“Expert” claims that Minot AFB nuke mishandling is part of something bigger

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Tonight I was driving home when I decided to check out what local radio had to offer. KFYR had Coast to Coast AM on, as usual. I’m sure it’s a big hit with local Ron Paul supporters! Anyway, there was a fella by the name of Charles Ostman who theorized that the mishandling of nukes from Minot AFB was part of a “False Flag” operation or other surreptitious activity. He’s trying to tie such a theory to Iran’s nuke program and the latest National Intelligence Briefing. I listened for a few minutes, in which I heard a couple of things that blew this guy’s credibility:

1- He pronounced Minot with a short i, as in “minnow.” For a guy who claims to have all kinds of knowledge about nuclear weapons handling, you’d think he would know how to pronounce the name of an Air Force Base that has been a critical part of our nation’s defenses for fifty years.

2- He claimed that the NIE is available for anyone to read. The last I heard, the full text of the NIE is available only to someone with the proper clearance, or a congressman serving on the appropriate committee. There are in some cases declassified “versions” of NIEs, or summaries that are public record; but by no means does an NIE lay all our cards out on the table for anyone to read.

Aside from having the worst web page I’ve seen in recent memory (heck, the conference links are five years old), I see nothing to indicate that this guy has the slightest bit of credibility whatsoever. It’s bad enough that such a serious lack of protocol took place at MAFB, but for the conspiracy theorists to have fun with it doesn’t help. Fortunately they only appear after midnight, where they belong.

What was YOUR turkey doing on Thanksgiving Day?

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Probably not the same as this turkey, who was having a feast of its own. One blessing about being southwest of Bismarck is all the wildlife. There are the herons that drive me nuts when I try to get close enough to photograph them; the turtles that do the same; the deer and pheasants that don’t seem too worried about my presence; and the turkeys that act like they own the place. This would be one of the latter.

This particular flock was just hanging out, with only one ambitious bird willing to flutter up into the trees for the really good eatin’. The rest were content to just peck around in the yard. Then they noticed some crazy guy with a telephoto lens trying to get a better angle. That resulted in a mass turkey exodus. Having spoiled their dinner, I took off to enjoy one of my own, provided by my mom! Since we were barely home from the hospital (due to the birth of little Jonathan), she was gracious enough to provide us with an amazing Thanksgiving dinner while my wife took care of the newborn.

I know it’s December, and Thanksgiving day is a distant memory with the Christmas season in full swing, but I caught myself thinking about the sight of such a dorky bird as it lurched itself up into the tree. That’s a story that begs to be shared!

Cycle Hutt Christmas Tree contest! Visit in person, vote online

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Justin and Tammy, owners of KTM Cycle Hutt in Mandan, decided to have a contest to help boost the Christmas spirit around the shop. Here’s what they told me by email:

As part of Mandan’s Holiday Shop Hop, KTM Cycle Hutt offered a challenge to their 16 employees: decorate the best tree and win $1,000 in cash; 2nd place $500; 3rd place $100.

To jump-start the decorating frenzy, each employee was given $250. The 16 uniquely decorated Christmas trees will be on display from December 2nd through December 28th outside KTM Cycle Hutt located on the Strip in Mandan (3700 Memorial Highway).

Drive by to view the colorfully lit Christmas trees during this holiday season. If you would like to vote for your favorite Christmas tree visit www.cyclehutt.com or stop in the dealership 9 am to 9 pm weekdays, Saturday 9 am to 1 pm. through December 20th. For 2008 KTM Cycle Hutt will allow non-employee Christmas tree entries.

I stopped by to visit Justin and Tammy and take some pictures, since the trees are located strategically around their giant parking lot. I thought I had a favorite tree, but I have to admit I’m stuck on two. This one depicts a motorcycle crash, one of my favorite pasttimes! There are wheels lying at the base, with fenders sticking out and even a helmet. Very cool!

This fishing tree is pretty sweet too. Note the frozen fish dangling from the arm of the chair! I don’t know where the bobber came from, but that’s pretty impressive as well. Very well done.

You can visit Cycle Hutt on the strip in Mandan. You can’t miss the trees, which are positioned around the lot. When you drive through, please stop to take a close look at all the trees; there are some pretty cool items hanging in them to complete each tree’s theme! When you find a favorite, don’t forget to vote. Click here to vote online for your favorite tree at KTM’s “ndracing.com” website.

A Christmas display that can be seen from space: the Schaff residence

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Clark W. Griswold would be green with envy. I have featured the Paul Schaaf residence before on this blog, and I’m proud to do so again. It’s a fabulous sight to see. Of course, any home can be seen from orbit, but it’s fun to joke that perhaps this one could be seen without fancy satellite imagers!

Mr. Schaaf was featured on the PH Phactor last year and had a lot of interesting things to say about his display. He’s retired, if I remember correctly, and devotes a lot of time to putting up this display. As you can see from this photo of the backyard, his house is visible long before you arrive at his driveway on West View Place in Mandan. This photo was taken from 8th Avenue Southeast.

