Category Archives: Expository

Pro-Gun Rally does pretty well for subzero temps and 44mph winds

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Saturday was cold, and Saturday was windy…but that didn’t stop patriots from arriving and speaking up for their freedoms guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Many huddled as close to the capitol as possible to escape the biting wind, which the National Weather Service reported as sustaining 26 mph with gusts to 44 mph for the hour. Brrrr. The wind actually blew my lens cap all the way across the steps.

One thing that nobody talks about in regard to these rallies held by conservatives groups such as as the TEA Party, Guns Across America, or others: we’ve co-opted one of the left’s biggest tools and turned it back on them.

Remember when any ragtag bunch of hippies would get together for some sort of cause, and the media would be there to inflate their numbers and use it to try to sway public opinion? Well, now your average everyday Mom and Pop are there, they strike a clear contrast to the filthy and disrespectful “Occupy” movement, and they’re showing up in even greater numbers.

The same media used to try to minimize these rallies and their numbers or ignore them altogether, but both local TV news teams and the newspaper were there on Saturday. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that people who were content to just live their lives as everyday Americans are sick and tired of having liberal progressives intrude further and further into their lives every day.

The brisk North Dakota winter air wasn’t the only wind blowing this weekend. The winds of renewed patriotism and an awakened electorate are sweeping the country as well, and I believe we’ve got what it takes to sweep away the bogus, counterfeit Hope™ and Change™ that are threatening our nation.

Flashback: Take Back Washington Rally

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CSPAN has put together remarks by Senator “Not Byron Dorgan” on the upcoming assault on the Second Amendment:

and:

Pretty wishy-washy and non-specific. What I’m looking for is, “My constituents are firm in asserting their rights under the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and as their duly elected representative in the Senate I plan to stand by and fight for their convictions on the chamber floor.”

Instead we’ve got a big question mark hanging over us. What will we get in return for sending Governor Hoeven to the United States Senate?

 

Don’t worry folks – the sand is safe

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On Friday, a long-anticipated storm began to roll across North Dakota from the west. By mid-day no travel was advised in the west as freezing rain and icy conditions made travel very treacherous. It’s not as if we couldn’t see last night’s ice-fest coming.

Imagine my surprise at 5 o’clock when the city’s streets, rapidly turning into an ice skating rink as the temperature dropped, were completely devoid of sand. I drove carefully across town via some of the city’s busiest intersections, but didn’t see any sand spread around.

That’s ironic, because during the summer the city of Bismarck has no problem spreading acres of chip-seal gravel, much of it unmarked, to coat the roads while simultaneously maiming motorcyclists caught unaware. While they’re quite liberal with the pea gravel, each year we end up with a day or so of fender benders that could have been avoided before someone snaps to and orders out the spreader trucks.

This year is no different. In what was perhaps one of the most easily foreseeable freezing rain and ice events, Bismarck residents were forced to tip-toe and white-knuckle their way home on streets that could have been sanded in advance. Once the rain began to fall early in the day, with cold weather approaching and hundreds of miles of iced-up roads in its wake, the city of Bismarck apparently did NOTHING.

By the way, you may have noticed from all the out of state license plates that many drivers on North Dakota roads this year are not North Dakotans. Many come from southern states where they apparently can’t even drive in RAIN, much less snow or glare ice. Now they’re getting a taste of winter and we’re out there playing bumper cars with ’em. I wonder if anyone considered that before opting to wait with winter road preparations?

Where’s the sand? Well, don’t worry, folks – it’s sitting safe and sound at the Public Works building. On an errand today I drove past and grabbed the camera to illustrate that as far as sand goes, we’ve got plenty. Unfortunately, even as they begin to load trucks today, it’s going to be spread on Bismarck’s roads at least a day late.

If the city put as much effort into sanding and plowing winter roads in a timely manner as they did trying to soak us for a $90 million Civic Center addition, perhaps we wouldn’t have such dangerous conditions when we’re simply trying to get to/from work and home safely.

Only one thing left to do now, and – Hey! TRUCK!

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Image shamelessly recycled from previous election

My sweetie and I voted yesterday, and I didn’t get a sticker. That’s okay; we did our civic duty and can now relax and let election day unfold. I’ve heard the phrase, “It’s a turnout election now,” and it looks like turnout will be heavy. When I put my ballot into the M100 Ballot Scanner yesterday (a machine for which I made the training video), I noticed that the three machines had plenty of use: 1,000 on the first, just shy of 2,000 on the second, and around 2,800 on the third.

