Say Anything Blog

For the last week or so Democrats have been roundly criticizing the state Republicans for taking a trip to Antigua to discuss trade relations and internet gambling, a trip that was paid for by the Antiguan government.

Now, however, state Democrats are taking a trip of their own. To Cuba. And who is picking up the tab for this trip?

North Dakota taxpayers.

Fargo Forum - North Dakota Republican legislators who took a trip to Antigua early this month, paid for by the Antiguan government, pounced when they saw Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, a Democrat, announce he’s leading a trade trip to Cuba this week.

State Democrats have roundly criticized the Antigua trip, even though no law prohibits state officials from accepting gifts or trips from businesses, lobbyists or foreign governments.

Why doesn’t Johnson’s news release say who is paying for his Cuba trip? the Republicans asked.

We asked Johnson, who said the state Agriculture Department’s marketing budget is paying for the Cuba trip.

Democrats have blasted the Republicans and their Antigua trip as "pandering to foreign interests," among other things. Yet the Dems seem to have no problems making a similar trip themselves. The only difference is that they're going to bill the taxpayers for this trip. The Republican trip didn't cost taxpayers a nickle.

Also note the interesting way the Forum reports this story. When state Democrats "pounced" on the trip to Antigua it certainly wasn't reported that way by Janell Cole in the Forum. Janell reported the trip and then gave plenty of room for quotes from Democrats condemning the trip while giving the short end of the stick to the Republicans trying to defend their trip.

Now, when the roles are reversed, the story doesn't even merit it's own article and the Republicans are depicted as a bunch of back-biting malcontents.

A little balance from the Forum should would be nice.

BISMARCK - Oilmen have known for decades that a thin layer of dense rock nearly two miles beneath the surface in western North Dakota holds millions of barrels of oil.

Demand never had driven technology far enough to tap the "middle" Bakken Formation. Record oil prices changed that.

"We've known for 50 years the oil is there," said Donald Kessel, vice president of Houston-based Murex Petroleum Corp. "Technology is catching up to the point where you can make it economical."

By all accounts, however, the knowhow is nowhere near perfected on the middle Bakken.

"We are all like blind men feeling our way in the dark now," said Kessel, who holds an oil engineering degree from North Dakota State University.

This is how the free market works. Supply shortages drive up prices. Higher prices spark competition between suppliers who seek out ways to amp up production. Higher production procudes more supply which eventually brings prices back down.

They key is to keep the government out of this process as much as possible. When things like red tape, taxes and price controls are introduced it hampers the market's ability to adjust to supply shortages and high prices.

The solution to the petroleum problem in this country is to role back as much of the regulatory nonsense we have imposed on the market as we can and let the oil companies go about the business of finding oil, refining it and selling it to citizens.

Grand Forks Herald - It's been about 2 months since Grand Forks' smoking ban went into effect and, for businesses that expected to see the biggest impact, the record has been decidedly mixed.

Red Ray Lanes bowling alley, for example, actually might have gained a few customers because bowlers no longer have to put up with secondhand smoke, said owner Jim Flynn.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Bingo Palace is losing money. "Significant amounts of money," said Ron Gibbens, president of the North Dakota Association for the Disabled, which runs the bingo parlor. His customers have been heading to East Grand Forks to spend their money, he said.

The East Grand Forks City Council, however, is mulling a ban that, in some ways, would be less restrictive than Grand Forks'. The question is how many businesses will have the same experience as Red Ray Lanes and how many will experience what the Bingo Palace is going through.

Critics of this and other smoking bans could have warned people that this sort of thing was coming.

You know what would have been a better solution to this whole mess? No solution at all. If Red Ray Lanes can see a customer increase by banning smoking, then let that business institute its own ban. That way the people can, individually, make their own decision about smoking without having to create a sweeping ban that could negatively impact other businesses. If people want to be in the smoke (or don't mind it), they'll go to Red Ray Lanes. If they want out of it, they'll go somewhere else. Or they won't go at all.

This idea that it is the government's responsibility to protect people from something like second hand smoke is ridiculous. It is the people's responsibility to protect themselves from second hand smoke. Just as it is their responsibility to protect themselves from things like overeating or taking too many sleeping pills.

