If you paid attention during the 2008 presidential campaign, you likely heard candidate Barack Obama foretell that he would bankrupt the coal industry, and that under his energy policies "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."
For decades now, North Dakotans have been duped into thinking that we need to continue to send Byron "Skybox" Dorgan, Kent "Countrywide" Conrad, and Earl "The Pearl" Pomeroy to Washington on our behalf, because they've accumulated so much seniority and clout. They've grown very bold and comfortable in this role, scaring North Dakotans into repeatedly sending them back to office and doling out federal dollars when they return. They warn that any replacement would have to start from square one, wielding no effective influence on behalf of North Dakota and the interests of our state. So...what have we gotten for that? Zero. Well, unless you count the government health care takeover...
Now on his way out the door, and employing a "scorched earth" policy toward his country and the North Dakotans who enabled him, Senator Dorgan has these foreboding words for our nation's energy industry:
North Dakota's economy has remained robust during the national recession for a few different reasons, one of which is the solid energy industry. The policies of these liberal Democrats will decimate that. We don't have the next election to use as an incentive to bring Byron Dorgan back to earth...what about his cohorts? I don't think they're any more interested in North Dakota's economic future than he is. Once their re-election chances are sealed one way or the other, can we expect such candor from Conrad and Pomeroy?
UPDATE: This story from KFYR TV news shows that Byron Dorgan and his hairpiece are completely detached from reality. He's pushing legislation to push people toward electric cars, while simultaneously trying to strangle the industry which generates much of the electricity that would be used to charge them. He also ignores the load that charging a bunch of these magic vehicles would put on an already strained electric grid.
That's why I've always considered liberal/progressive/Democrat policies as suicidal. He's attacking us from both sides: making energy production more expensive and difficult, while forcing us into a corner with his pie-in-the-sky electric vehicles (which ought to be FANTASTIC in a North Dakota winter). Senator Dorgan is long overdue for replacement, as are his like-minded comrades in Washington.
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( 3.9 / 91 )
I spotted this sign on the way back from Sibley Park last night. Obvious punctuation issues aside, it raises an important point about ethanol blended fuels that nobody wants to address: they are inferior and smart consumers don't want them. Naturally, the entrepreneurial spirit kicks in and some businesses start catering to the desires of the consumer. Amazing how the system works.
I have friends who own FlexFuel vehicles. They'll tell you that by the time they fill their tanks with E85 fuel, deal with the loss of acceleration and passing power, and figure out the horrible mileage the fuel delivers, they break about even. That is NOT counting the tax subsidy that you and I pay on each gallon of E85, whether we use it or not, in order to keep its price competitive at the pump. That also does not include the higher food costs we pay because so much corn is going into the production of said "renewable fuel."
A long time ago I made this graphic to illustrate one more point, and a real deal-breaker: Even if you have an engine that could extract every bit of energy available in a gallon of E85 fuel, it still is WAY down on gasoline. E85 simply does not have the BTUs (measured units of energy) locked within its chemistry to compete with traditional motor fuel when it's burned and the energy stored in those hydrocarbons' chemical bonds is released. (Yes, I majored in chemistry in college at one point.) Simply put: E85 is a thermodynamic loser. Even worse, we're forced to subsidize it.
Personally I have to burn high octane fuel in my motorcycles and our trucks recommend it. I burn regular in the lawn mower and stuff like that. Even so, I will not buy ANY fuel that has an ethanol component to it. Thankfully I can now jet down to Unistop along University Drive if I want some ethanol-free regular gasoline.
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( 3.5 / 80 )
As an animator I like subtleties such as the one above. Notice how Earl's path follows the outline of North Dakota's border rather than crossing it! Interested parties may remember that you couldn't find Earl Pomeroy anywhere near his constituents last year during the government health care takeover debate. Priceless.
The big deal about this video is actually the statistic that Earl Pomeroy, he of such "clout and seniority" on our behalf back in Washington, got only FOURTEEN contributors from North Dakota last reporting period. A more telling statistic I cannot find. I expect this sort of thing to hold true at the polls too, even if ACORN can get a bunch of college kids to vote twice (at home and at school) in November. Oh, and the video says that one of those fourteen was a Pomeroy.
I guess one doesn't have to be a hapless liberal to write a catchy song about a North Dakota politician! Unlike the one targeting Dave Weiler, however, this one is true.
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( 3.3 / 73 )
This quaint little church is tucked in behind a rolling green hill southwest of New Salem. The Sims Lutheran Church got a dose of publicity two years ago when Laura Bush visited it on her trip to North Dakota.
I wanted to catch this church at sunrise but just barely missed it. It was still very picturesque, with the water in the foreground and rolling hills behind. I also found a lot of other fun stuff on this little photo trip. I wanted to peruse the inside of the building but chose to move along instead...this time. I've read that the Sims church is the oldest Lutheran church building west of the Mississippi, so I can't help but be curious about its interior.
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( 3.3 / 74 )
On my way home from an already successful photo jaunt, I noticed that the moon was about to set in a most convenient location. I bolted to the one spot in Bismarck which allows such a photograph and waited for things to happen. After a little while the moon moved into position right above Bismarck's most prominent landmark. This was a nice photographic "cherry on top" to put an even better end to my Wednesday.
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( 3.4 / 101 )
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