We hit the road this week to take my little boy to a specialist. My medical stuff is nearing an end, same with my wife, and now we’ve got some other issues to deal with. Along the way I did manage to take out my camera a couple of times this week, and this was one of ’em.
I love a good prairie pun, don’t you?
Yesterday was a day of milestones, one of which was the 32,000th photo through one of my cameras. I captured it with my new macro lens, and the subject was the North Dakota state capitol. Well, it was actually a facsimile there of, as I’m sure you can see.
This was part of the state’s birthday cake, as yesterday marked the 125th anniversary of North Dakota’s statehood. I’ll have more on this cake at another time, featuring many of the unique decorations from around the state. Yes, I did get a chance to eat a chunk of Stark County late in the day.
Lots of events are planned at the Heritage Center / State Museum today. I know that our neighbors to the south are celebrating a birthday as well, but we here in “Best Dakota” are going to have a blast with ours.
Rumor has it there’s free cake at the Heritage Center! Don’t tell anyone…
Measure 7 is something that has come up on the ballot before in North Dakota: removing the requirement that all pharmacies must be owned by a licensed pharmacist. This time it seems like it may really have some momentum. I just got my mind blown in such a way that I have switched from a lifelong YES vote on this to a sound NO. Why? The answer will blow you away.
First, let me say that I believe that anyone who wants to operate a business in North Dakota should be able to do so. I’ve always believed that, and it’s been the core principle behind my opposition to North Dakota’s pharmacy laws. I’ve voted in favor of changing this every time it’s come up on the ballot. This time around, however, I was wavering a bit, and I don’t know why. Something just didn’t seem quite right. More on that later.
I’d classify most pro-Measure 7 folks in three broad categories:
Like I said, in principle I would have voted yes simply because of the first item. I’m not so sure that prices will come down as the second group of people believe. But the third one is the one that didn’t make sense until today.
CVS operates pharmacies in the state. White Drug does, too. I bought most of my Atari cartridges and lots of my Star Wars action figures in an Osco. So what gives? Why do the “big box” stores claim they can’t operate here? The answer is so simple and so complicated at the same time that it would never have occurred to me until Matt Evans wrote about it on my friend Rob’s blog.
In that article, Matt pulls back the curtain and reveals that there is no free market in this matter. The big box stores negotiate with insurance companies for the ability to get certain medications covered, with state regulations giving them the muscle. This artificially distorts the market, obviously.
So what happens if Measure 7 passes? The “big box” stores go straight to the insurance companies, negotiate the same thing with them as they do in other states, and the next time you want to get your prescription covered you find out that it won’t be – unless you go to Big Box Pharmacy.
Naturally this stinks for a number of folks:
No wonder the bigs have been pouring millions into this issue: rather than it being a matter of free markets, it’s a matter of rigging the game in their favor! In the guise of making more free, open competition available to drive prices down for the consumer, it’s actually a way to subvert the free market using the state-regulated insurance industry as a crowbar to leverage things in their favor.
I went from a 100% principled YES in this matter to a 100% NO in a matter of seconds after I read this. If a YES vote would result in true freedom of competition and no protectionism, I’d cast it…but it would do exactly the opposite.
Make sure you read Matt Evans’ post on Say Anything. It’s a real eye opener. Cast your NO vote to stop government-enforced cronyism from coming between you, your pharmacist, and your prescriptions. Otherwise the next time you want to support your local pharmacist, you may be doing it with your own money instead of the insurance coverage you already paid for.
It’s that time again, when Democrats don folksy apparel and adopt phrases like “The North Dakota Way” and “working with both parties”. Don’t fall for it. Don’t vote Democrat, not even for dog catcher.
Even Senators Conrad and Dorgan started small. Decades later they were North Dakotans on paper only, maintaining shoebox apartments in Bismarck to stay eligible for reelection. Their final legacy: casting deciding votes for Obamacare, legislation wildly unpopular with North Dakota voters, then retiring to multimillion dollar East Coast homes near their lobbyist cronies. Was that the “North Dakota Way”?
Then we elected the “Independent Voice™” for North Dakota, Heidi Heitkamp, who has since voted with her Democrat Party puppet masters 97% of the time according to Congressional Quarterly. We should have seen that one coming.
