Category Archives: Other

Earl Pomeroy’s office lying to, threatening North Dakota constituents and media…oh yeah, he’s under investigation too

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“The BS is piled up this high around me, and I’m afraid North Dakotans are sick of it!”

Things are getting even more interesting for the hapless Earl Pomeroy, Democrat congressman from North Dakota. Not only is he trailing in the polls badly after his vote for Obamacare, but he’s also under ethics investigation for the curious timing of a fundraiser orchestrated for him by a former staffer the night before his vote on a financial bill in Congress.

On the Say Anything radio show a caller claims he was threatened by a staffer in Pomeroy’s office when he called to ask if Pomeroy has taken any bribes in exchange for his support of the Democrat agenda. Yikes! This from the office of the same Earl Pomeroy who refused to meet with his constituents before voting to toe the line for Obamacare last year. Not only does he not want to hear from his constituents, apparently his office is prepared to get nasty over it.

This is nothing new; apparently they’re threatening the media too. According to the Grand Forks Herald, Pomeroy’s office got a TV ad critical of Pomeroy’s vote pulled from the airwaves of at least one North Dakota television network, the stations run by KNDX TV here in Bismarck.

When asked by the Bismarck Tribune about the investigation into his fundraising, Pomeroy’s office simply showed that they think North Dakotans don’t deserve an answer from their “representative” in Congress.

Next, his office lied to the Grand Forks Herald when they claimed that “More than 60 percent of his campaign contributions came from North Dakotans — people from North Dakota.”

All it takes is a simple web query such as this one via opensecrets.org to show that Earl Pomeroy gets 80% of his money from out of state, NOT 40%. His office is lying to you.

North Dakotans have wised up to you, Congressman Pomeroy. That’s why you’re trailing in the polls despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in union money to attempt a facelift and salvage your sorry political career.

No wonder the Democrats want to regulate the Internet via the FCC…it took me less than fifteen minutes to come up with the information you see above. I may rant about politics on occasion, in order to stand up for principles I believe in, but unlike Pomeroy’s office, I can back it up. Anything in this post you see in colored text is a link to corroborate what I say. Do yourself a favor: stay informed, don’t fall for Pomeroy’s lies, and vote him out in November! Oh yeah…inform your friends, too. Politicians like Earl Pomeroy prefer uninformed constituents. Don’t give them what they want.

Wielding all that “clout and seniority,” Conrad and Dorgan vote the Democrat party line against North Dakota interests (AGAIN)

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Those wacky North Dakota Democrats…they’ve gone and done it again. They postured themselves in the media as being for the Murkowski Amendment (PDF here), which would restrict the EPA from heavy-handedly going after any industry they felt generated too much carbon dioxide. In other words, North Dakota’s burgeoning energy industry.

This is “health care reform” all over again. They make sure they’re on TV, radio, and newspaper pages indicating that they’ll vote against something North Dakotans don’t want. Then they whisk themselves back to Washington, remove the plaid shirts, and vote whichever way the national Democrat Party wants them to.

Once again, you can view the Murkowski Amendment here (PDF). For the vote tally, click here.

How much do you want to bet you won’t see accurate mention of this on KFYR, KXMB, WDAY…or in any of the Forum newspapers or the Bismarck Tribune?

Rob Port over at Say Anything tipped me to this article which describes Dorgan as “liberated by his pending retirement…” which was my biggest fear after hearing of his decision not to run again. He basically has a license to do what he’s always done (vote as a liberal Democrat) with no repercussions. It looks like he’s going to end his too-long political career by going out with a liberal bang.

How’s that Hope™ and Change™ working out for everybody? When North Dakota’s energy industry gets flattened by government regulation and we join the long list of states in economic woe, thank everyone who voted Democrat.

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.

How do you know who to vote for in local races? By the company they keep

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Selecting the right local candidate can be tricky. In many cases you don’t know who people are or who they stand for, and advertising for local races doesn’t typically involve a big media buy. So what do you do? Start doing some sleuthing.

Take Josh Askvig, for example. I see his signs all over town and know nothing about him, but there’s a clue. His sign is up in the yard of some deranged person who’s put up one of those signs in favor of the government’s unconstitutional health care takeover. So if someone who wants the government to force their healthcare decisions thinks that Josh Askvig is a good candidate, maybe I need to look into this a little more.

At first glance, Josh Askvig’s website is all about “preserving our heritage” (whatever that means. I guess he’s trying to appear as a values candidate). Yet if you read a little more, you find out some interesting things. First off, he worked for Senator Kent “Countrywide Mortgage” Conrad, recently under ethics investigation, who votes with the Democrat Party more than he does with the wishes of North Dakotans.

