“Hostile and abusive” company fined $2 million for making substandard Kevlar for our troops

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Not only do they get caught doing it, but then they get a fresh $74 million contract to make new ones, according to this New York Times article. You can read more about it here on my friend Rob’s site.

What caught my eye, of course, was the “hostile and abusive” name of the company. I looked on the company’s website and found some very interesting facts:

– the company is “100% Tribally owned by the Spirit Lake Nation.” Aren’t these the guys whining about the UND Fighting Sioux logo? So why is it that…

– “By 1989, the Spirit Lake Nation had purchased the last remaining shares of the company owned by the Brunswick Corporation, thereby gaining full ownership of the company. Renamed Sioux Manufacturing Corporation (SMC)…”

So, once again, it’s apparently just fine for anyone but UND to use the name Sioux. If this name brings up such pain and anguish and is such a derogatory term, why are the tribes using it? I think the whole thing is simply a matter of belligerence on the part of the anti-UND crowd.

I can’t forget the quote by Archie Fool Bear: “We went to a hockey game, and they talked about the courage and integrity of the Sioux people. We looked at each other like, ‘Wow, we don’t even honor our Sioux warriors or veterans like this on the reservation.’ ” According to the details in the NY Times article, I’m inclined to believe that UND is more interested in portraying the integrity of the Sioux people than a Tribally owned company.

Caucus at the Elks

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I braved the crowds to join the fun at the Republican caucus tonight at the Elks. It was far too crowded to take many pictures, and I spent all my time talking to people besides. Here are a few random thoughts:

– Turnout was GREAT. I haven’t waited in a line like this since Sammy Hagar tickets went on sale at the Civic Center.

– I’m not funny. I was walking to the building with a woman who was going to pick up her son, and she told me she’s a Democrat. We were talking about why the Democrat caucus hours were 2 to 8 and the Republican hours were 6:30 to 8. My response: “Our guys are employed.” Judging by her reaction, I’m not funny…although I think the look on my face illustrated that I was just funnin’ around. We continued to joke a little until we got to the line a few seconds later.

– There are a lot of Ron Paul supporters here. That doesn’t surprise me, since we have a lot of libertarian types in our state. I agree with Ron Paul on a LOT of issues, but there are some key issues in which I don’t. Besides, he stands no chance in the long run. I predict he’s going to make a pretty remarkable showing in North Dakota, at least in certain precincts.

– Our country is polarized. It’s not George Bush’s fault, either. Look at the forces aligning on either side of the ideological divide. Consider how the states were moving their caucuses ahead on the calendar. Note the reports of unusually high turnouts.

I voted for Romney. I originally said I’d never vote for a Mormon, because I object to their cult (I’m not into identity-based voting, but Christianity trumps any other principles.) I wanted to vote for Fred Thompson, but sadly that’s no longer possible. The most important issue at this point has become tanking John McCain.

McCain isn’t just a liberal. He’s got his name on bills designed to limit free political speech (McCain-Feingold); to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants (McCain-Kennedy); and legitimize the hoax of man-made global warming (McCain-Lieberman). These bills are sponsored by this joker, folks…they aren’t just simple votes on issues. This man is responsible for, among other things, a law to stifle political discourse, in direct violation of the First Amendment. He is not a conservative, and I’m ashamed he’s a Republican.

Added 2/6/08:
The big thing with McCain is that he’s a liberal, and pretty much a Democrat. Don’t forget, he was in negotiations to switch parties and run as John Kerry’s VP in 2004! Remember the infamous “Gang of 14” that stalled the President’s conservative judicial nominations? That was McCain, too.

Even if you can ignore the other policy nightmares, consider this: we conservatives cling to the hope of the governmental Holy Grail of getting conservative justices on the benches of our government’s courts, to stop liberal activism on the part of current justices. Well, we had that chance…and who sabotaged it? John McCain.

My goal with my vote is to assist in stopping a McCain nomination. If we’re unsuccessful in that, I’ll write in Fred Thompson on election day. But if given the choice in November to vote for two liberals for President, I’m going to vote Neither.

Frosty Sunday

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Sakakawea wasn’t the only one taken aback by the frosty, fogged-in capitol building today. There were plenty of us poking around the grounds, even in the early afternoon. I wanted to make it during the morning hours, but was unable to do so before church. I bolted to the capitol immediately after church, and found that the cold temperatures had kept the frost completely intact. There were a few other people poking around with cameras as well.

Somehow, I imagine this is exactly what it was like to be a pioneer some days…braving bitter cold in search of a better life. Thankfully I had the warm truck in which to warm my frozen fingers, because even a few minutes of working the camera made them painfully cold.