Now Erin Oban, wife of the Democrat Party’s executive director, uses similar rhetoric. She doesn’t mention this affiliation; in fact, her website’s devoid of issues entirely. Her opponent’s site has a very clear list of where she stands on important issues and she votes as she promises on these issues.
Democrats never actually campaign on what they stand for. Where are the campaign ads saying they support Obamacare, amnesty for illegals, the right to abortion, or gun control legislation? The ads promising to punish big corporations and advance the homosexual agenda? Conspicuously absent, but Democrats are beholden to people who want these things because their votes are guaranteed. Deception and feel-good rhetoric are required to get yours. Guess who they’ll serve.
Find an issue that’s popular in North Dakota, and Democrats are on the wrong side of it. Compare their campaign marketing to their behavior once elected. A Democrat elected to local office this year could cast the deciding vote for disastrous federal regulation in twenty years. We can’t afford to advance their dangerous ideology based on platitudes and deception.
As autumn progresses in North Dakota brings a lack of color to the landscape as everything turns a shade of brown or gray until the following spring. I was craving a little bit of color and searching my photos for something else when I came upon this shot, one I’d forgotten to share.
I have a couple of stragglers from the photo walk, such as this photo of the crown of the federal building on 3rd and Broadway. I hope by now you’ve made a selection, but I’ dbe interested in how you like these.
These trees are on the east end of the parking lot at the Peacock Alley. It’s a parking lot now, but is apparently going to be an ice skating rink next year – because downtown Bismarck has way too much parking space right now.
That’s it! I was happy with the shots I brought back. I could have roamed more, but I had a nice morning walk and maximized the amount of time I had available. My new lens performed admirably, and I had good company.
Thanks for looking through my photos!
Here’s another set of photos from our local group’s participation in the Worldwide Photo Walk. I’m trying to decide which photo to submit.
This is the counterweight for a fire escape in downtown Bismarck. I love the sky in the background combined with my vignette.
Remember Gary Miller? If I remember the walk correctly, and I don’t know why I shouldn’t, this is one of the chains holding up the overhang at the entrance of Gary’s Gallery. I believe this gallery will be closing in the near future, as his wife had announced something about it a while back.
I love this sign. It’s attached to the freight elevator in the Anderson Building, which I hope to own some day. This elevator is no longer available to the public. I remember hearing a news report in the late 80s or early 90s about a young girl getting her arm pinned and amputated by this elevator. That’d do it.
I’ll shoot myself in the foot by saying that these three are my favorite of the bunch. I do have a couple more, but they don’t mean as much to me as these. I’ll post the other ones soon and hopefully receive your feedback in time to upload my selection to the Photowalk website.
Our photo club took part in the Worldwide Photo Walk this past weekend, and it was a blast. I didn’t stay for the entire window of time because of other errands, but I did walk around downtown Bismarck for two hours with a couple of photo pals. Each member of each local photo walk submits one photo to the group. The group them forwards one photo on to the worldwide walk, and so on. I got a few shots that I like with my brand new lens, and I need some feedback as to which I should submit before the deadline.
This was right at our starting point in front of the historic Belle Mehus Civic Auditorium. I tried to go for sort of an optical illusion effect.
On the other end of downtown, I found this little nook in the back of the Anderson Building…a building I one day hope to own. The frame gave it a nice splash of color.
Made in North Dakota. These are the bricks which sealed shut the window in the last photo. Good ol’ bricks and mortar, compliments of Hebron.
I did take photos of more than bricks, but I thought I’d share these first three together due to the similar subject matter. The ones I really like will be posted next. Shoot me an email or post a comment when you find your favorite!
I’ve had some great shots of the ISS over the years…passing over a Fort Lincoln blockhouse, streaking across the sunrise above the Double Ditch post, and above the Pioneers statue at the capitol mall. Tonight I opted to grab a shot of it passing over the tower from the north, and it didn’t disappoint.
I like those direct overhead passes because they take longer. There’s more to see. But sometimes that poses a photographic challenge, even with a 10mm lens. When it’s lower on the horizon it’s easier to get a nice arc over your foreground subject. In any case, I’m relishing every photo opportunity I can get these days!