My suggestion for a new UND logo and mascot

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The UND Fighting Sioux nickname appears to be on its way out the door, with a bunch of unelected government bureaucrats voting to change the “hostile” and “abusive” team name of the UND Fighting Sioux to placate a few busybody liberals.

Members of various Sioux tribes have voiced their support for the nickname and logo, with one tribe even putting it to a popular vote in which the logo won. Of course, the liberal activists blamed the victory on “uneducated” Native Americans, whatever that’s supposed to mean. Condescension, anyone? This is what happens when “people of color” don’t understand the do-goodyness of busybody liberals…the way these people are looked down upon by said liberals accidentally sneaks out.

I have even seen a photo on the news from when the school first adopted the Fighting Sioux nickname. Members of the tribe were present, proudly, adorned in ceremonial clothing. It was an honorable event.

While the reservations face epidemic suicide, meth and alcohol abuse, and sexually transmitted disease problems, they instead resort to fighting amongst themselves about a nickname and logo which most like. Besides, I’m willing to bet that most people who don’t like the UND Fighting Sioux nickname and are fighting for its demise have never set foot on a reservation. This is just more Political Correctness run amok. You want a target then, folks? Just let us make a few subtle tweaks to our mascot and then you can let your hatred fly:

This is my (poorly drawn due to haste) rendition of the logo for the UND Valiant White Men. We’re proud of our heritage and our perseverence as we, men and women of German, Norwegian, Slavic, and other descent made a home for ourselves here on the rugged Plains. To show our respect for such a hard-working people, we should honor them by choosing our team name/logo/mascot in their honor. We could even commission an authentic white artist to design the logo; after all, it was a Native American artist who designed the “hostile and abusive” logo used by UND.

Of course, nothing could be more “hostile” and “abusive” to the PC crowd than a white guy. See, for so long it’s only been the Native American crowd, or at least vocal activists fighting in their name, who have been granted the ability to take potshots at the University (which thought it was making a gesture of respect by choosing the name Fighting Sioux). This way, EVERY minority can slap on their Victim uniform, march in unison, and rally against the evil aggressor, the oppressive white heterosexual Christian male. Join the fun, gang! It’s open season!

Personally, I agree with the people interviewed on the evening news a long time ago who said “let’s keep the nickname and the logo, and who cares if we host postseason play.” Tell the NCAA to get bent, kick butt in hockey, and fight for what we believe in.

And while we’re on the subject, maybe you would like to click here and see the DOZENS of programs that “hostile” and “abusive” University offers for Native American students. Recruitment programs. Retention programs. Incentives. Organizations. Publications. I have a friend who’s 100% Native American who went through the INMED program at UND, which helped him tremendously due to his race and afforded him opportunities he’d never have had otherwise. So let’s not make this the case of the Evil Big Bad University vs. the Poor Victimized Native Community.

If the name and logo go, let’s pull the plug on these special favors with it (in the name of equality and race neutrality, of course)! Sure, they do a lot of good and are worthy programs, but we don’t dare put the interests of one race ahead of any others…if that’s what we’re told we’re doing and must stop with the Fighting Sioux nickname, then certainly we can’t do it with something more important like higher education!

Thanks to Claus Lembke for being the sole voice of reason on the Board in this matter. Sadly, nobody else had the sack to stand up and second his motion to reconsider.

Update: Oh yeah…got called a “racist” already before 8am, by somebody IN MINNESOTA! This is NOT about race. It’s about a bunch of “Politically Correct” liberals with an agenda. I’ve got friends and family of a variety of races and I don’t think of them as “this ethnic group or that.” We’re all just people…and yes, we’re all different! That’s what makes it interesting. Didn’t Martin Luther King, Jr. have a dream about a day when people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character? As long as race continues to be an industry, a tool of intimidation by self-proclaimed “compassionate” liberals, Dr. King’s dream is a distant reality…if not altogether fantasy.

Grave matters

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With the snow receding, interesting markers like this are beginning to surface. I spotted this one northwest of Mandan at the diminutive Yucca Cemetery along Highway 25. There are a couple of these staring skyward in silent anonymity.

This is part of a rather creepy looking Masonic-themed marker at the abandoned Greenwood Cemetery near my old stompin’ grounds south of Mandan. When I was a kid there were some even weirder markers that seem to have disappeared over time. Then there was the discovery of over forty unmarked graves in that area a couple of years ago, a fact which was kept quiet by local media to discourage grave robbers until things could be moved.

Did you know there are a couple of very old grave markers, probably among the area’s oldest, right along Sibley Drive in south Bismarck?

Somebody had a fun idea this weekend

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It even survived the warm Saturday…until some jerk knocked it over! Naturally I don’t consider this weekend’s holiday to be “Easter” or bunny season, since Sunday for me is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. This is pretty cool, though, and someone went through a lot of work!