If enough people decide that they want to protect themselves from second hand smoke then businesses (bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, etc.) will adapt. They aren't going to let themselves be put out of business, so they'll figure out a way to cater to these people. But regardless of how these businesses handle the situation, what we cannot do is use the law to dictate whether or not they can allow smoking.

We're not talking about public places here, we're talking about private property. If a business owner wants to allow something like smoking on their property then they should be allowed to do that. People who complain can, and should, be told that they can take their business elsewhere if they don't like the environment.

Sadly, though, that's not what has happened. Instead a group of people have used the rule of law to enforce a certain kind of behavior on the people. Which, in this particular instance, maybe a lot of us don't have a problem with it. The thing I worry about is the next instance, when they'll be trying to ban salt or something.

We cannot have freedom unless we truly have freedom. That begins with small freedoms like the right to dictate whether or not you'll allow something like smoking on your private property.

I live in West Fargo, ND. I am a single mother of 3 kids. Awhile ago my two older children were put in foster care for a short amount of time. They are now back home with me and doing great! My problem is I started a new job in August and within two days of working child support garnished my wages for past due child support for when my kids were in foster care.

Now, I don't have a problem with paying that at all. What I do have a problem with is the amount that they think they need to take out. They are taking out $280.00 a month. I am working at the local high school right now when my kids are in school (about 22 hours a week because there is no way I can afford child care for my youngest). My last check they took exactly half of my paycheck which left me pretty much broke after paying electricity, phone and putting gas in my car. Now this is the same child support agency that has done pretty much nothing about my two older children's dad not paying child support. His arrears for child support as of 10/27/2005 is $47,338.04. He moved to California to get away from child support and boy did it work!

I have filled out an online application with Legal Assistance of North Dakota to see if they can help me. My thought is this: no matter what the payment is a month child support will get their money. I have asked them if they could lower my payments and they basically blew me off. I told them I am willing to pay $100.00 a month and they said that won't do. This is a past due bill for child support - it's not like my kids are still in foster care racking up more of a bill.

I want to know what you people think of this situation. I fully believe in paying child support for you children whether it's because you children were in foster care or because you're the non-custodial parent, but some of the collection methods used by child support enforcement leave something to be desired.

Fargo Forum - Senior citizens who sign up for a prescription drug benefit plan will save money and have peace of mind, the nation’s top health official said Friday in Fargo.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt spoke at the Fargodome as part of a nationwide tour to inform the public about the new Medicare program.

About 100 senior citizens, public health employees and state officials attended the “town hall” meeting to learn more about the coverage that begins Jan. 1.

The most important thing to know is that the program is open to everyone eligible for Medicare, said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who spoke before Leavitt. This includes 107,000 North Dakotans.

Conrad said he’s met many people who believe the drug plan is only for low-income households.

“Everyone can benefit. Everyone gets some help under this plan,” he said, adding additional help is available for low-income beneficiaries.

The Medicare prescription drug entitlement was one of the worst mistakes of the Bush presidency. It is hardly surprising to see a big-government, tax-and-spend Democrat like Kent Conrad jumping on board with it.



Why on earth should working Americans have to foot the bill for prescription drugs for every senior citizen in the country? I might be willing to listen to arguments for providing prescription drugs for indigent senior citizens, but all of them? Are we to believe the majority of senior citizens are incapable of paying for their own drugs?

In a country as wealthy as America is I hardly think that's the case. Yet here we are, preparing ourselves to pump billions of tax dollars into free drugs for aging Americans. As the baby boom generation moves into retirement (and pays less and less in taxes) the burden of this program, along with the already heavy burden of Social Security, (which is destined to get worse unless we bypass Democrat nay-sayers and enact reform), is going to drive this country's economy into the crapper. Not to mention the downer it's going to be for the Americans who will have to shoulder the tax load that comes with another massive, free-spending, wasteful bureaucratic-monster-of-an-entitlement program. Which is exactly what this thing is going to turn into.

That's what all government entitlement programs turn into.

