Monthly Archives: November 2006

Conrad and Dorgan: Dakotans in Name Only (DINOs)?

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This inconspicuous little pair of buildings at the corner of Central Avenue and Constitution Drive has a distinctive quality: it’s the “home” of both of North Dakota’s US Senators. Or is it?

When I lived here, the nice lady who managed the property told me that these buildings are owned by “the Senator’s brother.” I originally understood that to mean Byron Dorgan’s brother because he’s the Senator that “lived” in my building, but further investigation at the County Records room showed me that the Conrad Brothers owned it. They filed a Quit Claim Deed in 2004 to form an LLC titled “GKC Apartments, LLC.” I assume GKC stands for Gaylord Kent Conrad, which is Kent’s real full name. So, apparently Senator Conrad has some ownership in these two buildings…and does his fellow Senator a favor by providing him a nominal North Dakota address as well.

Like I said, I used to live in one of these apartment buildings, and rather enjoyed my time there. One thing I never saw, however, is either of our esteemed Senators in the building. I’m not saying they were never there, but in the time I lived there I never saw them. I hardly think that this is where a United States Senator would live. That raises the question: are they really North Dakota residents, or just DINOs, Dakotans in Name Only?

In the building where I lived, mailbox #6 is reserved for “Sen. Byron and Kim Dorgan.” I did a lot of laundry out in the hallway, and spent a lot of time running out to my garage and back while wrenching on the motorcycles. I would have recalled passing a United States Senator in the hallway, or perhaps seeing his wife doing a load of the whites in those dependable washers & dryers in the hallway. Sadly, I don’t recall a single instance of either.

There is a mailbox in the adjoining building, reserved in for “Senator Kent Conrad & Lucy Calauitti.” While I wasn’t in the same building as Senator Conrad or Lucy, I never saw either of them near the buildings or in the enclosed parking lot, either. Perhaps I was just inattentive, I don’t know.

Scooter and I were wondering if perhaps the Senators had the same lovely olive green appliances etc. that the rest of us plebes had? I don’t mean to engage in class warfare or anything…I just thought it might be an interesting. As you can see, Scooter was rather fond of my green stove, and if the bird of the house is happy, everyone’s happy.

I’ve often thought of North Dakota’s senatorial delegation as Dakotans In Name Only, regardless of where they claim to live. When you examine the voting records of these Senators, you see that:

– Senator Conrad voted the same as Ted Kennedy 96.4% of the time, John Kerry 87.5% of the time, and Chuck Schumer 87.9% of the time.

– Senatord Dorgan voted the same as Kennedy 92.9% of the time, Kerry 84.4% of the time, and Schumer 87.9% of the time.

– Americans for Democratic Action, a group that claims to be America’s oldest liberal lobbying organization, rated Dorgan 95 out of 100 and Conrad 90 out of 100. Kennedy, Kerry, and Schumer all got 100s.

Maybe someone can shed some light on their actual residence. If these are just convenient places to “hang out” while back in ND on business, and not their residences, then I stand corrected. But would they list their wives’ names on the mailbox of such a place? Doubtful. Rather, I’d think that they would leave their names off the mailboxes entirely for privacy. In this case I think it appears as a thinly veiled attempt to maintain North Dakota residency on paper while living it up in Washington…in the company, I remind you, of east coast liberals with whom they vote the vast majority of the time.

I’m not typically in the business of political blogging, but the US Senate is where the playing field is even for North Dakotans. If North Dakotans vote to continue sending a couple of east coast liberals out there to fight for our interests, we’re doing our state a disservice. (I didn’t vote for either of these two when I voted early last week – scroll down a few posts). The only time I ever see either of these two guys is when they fly back to scare the pants off of old people and farmers. I’d like to see them lose their bid for re-election, and see how long they live at the corner of Central Avenue and Constitution Drive.

Fire in the Sky

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No, this isn’t the “All Sunsets, All the Time” blog. In fact, if I’d known that the sky was going to be so spectacular tonight, I wouldn’t have hiked myself silly for the sunset yesterday (see below)!

I left work late again tonight. Yeah, I know…it’s a disorder. But as I left, I noticed that the gray sky was remarkably colorful to the west. In fact, I pulled over and took a couple of pictures from east of the “big hill” before coming into town. I was surprised that the color stayed in the sky so long…long enough, in fact, for me to go up to the top of Hillside Park. That’s where I got these photos.

I took a bunch, but these are my favorite two. This is from the more vivid part of the sunset, before the light began to wane. As always, I’d like to stress that this is straight out of the camera. It was resized, but not retouched. I didn’t brighten it, darken it, or add more color to it. This is God’s work…ain’t it something?

I think the spectacular sunsets of November come from the shallow angle of the sun in relation to the horizon. I don’t know all the technical jargon, but that’s my primitive understanding. Much of the color comes from the light bouncing off the distant horizon, hitting the clouds over us. Once it begins to pass completely past that distant horizon, the colors start to shrink away from us:

Here you can see some of the purple easing into the clouds as the reds retreat. I stood, shivering, atop the water tower and watched as the colors bled from the clouds (I know it’s underground…I still call it a water tower). The harsh red light narrowed at the edge of the visible world, and it wasn’t long before the sun was gone…no doubt giving a remarkable red sunset view to someone in the Mountain Time Zone. That’s okay…I got mine.

