links that you may find useful. Rather than act like I have all the answers, I like to point you to the people who do. I haven’t seen these linked anywhere else, so here goes:

If you’re wondering what the river stage is at various measuring points, just click below:

waterdata.usgs.gov
 

You can find all kinds of data about the Missouri and other rivers in our area with graphs of all by clicking below:

www.crh.noaa.gov
 

This page will give you the daily water release orders issued for the Garrison Dam within the Army Corps of Engineers:

usace.army.mil Orders page
 

My favorite, which gives you a TON of information about just about every aspect of the various dams and reservoirs in our area of concern, can be viewed by clicking below:

usace.army.mil Reports page
 

There’s quite a variety of information available at the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division’s website, just click below:

usace.army.mil NWD-MR page

I said it before, I’ll say it again: I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I probably have some hyperlinks to help you inform yourself. Having said that ad nauseum and after posting all those links to dizzying information above, let me point this out:

bismarck.org and cityofmandan.com are STILL your best bet for reliable information.
Not facebook, not your neigbor, not even local media.

Do yourself a favor and find your own information from the source. Find out your home’s elevation, watch the river, learn what a river release rate means in relation to a river stage level and how that stage level relates to elevation. Once you get your noodle wrapped around triangulating rate/stage/elevation, you will be able to assess your flood risk very quickly. Better yet, you’ll see through much of the other misinformation.

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

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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.

I can’t believe I took this long for legislature photos

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But here they are! I spent some time breaking in my press badge while perusing the legislature last week. This photo is from the House…

and this is the Senate. This was during a normal day’s business, but I’m hoping that the legislature decides to participate in an event I’ve enjoyed during the past two sessions: Citizens Night at the legislature.

Curious? Check this link and this link for more.

One more tool for emergency awareness in Bismarck

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If you’re like me or many of my friends, you cancelled your landline long ago (years, in my case) in favor of cellular. There are some drawbacks to going cellular-only, though, mostly in emergency situations. This should be of keen interest to all “cellular-only” residents of Bismarck.

A coworker emailed me the link to Bismarck’s “Wireless Notification” form yesterday. This allows use of the “reverse-911” system, used to notify residents of a certain geographic area, to reach people who don’t have a land line. It can also be useful if you’d like to receive notifications while away from home.

This could be extremely useful in cases such as the standoff in a south Bismarck trailer park earlier this month. With spring flooding around the corner, this can also be a critical tool in getting timely information out to people in an affected area.

You can check out the form by clicking here. It’s one tool in the arsenal, not a failsafe, but it’s certainly a good way to help stay informed for those times when you need reliable information in a timely manner.

Bismarck porkulus project comes with sign for Our Hopey-Changey™ Leader

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A week or more ago I noticed that this sign had been put up in fron of the William Guy Federal Building on 3rd and Rosser. To the average citizen, even one who spends a LOT of time in this building like me, you’d never guess that there is anything going on inside aside from a new coat of that government-blue paint. But rest assured, this sign indicates that money (yours) is being spent.

Actually, I think this sign may have been required by the Obama regime, as this directive from America’s Dictator (PDF format) states very clearly. If you don’t want to load the PDF, I’ll just quote the relevant section:

“All projects which are funded by the Recovery Act shall display signage that features the Primary Emblem throughout the construction phase. The signage should be displayed in a prominent location on site. Some exclusions may apply. The Primary Emblem should not be displayed at a size less than 6 inches in diameter.”

Lest you neglect to turn all Hopey-Changey™ at the thought of your childrens’ future being squandered, the name of Our Esteemed Leader features prominently at the top of the sign. According to this PDF from the government,

“Projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will bear a newly-designed emblem. The emblem is a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American People to invest their tax dollars wisely to put Americans back to work.” (emphasis is mine.)

Heaven forbid that federal dollars get shoveled at anything without credit being focused on Barack Hussein Obama! Well, Mister President, I have a suggestion for your sign, a few words it’s missing (and they even left room for):

I think this says more about the project than all the rest of that sign, including the cutesy little logo at the top. The entire “stimulus” program has been a sham from the get-go, and most of that money that absolutely had to be printed at the time still hasn’t been spent yet. I imagine that will be ramping up as we approach election season, so the Democrats can use it to buy votes. Well, I don’t think too many Americans are buying that. By the way, I think I do know what part of this money was spent for:

Remember this photo of a “government fix” in the very same Federal Building? Well, the shipping tape has been removed, making this photo obsolete. There are still some nasty smears on the wall from where the adhesive was, so by no means is it completely repaired…but then again, would you expect any better?

I’d like to point out that Earl Pomeroy, Kent “Countrywide Mortgage” Conrad, and Byron “Skybox” Dorgan all voted for this stuff and think it’s pretty keen. Remember that each and every November until they’re all three civilians.