This one across the intersection looks like it took a lot more sun in the face. Valiant efforts nonetheless.

Yeah, the power might be out for a while

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This is the spot where the power line fell on Highway 83 on Friday. As you can see, the tower has been repaired somewhat and reinforced with guy wires. There are at least a half dozen more of these that need to be fixed on the way to Baldwin. Things are a lot worse west of Mandan, however.

Normally those really big power line towers, the ones that resemble stick figures to a degree, are an adversary to a North Dakota photographer like myself. I’ve always been fascinated with them, just not when they’re in the way of a landscape photo or sunset or something like that. In this case, I ran around a little bit to see them twisted into contorted shapes that convey the force wielded by that ice and snow.

These towers are down from Crown Butte westward for at least a mile or two. I can’t imagine how much fun it’s going to be to replace them on soggy ground. The metal is so fatigued and twisted that they’ll simply have to be replaced. Only the concrete footings look salvageable to an untrained observer like me. Even the insulators are damaged on many of them.

Of course, in the process of satisfying my curiosity regarding these giant steel behemoths and their untimely demise, I have to get all artsy about it with my camera. Would you expect any less?

I saw a lot of crews working and a lot of utility trucks driving today as I poked around the outskirts of town. These crews are going to be the heroes of the day as they gradually restore power to more and more customers. Then we’ll be ready for tornado season! Shhh.

More photos from the Baldwin area can be found here.

Somebody’s going to have a busy Easter weekend

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As you may have heard, Highway 83 is closed due to a downed power line crossing the highway. Crews there have a very big job ahead of them, as the towers holding these power lines are in very bad shape…and not terribly accessible, either. We went from sunny 70s earlier this week to blustery blizzard conditions, dumping more precipitation than we usually get in the entire month of April over the course of a single day! Of course, heavy slush and snow like that put an incredible strain on suspended power and phone lines.

I imagine a tower like this is going to be very difficult to repair, since the metal structure is torn and mangled. I counted about a half dozen of these damaged towers between Highway 83 and Baldwin.

There were some smaller lines running along the road into Baldwin that were down as well, with five or more poles laying in the ditch. Others, like this one, were merely broken.

This looks like an easy fix compared to the rest of the damage I saw! At least the pole is intact.

Here’s the beginning of the fallen poles, which were laying in the frozen ditch. The slush had frozen so hard that I was able to walk on top of it. For some shots I took throughout the morning, I walked an eighth mile or so down a section line road, and didn’t even get my tennis shoes wet. Local residents had parked along the road and hiked down their driveways.

One of five poles laying in the ditch. Some poles were either broken or ripped out of the ground but the wires looked intact.

I wondered how the Regan wind farm fared through all this and, from this vantage point, everything looked intact. Naturally none of the turbines were turning. Wind power is the most expensive power you can attempt to generate except perhaps solar, and it’s very unpredictable. Plus it puts rabid environmentalists in a quandary, since the blades kill birds.

Of course I had to get a windmill in there somewhere! This is pretty much in someone’s back yard. All of the metal towers I saw that were down were in the middle of a field or other location far from the roads. When I arrived a crew was using tracked skidsteers to clear a path to the towers. I stayed for a little while, which accounts for the change in sky color between some of these shots.

Here the crews are preparing to work on the first tower east of Highway 83. I think they had already made repairs to a tower on the west side, but I’m not positive on that. Once this one is fixed, I think they can open the highway (which may have already happened as I type this).

I didn’t stay to see any of the repair work, since I’m busy and it was likely to be a slow process. I left about the same time as the KX News van, except I got in the southbound lane to go back to Bismarck. They drove down the northbound lane, straight into oncoming traffic, before catching their mistake and doing a quick u-turn. Oops!

I’m told there are similar situations like this all around our area. I have friends south of Lincoln who are borrowing one of my generators right now. I’m told that lines are down from Mandan to Flasher as well, and friends of mine north of Mandan got their power restored yesterday evening. Thankfully it isn’t sub-zero now, too! Hopefully the warm temperatures will resume quickly and we can proceed to Spring.

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.

Big Labor unions plan to fake a support rally for Democrats today

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My buddy Rob pointed out this morning that, at the last minute, an organization called “ND Change That Works” is putting on a rally to support the Democrats who voted for unconstitutionally seizing control of your health care decisions. But who exactly is “ND Change that Works” anyway? Well, read the sign above: it’s a union front group.

As usual, when I post something on here I back it up. I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Besides, I love showing the KFYRs, KXMBs, Forums, and Tribunes how easy it is to get the real story behind this stuff; obviously journalism schools aren’t teaching anything but liberal activism these days. Here’s the “Change that Works” page on the SEIU union’s website.