All that’s left now is to pray for our elections and the people who are elected. As I’ve said on Facebook: regardless of who wins today: all public officials, regardless of party, are only as accountable as we hold ’em. The days of electing them and sending them off to govern while we go about our business are OVER. We’ve got the government we deserve right now, so let’s take it back and conform it to the will of the people and the frame of the Constitution of the United State of America. So we need to pray that the right people would be elected, for wisdom in the electorate, and for a restoration of the greatness of our country.

Last night felt great, because instead of getting wrapped up in political stuff I simply opened up Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to start playing around with some as-yet undeveloped photos. This truck, for example, is my first real venture into the world of HDR processing. I don’t have any of the industry-standard tools for such a thing, a fact I may have to rectify soon, but I am relatively pleased with this fledgling result. I was able to keep detail in the shadows of the truck and texture of the wood while keeping the colors and brilliant light of the grass, trees, and sky.

I like HDR photos when they’re super-realistic, but not when they begin to look painted. This one is borderline. As I play around with it more and get some more sophisticated tools to wield, I hope to get a better handle on achieving the look I want. It’ll be a nice change from a very polarized and relentless election season.

A few thoughts on Bismarck City Measure #1: a $70 million tax increase with dubious assumptions

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The City of Bismarck has had a “civic center fetish” for as long as I can remember. It has transcended mayors, commissioners, and reason for decades. Now voters will be asked to fund this fetish to the tune of almost $70 million dollars (for now).

City Measure #1 is really nothing more than authorizing an enormous tax hike within the city. Proponents of this idea dismiss the tax as something only visitors will pay. Apparently they don’t think the rest of us ever go out for a burger or rent a hotel room in this town, or they think we’ll forget that we do. Every time you go out to eat you’ll be paying more if Measure #1 passes.

The hotels would love for this measure to pass because it creates much more convention space (no, it wouldn’t expand the arena for the next big concert or minor league sports team). That means they would be able to rent more hotel rooms out to convention attendees. In a way, this is subsidizing the hospitality industry. Why can’t they put some money together and simply provide this service themselves, if it’s so lucrative?

Right now I can only think of two Bismarck hotels which provide convention service of any magnitute: the Ramkota and the Radisson. If the other hotels want a piece of the pie, why don’t they expand to offer it? After all, we’re told it’s such a money maker.

IF you ask John Q. Public what he’d like to see improved in the current situation, I’m sure his top three answers would be: 1) Parking; 2) Parking; and 3) Parking. This $90 million dollar expansion plan, which was only $50 million as recently as June of this very same year (LINK), does not address additional parking according to Mayor Warford (LINK).

Local resident Lynn Bergman points out that this tax not only makes coming to Bismarck to eat or stay in a hotel room more expensive, and therefore less competitive price-wise, but also does not address the increased maintenance costs for such a facility. What happens when the Civic Center has to maintain the larger facility as well as a full kitchen staff and other amenities? You and I are on the hook for it as citizens of Bismarck.

By the way, if you read this Tribune article you’ll find that this tax doesn’t even pay for the Civic Center expansion completely! They simply assume that they’ll be able to come up with tens of millions of dollars of additional revenue from other sources (LINK) to cover the current price tag (which is nearly TWICE the estimated cost from five months ago).

Again, I don’t think this is the right idea.

It’s an enormous tax on Bismarck residents, regardless of what the proponents tell you;

It doesn’t even address parking, one of the Civic Center’s greatest weaknesses;

It raises enormous questions regarding maintenance and operations costs;

It’s for a project which has nearly doubled in cost over only the past six months;

It assumes that tens of millions of dollars in additional funding are going to fall from the sky in order to complete the project.

Finally: what if the economy turns south, by the way? Even if Mitt Romney wins the election, the Obama EPA Administration is preparing an unprecedented effort to strangle coal, one of our state’s key energy industries (LINK). If that happens, and our state economy falters as a result, are the City Commission going to find this $23 million (currently) as they anticipate? If people cut their extra spending (such as hotel stays and going out to eat) and that tax revenue drops as well, who’s left holding the check for this $90 million dollar debt? You and me, residents of Bismarck.