For you “birthers” out there, you might get a kick out of the fact that this sign was made using a commercial font called “Kenyan Coffee.” Maybe someone out there has a sense of humor about this tragedy…

Primary Election Day. Here’s a voter’s guide and how to find your polling place & sample ballot

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Today’s the day! Get out and vote. Once. 🙂 All kidding aside, this is a very important day. I’ve encouraged people to find out all they can about the candidates, which is not necessarily easy in the case of local races. A friend sent me his “voter’s guide” and because I agree with what he’s indicated, I’ll show you what he wrote below. I think he gives well-thought, informative reasons why you should or should not vote for particular candidates in Bismarck races.

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Judge:
Favor: Schwarz and Austin. Both have spent their 20+/30+ legal careers in the private sector, IN the courtroom (handling hundreds of criminal and civil cases).

Governor Hoeven and Schafer have tried to choose lawyers for judicial appointments with the most day to day experience of practicing law, so as judges they had a keen view of the impact their decisions had upon the men and women of North Dakota. Nearly all of their appointments followed that criteria (including two Supreme Court justices).

Grossman: has less courtroom experience, having spent most of the last 20 years in the attorney general’s office.
Feland: good courtroom experience, but almost exclusively as a prosecutor.
(I would add here that very serious allegations of misconduct have been documented against Ms. Feland in the Sandy Blunt/WSI case, which totally take her out of the running for me. -Cf)

Mayor:
Favor: Schwab. has been looking after the taxpayer and opposes doubling the sales tax. Looks to the private sector, and a fair playing field for all businesses in Bismarck.

Warford: advocated to double the sales tax last year. TIF funds were approved for quiet rail without another vote. Has served the public for 8 years for which we owe him a debt of gratitude. Perhaps 8 years is enough.

City:
Favor:
–Quist (promote fiscal responsibility and core responsibilities of government);and
–Schmidt (lower property taxes/no new sales taxes).

Not Support:
Askvig: lobbyist for NDEA; $500 contribution from DakPAC in Washington DC; voted for Obama and favors the new healthcare bill.
Smith: friends with the current administration (see campaign contributions– $250 from Mayor Warford); parroted a number of Warford themes of “bringing businesses to Bismarck”. No plan to lower property taxes.
Feldman: conservative; but there are only two open seats.
(Personally, I’m voting for Brad. Bummer we have more good candidates than open seats! -Cf)
Ebertz: pretty conservative; favors return of TIF, lower property taxes through economic development, but suggests the state should “send us all the oil money”.

Parks:
Favor: Nieters and Schwartz; both are fiscal conservatives, looking out only for taxpayers with no special interest to promote.

Not Support
Deforest: promoted the funding arrangement for the aquatic center; supported 3 week suspension of Parks Director Steve Neu for violation of state law; dismissed the question of “special assessments” in candidate forum as irrelevant. (Is not irrelevant).
Munson: also dismissed the question regarding special assessments for the park district, only to have other candidates correctly answer the question. (The park district does deal with special assessments).
Martinson: wants to promote more sciences and arts, particularly through the arts and science center, of which he is a board member. Jon is a good guy, but I disagree with advocating for a special interest group as an elected official.
Jeske: served on the fund raising committee for the Streamline Foundation that owns the Bismarck Aquatic Center. Same concern for additional special interest focus rather than broad public interest.
(There are three seats open here and two solid candidates. I plan to vote for Jon Martinson as the third. Cf)

Schools
Favor: Marquart; Fitter and Sagsveen.

Marquart and Fitterer have welcomed taxpayer support; Fitterer is concerned about the cost of busing. Sagsveen is a capable lawyer, who works at AG’s office and is concerned about the impact of building a new high school.

County (All four candidates will advance to the general election in November)
Favor: Peluso, Schonert, and Moszer.

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Take that, throw it into your hat of election information and advice, stir vigorously, and use what you see fit. I wanted to distribute this because I think the information is useful.

Again, I’m voting for Brad Feldman for City Commission. He’s perhaps not as tested a candidate as the other two solid conservatives, but I like him. I also like Jon Martinson mostly because I really liked dealing with him in my college days. He also seems to be the best of the candidates who are not endorsed conservatives.

You may agree with me (and the author of this list), you may not. Regardless, you need to make your voice heard today. Find your polling location here. You can even download a sample ballot so you know what to expect when you arrive at the polling place. Be part of our representative government and perform your civic duty! Oh yeah…print out a copy of this list if you want, too 🙂 And if you want to print out a copy of the Citizens for Responsible Government’s door hanger with the candidates they endorse, you may print do so by clicking here.