Next, the site says, “Josh currently works on behalf of teachers and public school employees as a UniServ Director and Co-director of Government Relations for the North Dakota Education Association.” That means he’s making a living by organizing public employees (ie, unions). UniServ (according to the NEA website) is like an advocacy movement for these unions, helping the circle the wagons in defense of each other as well as recruiting new members.

Going to the NDEA website and reading one of their PDF newsletters reveals that they are cheering on (with ads, even) Congressman Earl Pomeroy for his vote in favor of the health care “reform” bill. No wonder; unions, especially government employee unions, are breaking the bank all over the country. The only way to try to rescue these bankrupt plans is to force non-union citizens to start paying into the same pool (ie, a national one.

Government employee unions are a scary thing, and they’re the impetus behind Barack Obama’s assault on this country. Government employee unions are now a majority while union membership is at an all time low in the private sector. They’ve got people like Josh Askvig earning a living as their advocate, helping them advance their agenda.

Speaking of the NDEA, let’s not forget what their building has looked like in recent past, with windows full of union-sponsored propaganda and signage supporting the government healthcare takeover.

One other thing on the Askvig website that caught my radar is talk about “smart planning” and “sustainable growth.” Those are keywords for people who like to tell everyone else where they can build a house, how they can develop their property, and what zoning they will be receiving. There’s nothing “smart” about it.

So here we have a candidate talking about heritage and values, but digging deeper appears to associate him with typical liberal Democrats who do not agree with America’s heritage and values. If that holds true, I would advise against advancing this person’s political career even one inch further.

Speaking of candidates and who their friends are, I saw a door hanger the other day that made sense to me. It’s from the local group of Citizens For Responsible Government. I know what these people stand for, and therefore know why they would endorse a candidate. They’ve got a list of candidates they support, listed above, and I’m inclined to go with them on their research.

Finally, ask around. We’ve all got a variety of friends, and certainly some of them are “in the know” when it comes to certain people. Bismarck-Mandan is still a pretty small town in many ways, and it seems so many people know (or know of) each other, that you can get a pretty good idea simply by asking. Take the time to be informed, do your own research, but ask others as well.

Please bear in mind that I make no insinuations about Josh Askvig’s character…how could I? There’s not enough information out there. That’s my point by recommending that you look at a candidate’s associations. While I don’t know this particular candidate, I’ve had plenty of time and information to shape my opinion of the NDEA, public employee unions, the government healthcare “reform” takeover, and so-called “smart planning” and “sustainable growth.” The fact that he’s up to his armpits in these things gives me all the information I need to know in order to decide that this is NOT the type of candidate I want in any sort of political office, local or other.

You may agree with me and vote for candidates such as the ones endorsed by Citizens for Responsible Government. You may disagree with me totally and vote for Josh Askvig and people of similar idealogical persuasion. So be it, that’s the American way. Just make sure you’ve done your homework and know something about the person you vote for, so that you do your part to elect someone who shares your political beliefs.

Once again, here’s a ROCK that’s more patriotic than Earl Pomeroy

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This enormous rock, about five feet tall and parked in a very remote location outside of Bismarck, has more patriotism than the American left. The owner of the land on which it sits, I presume, has adorned it with an American flag, the names of some North Dakota soldiers killed in the global war on terrorism, and the following quote from our President:

“We will not waver; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail.” George W Bush

 

It’s just a shame that very few people will ever see this rock; I stumbled upon it by accident while out getting the truck dirty. Can you imagine the heartfelt pride in our soldiers the artist must have felt as they painted this tribute to their sacrifice? It’s very moving and I had to tell you about it. At the bottom of this post I’ll give you directions on how to find it; it’s not that hard, really.

On the other hand, this reminded me of the cowardly Earl Pomeroy, the hapless US Representative from our fair state. While I and several hundred other motorcyclists stood guard outside the funeral of a fallen soldier, he came by to attend the funeral and offer waves and salutes. This happened less than 24 hours after he voted against House Resolution 861, titled “Declaring that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.”

This is so typical of the liberal Democrat mantra of “I support the troops, but I don’t support the mission.” Have you seen the text of the resolution that Earl voted against? If not, click the link above. But first let me point out that this resolution was a show of support: it didn’t promise funding, it didn’t have any policy riders in it, it was simply a declaration that Americans are doing a good work and that they’ll succeed. Earl disagreed.

Here’s some of the text. I left out all the “whereas” clauses because, while they’re part of the text, they are not the meat of the resolution:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) honors all those Americans who have taken an active part in the Global War on Terror, whether as first responders protecting the homeland, as servicemembers overseas, as diplomats and intelligence officers, or in other roles;

(2) honors the sacrifices of the United States Armed Forces and of partners in the Coalition, and of the Iraqis and Afghans who fight alongside them, especially those who have fallen or been wounded in the struggle, and honors as well the sacrifices of their families and of others who risk their lives to help defend freedom;

(3) declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq;

(4) declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq;

(5) congratulates Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Iraqi people on the courage they have shown by participating, in increasing millions, in the elections of 2005 and on the formation of the first government under Iraq’s new constitution;

(6) calls upon the nations of the world to promote global peace and security by standing with the United States and other Coalition partners to support the efforts of the Iraqi and Afghan people to live in freedom; and

(7) declares that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the noble struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.