DPI candidate Potter calls ND “terribly embarassing”, served as Socialist Workers Party elector, gave false information to IRS

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One of Rob’s readers at SayAnythingBlog.com pointed out an interesting detail about Tracy Potter, the failed gubernatorial candidate who’s looking for another foot in the door of North Dakota politics: he served the Socialist Workers Party in the 1970s. People who don’t pay much attention to politics are probably tired of the term “socialist” after the past four and a half years, but this one’s documented.

Potter’s name appears under the Socialist Workers Party in the Official Abstract of Votes Cast for the “terribly embarrassing” state of North Dakota (more on that later) issued by the ND Secretary of State’s office in 1976. You can download a PDF of this document by clicking here.

Potter was serving on behalf of Peter Camejo, author of “Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877. The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction” (boy, if that doesn’t sound like the last four years!). Camejo was the candidate of the Socialist Workers’ Party, a party of former Communists and other radicals. Is this who you want running the Department of Public Instruction?


Click for full-size image (new window)

By the way, Tracy Potter doesn’t appear to be a fan of children escaping the womb, either. In a 2007 Bismarck Tribune article he’s quoted as calling North Dakota “terribly embarrassing” for its predominant pro-life stance on abortion. Sounds about right for a leftist. You can download a PDF of this article as well by clicking here.

Strike three: you may not know it, but your land probably falls inside the new Northern Plains Heritage Area, an enormous chunk of land in central North Dakota that Tracy Potter got designated with the help of then-Senator Byron Dorgan. It allows for millions of dollars of your money to be distributed to dubious groups, many of which do NOT have your property rights at heart.

Potter lied about this thing from the get-go, including the fact that his Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation lied on its tax records. It claimed that it had not paid to lobby Congress on its behalf (PDF available here), when in fact lobbying firm Greystone Group disclosed that it had performed lobbying services for Potter’s Foundation “in excess of $10,000” (PDF available here).

So…here we have a documented leftist radical from a Socialist party; one whose rabid pro-abortion views clash with those of the majority of North Dakotans; and a proven deceiver and advocate against the property rights of North Dakota citizens. Is this the person you’d like to have running the organization in charge of teaching your little kids? I think he views this as a prime indoctrination opportunity.

Potter’s opponent, Kirsten Baesler, has received the endorsements of just about everybody under the sun, from varied ideological standpoints as well. They include:

The Fargo Forum, Bismarck Tribune, Grand Forks Herald, and Dickinson Press;

US Senator John Hoeven, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Fmr Governor Ed Schafer, Governor Jack Dalrymple, ND Senator Judy Lee, Tax Commissioner Cory Fong, and ND Reps. Kathy Hawken, Mark Sanford, and Al Carlson;

Organizations such as the ND Education Asssociation, ND Family Alliance, ND Farm Bureau, and ND Association of Realtors

The choice is obvious: elect the radical with a proven history of disdain for North Dakota, dubious associations, and outright deception…or elect an experienced educator and administrator who has garnered support from the gamut of organizations, media, and elected officials.

Don’t put a 60’s throwback radical in charge of our kids’ education. Vote for Kirsten Baesler as DPI Superintendent!

Oil patch anecdote (comes with bonus windmill)

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Because I can tie an old windmill to just about anything, here’s a shot of an old abandoned farmstead that I located just south of Watford City on Highway 85. There…I think I’ve made my rustic windmill photo quota, so here’s my interesting story about the past several weeks in Bakken Country.

We’ve all heard the horror stories about the Wild West: the crime, the traffic, the overcrowding. I don’t doubt that many of those growing pains, and many of the reports thereof, had basis in fact. Oil production in Bakken country has slowed somewhat recently for a number of reasons, and perhaps that’s why my experiences there departed slightly from the tales.

My first impression of Williston was that sure, it was crowded with heavy traffic…but their equivalent of State Street, the divided Highway 85 that runs north out of town to Highway 2, was completely closed down on the southbound side for resurfacing. Of course it would be crowded with half the roadway available. In fact, I was able to get served faster at McDonald’s in Williston than I have been in Bismarck lately. While working with the security manager at the facility I was in, he gave the following advice: “Oh, sure…it’s not so bad here. But you should see Watford City!”