Our tax burden is going to get heavier. Americans will have to worker longer and harder to pay their dues to the federal government. But hey, granny will get her arthritis medication for free, so who cares?

Right?

The North Dakota Democrats blog is highlighting this article in the Fargo Forum in a post entitled "Hoeven's Lack Of Leadership":

Fargo Forum - Income eligibility requirements in North Dakota for a low-income energy assistance program won’t change, at least through November.

Gov. John Hoeven announced Thursday that he directed human services officials to maintain last year’s income eligibility levels for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program – better known as LIHEAP – through November, pending additional federal funding.

Before Hurricane Katrina, the state had decided to increase eligibility levels for the program this winter. Since then, however, concerns about rising energy prices prompted the reversal.

Despite two failed efforts to increase funding for the program Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, Hoeven continues to believe there is support in the Bush administration and Congress to add money to the program.

Hoeven has come under pressure from Democratic legislative leaders to tap into the state’s $100 million budget surplus to augment federal energy assistance for the poor, which they said has failed to keep up with rising energy costs.

The state has a $100 million dollar budget surplus, unemployment in the state's largest cities is hovering under 2%, the state-wide unemployment rate is just over 3%, Hoeven's approval rating is in the mid 70's, (well below the national average), yet the Governor gets accused of lacking in leadership?

Not only that, but the Dems want to spend the budget surplus on energy entitlements for "the poor" in an environment where it's become pretty clear that if you're unemployed it's probably due more to personal choice than a lack of a job?

Give me a break.

North Dakota's economy is on the cusp of some great things thanks to strong leadership from Gov. Hoeven. If anything, that budget surplus should be given back to North Dakotans in the form of tax relief to further spur growth in our economy. Something that will lead to more employment opportunities for those "poor" the Dems want to fork money over to.

Bismarck Tribune - Ask Rep. Mark Dosch, R-Bismarck, about his recent trip to the tropical island of Antigua and he will tell you it could mean big things for North Dakota's economy, including hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from Internet poker.

But to Democrats, the trip is an example of why campaign finance laws need to be changed. . . .

Dosch said they met with Antiguan officials about Internet poker, but the majority of the time was spent with the country's ministers of finance, tourism, education and agriculture.

"We hoped that we would have some R and R time, but as it turned out they had us going constantly,"Dosch said.

Antigua is a choice location for Internet gambling locations because they are not legal in the United States. The legislators who took the trip are interested in making North Dakota a place where Internet poker can be regulated, if the federal government allows it.

Rep. Steve Zaiser, D-Fargo, said he has already introduced a bill that will require disclosure of trips.

Current law requires legislators to disclose gifts of $60 or more, but nothing requires trips to be disclosed if they are not provided by registered lobbyists.

"Where do you draw the line between a registered lobbyist and someone who has an interest in what is discussed?"Zaiser said.

Zaiser said it is "ludicrous"for a handful of state legislators to discuss trade issues with another country without some accountability or approval.

Approval? Why should any legislator have to get approval before talking to people who have interests in our state? And as for accountability, that bit of non-sense is premised on the idea that this trip was somehow a secret. It wasn't. The Antiguan government issued a press release. Kasper and company were set to announce their trip and the progress they made after going over issues with some people who stayed behind.

Unfortunately, before Kasper got a chance to follow through with these intentions, the story was reported in an innuendo-filled article in the Fargo Forum and seized upon by partisans more interested in casting aspersions for political gain than actually discussing the issues surrounding the trip.

Do I think Kasper could have handled the situation better? Yes. I think he should have announced this trip before his group left, if only to defend himself from Democrat sucker punches.

Do I think Kasper and his group did anything wrong with their trip to Antigua? Absolutely not. This was a perfectly acceptable trip and I applaud these politicians for taking the initiative.

Sigh...

Fargo Forum - Highway Patrol troopers from Fargo seized nearly

2 pounds of marijuana and apprehended four illegal aliens from Mexico, in two separate traffic stops.

The patrol said one vehicle was stopped Wednesday night on Interstate 94 near the West Fargo exit for having no tail lights on a trailer. The four occupants were released to the Border Patrol.