What was so objectionable to cowardly Earl that he couldn’t vote YEA on this? Did he object to a “Whereas” in there somewhere? The only one that should count is this one:

Whereas the United States and Coalition servicemembers and civilians and the members of the Iraqi security forces and those assisting them who have made the ultimate sacrifice or been wounded in Iraq have done so nobly, in the cause of freedom;

That clause alone is worthy of a YEA vote. Instead, spineless Earl the Pearl voted along with such notorious wackbags as Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel, one of the guys who keeps saying our soldiers are too dumb or poor to choose other career options. Then he has the nerve to show up at the funeral of a fallen soldier the very next day, putting on his North Dakota face on the flight back, and presumes (correctly) that it will go largely unnoticed.


“Representatives” like Earl Pomeroy do not represent North Dakota or the majority of Americans. Some of them, like our beloved Representative, are backstabbers when it comes to our soldiers at home. They make all the right somber appearances here in North Dakota, then run back off to Washington to be who they really are. I’m glad people like the person who painted this rock are up to the task of supporting our fighting men and women worldwide. If I was a member of Travis Van Zoest’s family the day of the funeral, I’d have denied the two-faced Earl Pomeroy entry into the ceremony…at least until he explained to the hundreds of real patriots outside why he voted the way he did.

The official roll call of the vote can be found here. Pomeroy’s name, quite appropriately, appears right next to that of Nancy Pelosi.

The full text of House Resolution 861 can be found here.

I know right now the struggling Earl Pomeroy is running TV ads claiming he’s such a friend of the veterans. If that’s the case, perhaps he’d like to answer a simple question: Why couldn’t he break Democrat party ranks even ONCE and cast a symbolic vote in favor of soldiers representing North Dakota and the USA as a whole?

To visit this rock, something that might be especially appropriate this Memorial Day, simply take Expressway north from where it intersects with Century Avenue. When you reach 57th Avenue, take a right and head east. It’s at the end of the road a short while later with a little cul de sac where you can park and/or turn around. Here’s a little map I put together:


View Bismarck-Mandan Blog in a larger map
On a side note, I’m messing around a little bit with Google Maps and may post some favorite photo spots (or simply points of interest around Bismarck-Mandan) from my GPS as time allows. Happy Memorial Day! Please thank as many soldiers, veterans, and their families as you can this weekend (and all year ’round). Stand with them in support for their mission; your United States Congressman chose not to do so.

Union operative’s letter to GF Herald gets treated like an average reader’s…but who does he represent in ND? NOBODY

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My buddy Rob over at the Say Anything Blog pointed out that, while every letter he writes to the Grand Forks Herald comes with a disclaimer that he runs a conservative website and talk show, union shill Ryan Nagle gets special treatment. Here’s a link to the letter, and the image above is a screen capture in case the Herald site gets scrubbed. There’s no disclaimer indicating that he’s an operative for the SEIU labor union, which is likely bankrolling a good chunk of Earl Pomeroy’s doomed reelection campaign (and other Democrats too, I’m sure).

Certainly this comes as no surprise, since ND newspapers like the Herald are nothing more than house organs for the Democrat Party. Rob did a good job of highlighting the double standard, and I had another interesting thought about this: who does this Nagle fella represent? I decided to check the SEIU website to find out:

Apparently the answer is: NOBODY. Here’s a link to their site, with a screen capture shown above. There are no SEIU locals listed for North Dakota. Perhaps they think all that money given to North Dakota Democrats will change that. Maybe they just like having our Congressmen-for-Hire voting for their interests in the national legislative body. In any case, they talk about what’s right for North Dakota and accuse any Republican or conservative opposition of being “out of state interests”, when in reality they don’t speak for ANYBODY here in the great state of North Dakota.

I started this website as a photo blog, and because I love Bismarck-Mandan (and North Dakota in general). However, when wicked thugs like the labor union types and their Thug-in-Chief in the White House make it their mission to threaten my way of life, I’m going to speak out from time to time. I have more fun photos of the nice weather in the Bismarck-Mandan area ready to post as well, but for now I thought I’d take a little time to give you some information that the Grand Forks Herald, the labor union thugs, and the Democrat Party don’t want you to know.