This wrought iron horse was a remarkable sight as well, with the gaps in the re-bar sealed with a frosty glaze. I had all but forgotten this statue, but it caught my eye as I rounded the capitol mall. I actually came back later to try a different technique with this statue, and there were still people taking pictures of it. The effect I wanted was to keep the background out of focus, allowing the horse to stand out a little better. It wasn’t easy; I need to get a neutral density filter. I was unable to keep my aperture wide and still keep a slow enough shutter speed to sync to my external flash. I used a lens that tends to help with depth of field, then exaggerated the blur a little in Photoshop.

Check this out – only one side of the horse is frosted! I got the horse at a funky angle here, and I’m not sure if I like it or not. It was accidental; I was paying more attention to other details at the time, so I could get back in the truck and warm my fingers, and get home to my wife and boys. Little PJ has been spitting up, so she kept the boys home from church this morning. Let’s just call the angle ‘artistic’ and not tell anyone, okay?

I also got some other neat frost pictures near the river, but those can wait until another time. As far as I know, the frost is still out there, since the temperatures are cold enough. How long it will last is anybody’s guess…I’m just glad I was able to get out there with my camera to capture it!

Anniversary of North Dakota’s last lynching

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January 29th marked the 77th anniversary of the last lynching in North Dakota, probably the most popular one as well. Locals broke into the Schafer Jail and retrieved Charles Bannon, accused of murdering the family who’d hired him as a farm hand. Apparently there were nearly 75 people and over a dozen cars involved in hauling this guy out to the nearest bridge and giving him the last necktie he’d ever wear.

Want more information? Visit an interesting source of information: the North Dakota Supreme Court’s news page.

This will probably impact Mor-Gran-Sioux in December

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I’m sure you remember the Paul Schaff House, which I jokingly said could be seen from space at Christmas. While others have held the title of most popular and extravagant Christmas display in Mandan in the past, he has reigned in recent years. According to this report by KXMB, he’s hanging up the lights. No, not on his house…hanging them up for good.

While he says he will hang some Christmas lights next year, just not fifty thousand of them, he’s probably going to miss the notoriety…albeit not as much as we will miss his annual holiday displays. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something in particular that took the wind out of his sails. Perhaps this addition to his Christmas display for 2007 holds a clue:

One of the garage doors was adorned this year with the message, “In loving memory of Ann. Wife, Mother, Grandma.” I am guessing at the punctuation, since it’s probably pretty tough to do with rope lights.

This isn’t how I originally intended to show you this photo. I had planned on writing a simple message of condolence to Paul Schaff that I doubt he’d ever read, but one I felt compelled to put into words. While I haven’t met Mr. Schaff, I’m one of many people who derived a great deal of joy from his labor each Christmas season. Now, however, the photo accompanies the sad news that we won’t have his Christmas displays any more. But the real loss is that of a wife, mom, and grandma.

I hope it isn’t intrusive to mention this openly. Since he put his words into the area’s most popular Christmas display, I’m guessing Paul Schaff doesn’t mind that we all know of his loss. This is simply a way to share kind feelings back toward him for the joy he’s provided .

So…we’re sorry for your loss, Mr. Schaff. We’re also sorry for the loss of the special touch you put on Mandan’s Christmas each year. Like your display said this year, you’ve got loving memories of Ann…and we’ve got loving memories of your Christmas cheer. Thank you for the thousands of smiles you’ve brought each year, and for all the faces you lit up along with your home.

At the cross, where I first saw the light

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Saturday’s first light actually came a while before the sun crept over the horizon, but I couldn’t resist using hymn lyrics in the title of this post. After all, I’ve used plenty of secular songs in the past…why not use something with some meaning to it? By the way, my Savior doesn’t look like that any more. He rose from the dead: For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. -Romans 14:9

I found this cross by accident one time, in one of my perusals of remote gravel roads. I was driving down a road with no particular destination in mind when I saw this little grove of trees with a clearing, a big rock, and a cross.

Here’s the plaque from the rock. Apparently a family member or friend who became a priest celebrated a Catholic mass here, and it was therefore commemorated. As you know, I’m a former Catholic who has been enlightened by the numerous ways that the Mass contradicts the Bible. But rather than open that whole can of worms here, I just thought I’d show you the picture of the cross at sunrise and describe this surprising find.

You can find this site on 145th Street, which is really just a stretch of gravel road, southeast of Bismarck. GPS coordinates are 46°43.029′ North, 100°33.822′ West.

Towers of Power

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With North Dakota producing so much darn energy these days, it’s hard to find a landscape that doesn’t have a power line or tower in it somewhere. On a day like this, they can be a photographic asset rather than a nuisance. With the right angle of light in the sky and clouds, these fellas look more like they’re ushering in the new day. That could be quite a metaphor for North Dakota’s 21st century economy, especially the central part of our beloved state!

Remember when Y-93 did the “Cash Call” contest?

