Monday, May 28, 2007

KC Speaks



Conrad takes issue with coverage of the Democrats' budget proposal. It's not about assumptions of the expiration of upper-class tax cuts. It's about the tax gap, off-shore tax havens and abusive tax shelters. Got that?

Conrad writes a letter to the NY Times

Sunday, May 27, 2007

North Country Memorial Day

Today's Washington Post has an article about families of Minnesota National Guard soldiers, who are on one of the longest deployments in Iraq. It's mostly about Minnesota, but also about the Red River Valley, with some North Dakota references. It's also a good read for Memorial Day.

Long Time Gone, from the WaPo



Friday, May 25, 2007

Nice Forks Joke



Bored Chicago columnist, eager to get out of the office for Memorial Day weekend, picks on North Dakota. At least someone is gauging America's North Dakota awareness. Apparently, it ain't too good, either.

The Black Hills are not in North Dakota.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

From Kent to Byron


Against the 400,000 ...
Byron Dorgan got some press opposing the immigration bill's guest worker provision.
Maybe the guest workers would like to move to North Dakota and take advantage of the state's low unemployment and cost of living. It wouldn't be the first time a wave of immigrants came and populated the open prairie.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Is Not/Is So


Sen. Kent Conrad: Expiration of tax cuts in 2010 is not a tax increase.
Conservative columnist Robert Novak: Yes, it is.
'Cause there's no argument like a semantic argument.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Another NY Times Obit for a North Dakotan ...



... whom I'd never heard of.

Myer Shark, 94, not a fan of the utilities

If your name is Shark, are you destined to become an attorney?

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Cuba y Dakota del Norte



El Roge is talking Cuba again, this time in the Miami Herald. (It's a short quote, halfway down).

Cuba trade goes on

C'mon ... Let 'em have our agricultural products. They can't live on cigars alone.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Go West

Reporter in Oregon, raised in North Dakota, needs directions to the ocean.

Tell Terry where to go

Friday, May 11, 2007

Prairie Dogged


Sardonic Washington gossip blog Wonkette details Sen. Dorgan's fear and loathing of prairie dogs. I have to disagree with Byron on this. Prairie dogs are awesome.
I'm willing to give the senator the benefit of the doubt here and assume that with the vast amount of rhetorical crud congressmen have to produce over serval terms their oratory sorta drifts off to weirder areas at times. But note how the comments after the Wonkette post show the internet's ability to reduce dialogue to general jackassery.
Rob at Say Anything also covered Dorgan's jihad against prairie dogs, though didn't link to Wonkette.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Tsk, Tsk



What's the guy supposed to do with a snowmobile in Alabama, anyway?

Eyesore in Alabama

Monday, May 07, 2007

Synfuels ...



... and, um, elephant poop. I guess even the most worthless seeming crap is good for something.

Synfuels plant now a "crown jewel"

The other one has the whiff of a hoax. Five hundred pounds a day ... wow!

Elephant scat

Sunday, May 06, 2007

"Not a Single Hint of Human Endeavor"


Guy writes a book about parks in the Midwest and names Theodore Roosevelt as his favorite. His book doesn't include Yellowstone or anything like that, but we beat out South Dakota at least. Take that, Badlands National Park.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Town For Sale

This story was all over the wires today. It's a good story, too, as much about a 93-year-old woman (who seems like a hoot) as it is about a small town. By Blake Nicholson of the AP, here is how it appeared in the Washington Post. (Nice work, Blake.)

Toots Hagglund, Founding Mother

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Just Like So Many College Grads ...


... Bees are fleeing North Dakota.


Interesting revelations:
1) North Dakota has an apiary inspector.
2) North Dakota leads the country in honey production.
3) Hive husbandry is slipping.