The very next day I found myself working in Watford City. I needed some accessories to build some 50 amp power cables, so I stopped in at the RV store located at the busiest intersection Watford City has. I noticed that I had no problem getting in/out of his parking lot onto Highway 85, despite a lot of traffic. It just wasn’t as bad as I’d been told. “Oh sure,” said the owner. “…it’s not so bad here. But you should see Williston!”

Now just a doggone minute here. The person I spoke to in each town thought the other one was the madhouse. In neither case did I see the kind of problems that I’ve heard so much about. Of course I’m sure traffic gets insane when there’s a blockage on the road…but I have spent dozens of hours on the road in northwestern North Dakota and never experienced any such issues. I’m not saying they don’t exist, I’m saying they’re not a 24/7 phenomenon.

I know that the medical system and first responders are overwhelmed in the area. I acknowledge that many aspects of life have seen great upheaval since the boom took hold. What I suspect happens, however, is what I call “REO Speedwagon Syndrome”: the tales grow taller on down the line.

By the way, if infrastructure is so far behind, and they can’t afford to catch up, then why in the world is Williston breaking ground on a $70 million recreation center? Is that the greatest need, or do they simply have a fetish akin to the Bismarck City Commission’s? I think it hurts their cause when they claim they can’t keep up with critical needs but they certainly have more money than you or I will ever see to start building indoor pools.

Of course my limited time up there didn’t give me the chance to see the whole picture. Again, I acknowledge the upheaval northwestern North Dakota has experienced. I also acknowledge that we can’t believe everything we hear about the Bakken boom without experiencing at least a little bit of it for ourselves.

Democrat campaign signs on US Govt. property? Maybe the Army Corps of Engineers is a fan

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As I drove past this building over the weekend, I spotted something interesting. The building itself, by the way, sits on 12th Street in south Bismarck. It’s signed as an office for the Army Corps of Engineers, hardly a favorite government agency up here in former Flood Country. After all, an email trail seemed to indicate that they were warned in advance of 2011’s devastating Missouri River flood but failed to act. But I digress…there was one strange feature of this federal facility that seemed a little odd to me.

This United States government property seems to be home to one of the largest Heidi Heitkamp campaign banners I’ve ever seen. Isn’t that a strange feature for a government building? I’m no expert on campaign law, but that seems a little fishy to me.

Don’t worry, the entire Class Envy Trifecta is there: the sign also boasts a Taylor for Governor sign and a Gulleson for Senate as well. Apparently the Democrat candidates are popular with the Army Corps of Engineers?

The very same fence, surrounding the lot for the building pictured at the top of this post, also has some other signs on it – and they look like this one. This fence is United States Government Property. That means if you or I were messing around on it, we’d face a stiff penalty and probably criminal prosecution. So why is it being used to promote Democrat candidates for political office? If there’s a valid explanation for that, I’d love to hear it.

Here you go: all the signs arrayed on the same section of fence. Don’t trespass, but DO vote Democrat. That is apparently the message one is supposed to retain after passing by the United States Army Corp of Engineers office in south Bismarck. In the background on the right is the Army Corps of Engineers sign.

Of course, being Democrats, they can’t help but play North Dakota’s own version of the race card. Heidi for Indian Country…as though she’s the only one who’ll represent them. YAWN. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a Democrat. By the way, where does she stand on Abortion? The last I heard, that was NOT “the Indian way.” Heidi seems to be completely silent on that issue – not a mention of it at all on her website’s “Issues” section. Note the US Government work trucks in the background.

Another look at this building’s sign shows a blank panel. Does that mean there are two offices available in this space? Perhaps the Democrats have a campaign center here. Did Harry Reid or some other influential Democrat down in Washington DC set them up with a location inside United States Government property? After all, that’s how it is signed.

So is the United States government providing inappropriate campaign support to Democrat candidates? I’m pretty sure there’s a law somewhere that indicates that federal government property can NOT be used to campaign purposes. In the photos above, it’s obvious that the property is being simultaneously declared US Government property and hosting campaign banners for the state’s three most prominent Democrat candidates. The whole thing looks a little questionable, and I think we North Dakotans could all use some answers.

At one time, I was that little Vietnamese girl

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Last month I had the pleasure of meeting a missionary to Vietnam who works with orphaned children. A story he related while preaching at our church was the absolute perfect picture of my life, and I felt moved to share it.