The radical left fears average Americans. They’re even more freaked out now that those of us who’d rather live our lives and work our jobs are out protesting…that’s their gig! They’ve screwed up badly enough to get normal, everyday citizens involved in opposition against them, and they’re on the run. That’s why they have to fake this “rally” today, staffed with union labor. I imagine, since the union helped drive hundreds of Bobcat jobs out of North Dakota, that there should be plenty of union labor available to attend.

The timing of this is interesting, too; since most North Dakotans who have attended rallies, town halls, and protests have jobs, they’re unable to suddenly drop everything and head to Fargo to put on a counter-protest. The SEIU union thugs want to have a media event that goes unimpeded, so the KFYRs and KXMBs and the like will put pictures of a large group of “supporters” on your TV screens. It’s all a lie, folks. Remember who you’re dealing with.

The coolest “Mustang with a Geo Metro engine” you’ll find

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This beautiful specimen of aircraft is a homebuilt replica of a P-51 Mustang. It’s not a shiny metal-skinned plane, and it’s certainly much smaller, but it sure is sweet looking. The builder paid a lot of attention to detail!

As you see from the side, this tiny little one-seater is pretty compact, with clean lines and a nice gray and black paint job.

The biggest surprise: Inside the nose sits a three-cylinder engine from a Geo Metro! I’m pretty sure that fact makes this the only Geo-powered “Mustang” in existence.

Beautiful. This plane looks graceful even while tethered to the tarmac.

I didn’t have time to hang around for some aerial shots, but had just enough to time to work some angles and thank the owner. I also didn’t want to be too big an interruption to the EAA meeting.

Now if only there were some real machine gun controls in here… 🙂 It’s a tight fit but it looks like the canopy offers amazing visibility.

Nice tail. Again I just have to admire the craftsmanship. It’s no surprise; I run into plenty of North Dakotans who display remarkable ingenuity as inventors and artisans.

One last beauty shot before I said my goodbyes and hopped back in the truck. I had an appointment to make, so I was unable to spend more time looking at and photographing this work of airborne art.

Welcome (back) to Bismarck. Restrictions in effect. Only one catch: you may have to guess what they are

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It’s that time of year again: the ubiquitous “Restrictions in Effect” signs are popping up around the periphery of Bismarck. Restrictions of what nature, you ask? If your only source of information is these signs, I suppose it’s anyone’s guess.

I saw these signs go up two years ago and thought they were pretty funny. Obviously it’s because of the load restrictions on Bismarck roads, which I heard about on the radio, but the signs are vague enough to omit that detail. It’s only after someone figured out what was missing and wedged a little “Load” in there that the signs made sense:

This is how the corrected signs looked last year. I was actually surprised to find an unmodified one posted up along Divide Avenue this afternoon. The top two pictures are from today, the bottom picture from last year. As you can see in this post from last March, I was almost second-guessing whether I’d even seen the signs without the word “Load” inserted. Today’s sighting of one of the original signs is a bit of a vindication, I suppose. Now someone’s going to have to dash up to Divide Avenue with another “Load” sticker!

UPDATED: A little infographic for the weekend, in light of those union banner ads

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If you’re like me, and run a very robust ad blocker, you haven’t seen the ads praising Earl Pomeroy which are being run by the SEIU labor union. I was tipped off by Rob over at SayAnythingBlog.com, actually. I thought it was very telling, since they’ve been bankrolling Earl Pomeroy for seventeen years.

The fact of the matter is, the labor unions are happy because they’re getting what they paid for. They want liberal lapdog politicians, and they pay top dollar for them. Earl Pomeroy has shown that he is no different.

Congressman Pomeroy, how can you claim to be a representative of North Dakota when you let the labor unions pull your strings? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only SIX PERCENT of your constituents belong to unions. In addition, according to the union members I’ve talked to, few of them like the direction you Democrats are taking this nation! Only about 28% of North Dakotans favored this legislation, which means that as a “representative” you should not have voted for it. Thank you for showing us who you really represent.

Just like when the union lackeys tried to overrun the Honk NO rally at the Federal Building a while back, Big Labor is showing its true colors. They and their liberal political allies are crawling out from under their rocks and being bold in their agendas at just the right time, when a vast number of otherwise disinterested Americans have grown outraged and decided to enter the political arena. Good. Be as liberal as you guys can be, folks…and show people once and for all what you’re about. It will have certain repercussions at the ballot box, which even ACORN-style ballot stuffing won’t be able to stop.

UPDATED 3/30/2010: According to this Politico article, the unions are dumping $700,000 into advertising for Earl Pomeroy and his Democrat cronies! I wonder if he’ll condemn this use of “out of state money” like he did when he whined to KXMB last November?