Thursday night blockhouses

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This post contains the return of the Thursday Night Sunset series, a morality tale, and a fitness report. What a treat, huh?

We’ve had some vivid, dramatic sunsets lately, but I haven’t been in much of a position to capture them due to working late and extracurricular activities. Tonight, now that the skies have cleared, I was determined to get a nice shot of the sunset. I headed to Mandan with hopes of one of the Fort Lincoln blockhouses as a foreground. It sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?

I was in a bit of a hurry to scurry to Mandan, but I needed cash for the five dollar gate fee at Fort Lincoln. As luck would have it, I just got my paycheck from the city (yeah, I seem to work EVERYWHERE). After a quick stop at the bank drive-up I bolted to Fort Lincoln. I grabbed my entry fee envelope with the intent to pay on my way out; the sun was setting quickly, so I needed every spare second.

I zoomed up to the road which leads to the forts, only to find the gates locked! There was a sign saying “These gates closed after dark” but it was hardly anywhere NEAR dark. No problem, right? All I have to do is sprint up the hill…remember, time’s a-wasting!

I bet I panted for ten minutes after I finally reached the top of the hill, due to my lack of exercise and Fort Lincoln’s lack of an established trail. I wasn’t disappointed by the sunset; a really dramatic sunset needs a few more clouds than we had, but this one certainly had no shortage of color.

I hung out for a little bit longer; I was dressed warmly, there were deer and geese hanging out in the area, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a long hike down the hill in the dark. I’ve made that hike before, and there are a LOT of noises in those trees! So I swung the camera around and took a few more shots, like this one:

The moon was nearly full, the geese were honking, my shutter was snapping. It was actually quite a nice night, even the dark walk back to the truck. That’s where the morality tale waited for me: as I put the gear in the truck and got ready to leave the park, that envelope for the park fee got my attention.

As a dissatisfied customer, I didn’t feel like sticking a fiver in that thing and putting it in the slot back at the unmanned fee station. Nobody would know, and I certainly did NOT feel like I got my five bucks’ worth. But was that really my call to make?

The Christian in me took over, fortunately. I’d pay it on my way out of the park as I’d originally planned. I turned my fuming into fun, jokingly assessing blame to Tracy Potter and thinking, “now there’s another good reason not to vote for him!” Besides, I did come down the hill with some pretty decent pictures.

After I put my five bucks in the slot at the fee station, I left the park with a clear conscience. It wouldn’t hurt for me to exercise more often…then I might even relish a hectic hike to beat the sunset. I’ve learned my lesson, though; I’ll hike in from the walking trail to the north, where it’s free.

Vote early, not often

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I have been eagerly awaiting Election Day for some time now, but I received the news that I’d be behind a camera for that entire day…so what do I do? Vote early, of course! Having been on the team for those election videos earlier this year, I remembered that I could get an absentee ballot and vote early.

A quick trip to the Burleigh County Auditor’s Office, located on the first floor of the City/County Office Building on 5th Street, provided me with the opportunity to vote my absentee ballot right away. They have a few poll booths set up along the wall for voters who want to vote right away, or you can take your absentee ballot with you and mail it in. I chose to vote right away.

I had to show my ID. I mention this because Kristin Hedger, the woefully misguided candidate for Secretary of State, made such a big stink about it. Without my ID it would not have been possible to know which precinct ballot I should get, for instance…because my ID has proof of my residential address on it. By the way, have you ever wondered why the Democrats don’t challenge the ID requirement here? Is it because we don’t have enough illegals here to make a difference in their favor?

Anyway, I had a happy and easy voting experience. As a Bismarck citizen I reside in District 35, so I made sure NOT to vote for Ryan Gustafson. He’s the one who claimed on the Flickertail Journal blog that Dakotans who oppose abortion are like the Taliban:

“Here’s an idea for a bill for South Dakota: women must wear long, feature-less robes and cover their faces, except for their eyes. They must be accompanied by a male relative at all times outside the house. This way, we can make sure women aren’t going around asking to be raped (because it’s obviously their own fault for getting pregnant – the man who did the deed was just being one of the boys, right?). “(link)

He runs the Flickertail Journal blog along with a guy named Brad Mills, who had this to say about his fellow North Dakotans:

“Plain and simple, the culture in North Dakota is racist, bigoted, repressive, backwards and ultraconservative to the point to where it makes most moderate and liberal people just want to get the hell out of here as soon as they possibly can.”(link)

Obviously I won’t be voting for Mr. Gustafson in this lifetime! I suggest two things: that you don’t vote for him either, and that you tell as many Bismarck voters about this nonsense as you can.

One other thing: Measure #1. What is it, you ask? I don’t know! Yes, I’m ashamed to say it: this one snuck up on me. I was well aware of the Shared Parenting initiative and the Property Rights measures on the ballot, but Measure #1 blindsided me. It apparently deals with trust funds, their distributions, and their administration. Because it proposes an amendment to the state constitution, I had to vote no. I can’t approve a constitutional amendment without knowing the facts. I dropped the ball as an informed voter on that one. You can see the whole text of Measure #1 here (PDF).

If you need to vote early, contact your county auditor’s office. In Burleigh County, it was quick and easy…I’m sure it’ll be the same elsewhere. The only downer is that I did NOT get one of those little “I Voted” stickers – the image above is from the June Primary. But I’m happy to report that county officials are at work to make sure that you can vote if you find yourself unable to make it on election day.