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I had forgotten all about it, particularly since I don’t recall listening to Y-93 since the late 1980s. Those were the cool days of KYYY, with people like Bob Beck, Olivia DeYoung, Loren Gray, Pat Buchella, and Bruce Elscott. Obviously Bob and Lori are still around town, but they’re no longer at Y-93.

Anyway, back to the cash call. I was poking around in the storage room as I often do, and I forget what I was even looking for. Among the things I found, however, was this old tape from my high school days. Appropriately labeled, this tape contains a recording of when I won the Cash Call on Y-93 one morning during my sophomore year.

The way it worked was: they’d pick a dollar amount, always with 93 cents, and announce it periodically throughout the day. Then at 5:30 or so they’d pick a random number from the residential section of the phone book. If you were the lucky recipient of a call and could tell them the correct amount, you’d win it! They’d do the same thing through the evening with a winning call made early in the morning. That’s when Bob called me. He woke me up, but I was a faithful winner and blurted out the correct amount.

One other thing they would do is record the call and use it to promote the next Cash Call in a promo later in the day. I had a boom box ( in those days we called ’em “ghetto blasters” ) handy and was able to record the promo of the call that Bruce Elscott played in the afternoon. Wanna listen?

Click here to play the Cash Call and hear my groggy teenage voice (it will open in a new window and launch Windows Media Player).

I actually did pretty well on Y-93 contests. I won tickets, a promo copy of the Miami Vice Soundtrack on vinyl, the aforementioned Cash Call, etc. The winning stopped when I joined the Meyer Broadcasting team in 1990, though. I’m not sure if they were even doing the Cash Call at that point, but I was ineligible for any of the contests on any of the stations.

I still see Bob Beck, Loren Gray, and my other radio friends Brian ( “B-Man” ) and Crystal Reeves every now and then. Bob’s an avid motorcyclist, by the way, and the only guy I know who’s had a run-in with a buffalo with his Harley and lived. It’s fun to refer back to the good old days of the Meyer empire…but I think we’re all doing pretty well for ourselves these days too. And the $109.93? I did what any 15 year old kid would do: I spent most of it on my girlfriend and wasted the rest.

EDIT: I forgot to mention my “other” radio friends – Jason Hulm, Phil Parker, Mark Armstrong, Sid Hardt, Al Gustin… since I was in the mindset of “DJs” I overlooked these guys. Not that there’s anything wrong with being “just” a DJ. Oh heck, now I’ve dug myself ANOTHER hole… I love all you guys, okay? I’m just kinda scatterbrained, I guess.
🙂

A sudden a-ha! Planet Da Da

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I would be somewhere between impressed and astonished if you could tell me what song’s lyrics inspired the title of this post. That’s without using a search engine, of course!

The sudden “a-ha!” came last night when I walked past a distribution box for the Dakota Beacon magazine and noticed that my favorite father & son moment was portrayed on the cover. This photo was taken one evening when little PJ and I parked ourselves on the hill behind the University of Mary and watched the sunset unfold. I had set up the camera behind us with a timer, and was able to catch a few shots of this quality time with my boy.

Helpful guys have given me advice on fatherhood since long before I actually became a dad. I’ve filed it all upstairs, and so far I haven’t had any bad advice. All the corny things that guys have told me about “once they’re born, you’re never the same” or “they’ll change you…they’re a ton of work, but they’re worth every bit of it” have been absolutely true. Advice like this came from clients, casual acquaintances, close friends, and family. Apparently the guys I know take fatherhood seriously enough that they only dispense the best of their knowledge to a father-to-be. I’m forever grateful for their help.

The one piece of advice that touched me the most came from the Beacon’s publisher, Steve Cates. He lost a son in a car crash a while back and told me that there isn’t anything he wouldn’t give to have more time with his son. He told me to cherish every moment with my boy (I only had one at that time) and always make time for him. That really left an impression with me, and I’ve done my best to make sure that I don’t deprive my boys of time with Daddy. It’s so easy for a guy like me to work my tail off on something that “needs to get done” and let time sneak past. Thanks to Steve’s guidance, I’m on guard for that sort of thing.

So far this morning I’ve been back and forth between my two boys. I got to cuddle with Jonathan this morning while his big brother was still asleep, and then after I fed PJ his scrambled eggs I wrestled him over to the couch to watch a few minutes of cartoons. Then I showed him my aquarium screen saver and gave him my big keyring to play with, and he scampered off to explore the house with mommy. Now I’m calming down a fussy two-month-old Jonathan, and just got him relaxed in the crib. Yeah…it IS hard work, but the most rewarding job a guy could have.

PJ’s only one year old and already has his first magazine cover! I’ll have to make sure to give it to his mommy to put in his scrapbook. Cover photo or not, I’m just joyful to have a father-son moment like that eternally preserved in one of my favorite photos ever.