To understand the socialist tendencies of North Dakota democrats, just visit the Heritage Center

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In the political portion of the North Dakota Heritage Center is an interesting display devoted to the Democrat-NPL political party. I never refer to Democrats as “Democratic” because the ideology to which they’re enslaved is the very antithesis of that. There are some interesting tidbits on this display that I think prove quite insightful.

This descriptive plate seems rather fawning and praising, doesn’t it? It refers to the NPL movement as “the greatest” and its leaders as “colorful.” I wouldn’t expect any less from the sort of academics tasked with museum duty. Interesting as well is this line: “A mixture of progressives, socialists, and cooperators…” Call a member of the Dem-NPL party a socialist now, and they shriek and recoil as if you’ve brandished a cross toward a vampire. A fitting metaphor, I think.

Anytime you see literature talking about “the worker” or that sort of thing, you’re dealing with communists, socialists, labor unions, progressives, statists…they’re all cut from the same mold. It appears that the NPL tried with the farmer what labor unions tried with the worker. Thus they substituted “producer” or “farmer” for “worker.” The caption of this photo promotes a story: “An American Example of Public Ownership and Its Benefit to the People.”

The party adopted the goat as a mascot, indicating that it “fights with its head.” I’ve always thought that the jackass used by the Democrat party is far more appropriate.

Check out that last line: “The Nonpartisan League … amalgamated with the Democrats, thus creating the modern North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party.” This helps explain why we’ve got socialist ideas coming from the likes of Comrade Dorgan, whose solution for everything is to unionize it, and his ilk. Thankfully, North Dakota voters are waking up and preparing for corrective action this November.

It’s also very telling how these people can never be honest about what they believe. For instance, do you think Tracy Potter will be promoting the fact that he called North Dakota “terribly embarassing” for passing anti-abortion legislation in 2007? I think not.

Look at the history, and the present becomes more clear. They’re finding the boldness that many of them once possessed, and they’re playing on a national stage. They’re feeling all Hopey-Changey, and that’s when they show us who they really are. Now let’s do like we did in the past: put a stop to this bankrupt, corrupt ideology and oust those who subscribe to it.

Health Care Town Hall and the scariest graphic of the week

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Michael Tanner, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, presented at the North Dakota Policy Council’s town hall meeting on health care last week. I’ve seen Mr. Tanner speak before and was excited to see his return. Sadly, this time around he’s talking about a health care takeover bill that’s been signed into law, not one that was a distant possibility. He did provide some insight into ways that this unconstitutional power grab could be defeated as a whole or in part.

This is the creepiest slide of his presentation, although there were others that had more specifically bad news for North Dakota. This is a diagram of the new Obamacare health care bureaucracy. Looks easy to navigate, doesn’t it? So much for making things simpler!

By the way, if you bought into the line that adding millions of extra insured people to the system was going to bring costs down, don’t forget to add in the costs of all the new unionized government employees required to staff those little colored boxes in the diagram above. Still feeling all Hopey-Changey™ about health care? I didn’t think so.

The North Dakota Policy Council represents the interests of North Dakotans in a variety of ways. By visiting policynd.org regularly you can find out about events like this one where you can ask your own questions. You can find links to videos from past events as well. You may even consider supporting the NDPC to the degree that you choose. I’m glad that they, along with folks like Mr. Tanner, are doing the research to see how all this Hope™ and Change™ is really going to affect North Dakotans.

Big Labor getting what they paid for with Earl Pomeroy

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Recently I’ve highlighted the incestuous relationship with Big Labor and our notorious Democrat delegation to the United States Congress. In particular, I’ve pointed out how Earl “90 percent” Pomeroy, so named because only ten percent of his campaign funds come from North Dakota, has been getting lots of support from organizations such as North Dakota Change that Works. These groups are simply union front groups which are trying to pretend that they’re grassroots organizations.

Well, it looks like Big Labor is about to get what it’s been paying for over the past seventeen years of Earl Pomeroy’s illustrious “career.” You see, their interest in shoving the nation into government-run health care is because of a problem inherent to Big Labor: they’ve jacked up benefits to their members way past the point of sustainability, and they’re in need of bailout even worse than GM was.

Let’s not forget the union rent-a-mobs that were protesting bank CEOs at their homes last year. Then there are the union thugs that assaulted people at various Tea Party style rallies as well. This whole Presidency, Democrat Party, and liberal progressive movement itself cannot be separated from Big Labor. These unions are the tick that bleeds the dog dry, and when they finally succeed in killing the goose which has laid the unionized golden egg, you and I are expected to foot the bill. In this case, they have Earl Pomeroy in their back pocket to get the bailout ball rolling in Washington.

Let’s not forget that a mere SIX PERCENT of North Dakotans belong to a labor union, so there is no way Earl can claim that he’s doing his job of representing North Dakota. It’s time for someone new in the US House of Representatives, someone who actually represents this state.