If you want to see this house, simply look southwest from any high ground in Bismarck-Mandan. Seriously, though…simply cross the river and take the first right. Stay on this road until you reach the Fort Lincoln school. Continue to go straight from the 4-way stop there, and you can see the house to your right. From there I forget the exact turn to take, but I think it’s the third turn on the right. You’ll figure it out. If you get lost, you can always look for the glow!

Christmas Capitol

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All is right with the world. The “skyscraper of the prairie” is decorated with its windows tinted and stars lit atop the roof…and now there’s snow on the lawn! Perfect. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

With the NWS forecasting temperatures around 30 for the next couple of days, with the strong possibility of freezing rain, I really hope our cities can keep their white blanket intact. A white Christmas is the only kind of Christmas for this guy!

Something wrong with the Beacon?

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I guess I’m going to have to ask around. The past few evenings I’ve noticed that the Weather Beacon is dark. Hopefully it’s not in need of another costly major repair!

I have the honor of having been one of the folks charged with changing the color of the Weather Beacon to reflect the current forecast. In the 1990s when I worked in Master Control at KFYR-TV, the switch box for the Beacon was right behind where I sat at the control board. There were six clunky push buttons on the box, one for each permutation: red, flashing red, white, flashing white, green, and flashing green. The program log for KFYR-TV had occasional reminders throughout the day/night to check the Beacon.

Later on I heard that the control reverted to KFYR radio, and I think there was a span in there where nobody was really controlling it. I think each station thought the other was doing it! That would have been around the time that the radio stations’ headquarters moved out of the Meyer buildings.

I also got to help Save the Beacon back in the 90’s too, as KFYR’s webmaster, but that’s a story for another time.

Senator Conrad sends me a letter admitting he’s a puppet of the DNC

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A while back there was a big controversy about a letter from 41 US Senators to put pressure one Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show host who used the term “phony soldiers” on the air one day. It was in reference to people like Jesse Al-Said, AKA Jesse MacBeth, who claimed to have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, witnessing atrocities committed by US soldiers, but who actually lied about their service in the US military.

North Dakota’s delegation to the Senate signed a letter to the CEO of Clear Channel, the syndication partner of Limbaugh’s show, attempting to pressure Clear Channel to influence what Limbaugh says on the air. Doesn’t that fly right in the face of the first amendment? Here we have nearly half the Senate, acting in official capacity, attempting to influence political speech by a private citizen by bringing the presence of the US Senate to bear. This is precisely the kind of thing that the Constitution prohibits!

I don’t care if it’s Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken on the receiving end of this letter, it’s an affront to the idea of free speech in this country. And who’s jumped on board like the good little lap dogs we know them to be? Conrad and Dorgan. And you can bet they didn’t do it because North Dakotans were flooding them with complaints about Rush Limbaugh.

I wrote a letter outlining the points above, because I believe in free political and religious speech. I want to beat the crap out of anyone I see burning a flag, but I won’t…in fact, I believe it’s their right under our nation’s Constitution. I think most liberal talk show hosts are out of their skulls, but I defend their right to spout their lunacy for their dozens of listeners. So my motivation in going after our Senators is not conservative vs. liberal. It’s simply a free speech issue.

Back to Gaylord’s return letter to me. He states “I do not know what Mr. Limbaugh was thinking when he uttered the words “phony soldiers.” Okay, Senator Conrad…if you didn’t know, then why would you enter some very frightening territory, constitutionally speaking, attempting to influence political speech by using the power of the Senate as a bludgeoning tool? Because the national Democrat Party told you to, I’m sure.

Rather than behaving like a North Dakotan, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan showed their true colors and act like east coast liberals. Maybe that way they’ll continue to get the support of the DNC to keep their Senate seats. In the mean time, this Congress has accomplished pretty much nothing while wasting its efforts on trampling the Constitution for political gain.

Why do people continue to vote for these idiots? Haven’t they run out of farmers and senior citizens to scare into voting Democrat?

New Beacon

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This month’s Dakota Beacon looks promising, starting with the cover! Just kidding…the photo chosen by the publisher for this month’s issue comes from my “Occident by Accident” post from late September. But it really does look like there are a lot of interesting articles featured this month.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Beacon, you can find a FREE trial issue at many gas stations, the Donut Hole, Denny’s, and various dispenser boxes around town. You owe it to yourself to take one and give it a good read. I’m always eager to see the offerings of various North Dakota authors as well as some nationally syndicated columnists.

Of course, I must suggest that you subscribe if you like it. Sure, there are trial issues available every month, but putting out a magazine isn’t free. I suggest sending publisher Steve Cates the meager subscription fee to help him keep the Beacon running. I do!

Keep an eye on the capitol building this week

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While driving up 9th Street tonight I noticed a little hint of color to the state capitol building. Eager as I am for the Christmas mood to permeate our fair cities, I had hoped that the capitol’s Christmas window scheme would appear the day after Thanksgiving. When that hope was unanswered, I figured December 1st would be a likely day for some guy to pull the red and green shades down in certain windows and the stars atop the building to be lit. Maybe it’ll happen earlier.

As you can see in these photos, some of the windows in the front and back of the capitol building have their Christmas colors already. Does that mean that someone was going from floor to floor, pulling the required shades to form the Christmas tree in the capitol windows? I sure hope so. If it isn’t in progress now, I presume the day is just around the corner.