One of the orphans he worked with, along with her sister, saw her daddy hang himself. The children were terribly traumatized, as you can imagine…and this particular little girl wouldn’t smile or talk to anyone. After a lot of work, she would smile and talk to Mike.

One day, she heard that he was coming to the village. She dressed up in her best clothes and prepared to come see him. While crossing a canal that was basically an open sewer, on a bridge consisting of a fallen tree laid across the canal, she slipped and fell into the sewage slop.

When he got there, she was crushed and reeked of all the stinky gunk that she was covered in, crying uncontrollably. Moved by the spirit, he knelt down, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek, and told her, “It’s okay, honey…I don’t care what you smell like, I love you anyhow.” The little girl was overjoyed. It was this gesture that convinced the communist authorities that he was the real deal, and that he loves those kids over there.

The same picture applies to the sinner being saved when he/she accepts Christ. I was in the same sorry shape as that little Vietnamese girl. I was covered in slop spiritually, things that would be putrid to an almighty and just God. Things like:

– the sin I was born with. We all are, since Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…” (Romans 4:12)

– the idea that I was basically a “good person.” “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one…” (Romans 3:10)

– the sins I’d committed in my life, most notably, according to Jesus: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

– the good I thought I’d done to make up for the bad. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6)

– the religion that I thought would absolve me of my sins: “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Mark 7:7)

I was eternally stained with a load of foul, awful mess that neither I or any other man could never wipe clean. Neither could “religion.” I was stuck with it. My soul reeked with the disgusting mess of the sin I’d inherited and the slop I’d rolled around in for nearly thirty years. Yet God didn’t care about that. When I finally humbled myself and believed that I was a simple sinner in need of God’s mercy and grace, It was as if he knelt down, wrapped His arms around me, and told me, “It’s okay…I don’t care what you’ve done. I’ve made a way for you…Jesus died for those sins. You’re clean in my eyes.” It was then that I knew for sure that God is real.

I remember that night, when the summation of all the witnessing by my Christian friends finally sunk in. I suppose I could simplify things into three choices. One, you could reject Jesus altogether. Two, you could claim to know Him, but trust in sacraments or good works to justify you in God’s sight. Or three, you can admit that you’re a sinner and only Jesus’ dying on the cross for your sins can save you. Only the third will save your eternal soul. The apostle John wrote in the Bible, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (I John 2:2), “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) That whole world includes you, me, and everybody. Not only did God love us, but he “washed us from our sins in his own blood” according to Revelation 1:5. But you’ve got to believe.

Spiritually, the lost sinner feels the same way as that little Vietnamese girl when he approaches God and trusts in Jesus for his eternal salvation…to be accepted and loved, when they feel filthy and unloveable. That was me several years ago. I just wanted to share that with you.

Photo credit: Man Him, Republic of Vietnam (modified for this post within Creative Commons license)

This post has been bumped up from May 3rd, 2008.

Where else can I go to lower my IQ a couple dozen points? I’m sure the Internet will provide

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Yesterday the publisher of the Bismarck Tribune announced that they were no longer going to allow public comment on most stories posted on the Tribune website. The reason given was that many comments posted by users “have been in poor taste and nothing more than personal attacks on either a person or group.” That’s an understatement.

I’ve often stated that if I start feeling too intelligent I simply have to go peruse the Comments section of the Bismarck Tribune website to knock off a couple dozen IQ points. It was serious tinfoil-hat territory, and it did as much to hurt the Tribune’s credibility as their editorial bias…but in a slightly less guarded tone.

I hit my teens during the dawn of the personal computer age. I remember calling local BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) with my 300 baud modem nearly thirty years ago. Even then people were frantically pounding away at their keyboards, typing outrageous things they’d never have the nerve to say to someone in person. It was a valuable lesson to learn back then rather than right now, where everything you type is instantly available worldwide forever. Some would say I still step in it, but we can debate that another time.

Now how do I lower my IQ on demand? I don’t watch television. I guess I could still go to the Tribune website and meander through one of Clay Jenkinson’s rambling missives occasionally. Of such garrulousness I simply say, brevity is the soul of wit.

In any case, even though the local tinfoil-hat crowd has been silenced within the Tribune’s purview, I’m sure the Internet will provide a suitable alternative should the need arise.