The four illegal aliens had been working at the new Wal-Mart under construction in Dickinson, authorities said.

I'm glad that several North Dakota cities are getting new Wal-Mart stores, but it seems as though the construction of these stores have brought a wave of illegal immigrants down on our cities. Already we've had a sex crime committed by these illegals and this drug arrest described above, yet the construction has really only been going on for the last month or so.

I'm a Wal-Mart fan, but their contractor's unscrupulous hiring practices have placed North Dakota citizens in danger.

Taking Back ND:

The United States Government would be the fourth largest economy in the world if considered by itself. Not only that but government spending is growing faster than the economy of Germany. How many years until our government exceeds the economy of Germany in size.

And still we're not spending enough?

Apparently Senator Conrad thinks so.

BISMARCK - The president of the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce says legislators should work with schools to help businesses find workers.

Dave MacIver told the Legislative Council's interim Economic Development Committee on Wednesday that an available work force is one of the major challenges facing North Dakota businesses.

"You know that that's happening in the Fargos and the Bismarcks because of the unemployment rates that we're seeing in those communities at 1.6, 1.8 percent," MacIver said.

"The thing that we're finding though, is that it really doesn't make any difference whether or not you go to a Fargo or a Bismarck, or whether you go to a Langdon or a Cavalier or to a Crosby," he said. "Everyone is facing the same challenges with finding an available work force."

Clearly, North Dakota's economy is humming and much of the thanks has to go to John Hoeven and his business-minded handling of state affairs. Just the other day I saw a sign here in Minot advertising $9/hour, entry-level positions at a fast food restaurant. That's one heck of a lot of money by ND wage standards for a job like that.

With unemployment so low and demand for workers so high outmigration, a serious problem that the state has faced, should begin to reverse itself. In recent years the number of young North Dakotans leaving the state to seek their fortunes has slowed to nearly a standstill. If the demand for good workers remains in the state we might actually see some population growth soon.

Obviously the state needs to do what it can to fill labor demands, but this is a good position for North Dakota to be in right now.

From an emergency manager in the western part of North Dakota after a recent, nasty storm we had:

Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

George Bush did not come....

FEMA staged nothing....

No one howled for the government...

No one even uttered an expletive on TV...

Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards....
.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....

No news anchors moved in.

We just melted snow for water, sent out caravans to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Aladdin lamps and put on an extra layer of clothes.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

Everybody is fine.

(via South Dakota Politics)

As Americans struggle under the burden of higher prices due to rising energy costs North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad is busy in Washington (with the rest of his Democrat cronies) fighting against legislation that would reduce government waste and lower taxes.

Bloomberg - Democrats are united against the budget-cutting plan, saying Republicans are cutting much-needed social programs to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Some Republicans, such as Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, have said they have concerns about some of the spending cuts and a provision to raise money by allowing oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge.

``I have never felt that a budget going through the Congress of the United States is more disconnected from reality than this budget,'' said Senator Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota.

Conrad said a Republican proposal for $70 billion in tax cuts that is also part of the budget plan will increase the deficit, even with the spending cuts.

``There is no deficit reduction going on here,'' he said.

Apparently Conrad's solution to budget deficits is continued high tax rates. His philosophy is based on the idea that the more taxes our government applies to the citizens the more money it brings in. And that's true, to a point, but right now the tax burden being carried by most Americans has reached a point of diminishing returns. Keeping the tax rates at these high levels depresses the economy, which leads to lower tax receipts for the federal government.

When tax rates are as high as they are right now now tax cuts have historically increased federal tax receipt, not decreased them. Bush's tax cuts from his first term have had an extremely positive impact on both our economy and on the amount of money the government takes in (which, obviously, has a directly positive impact on the deficit Conrad is so busy moaning about).

North Dakotans love Kent Conrad because he brings the pork money home from Congress to our state. Currently North Dakota receives something like $2+ for every $1 we spend in taxes. Now assuming that the amount of pork brought home by a legislator is a good way of measuring that politician's job performance (that's not a theory I subscribe to, but that's a discussion for another post), couldn't we say that Conrad could still bring home the pork without having to tax the hell out of is in return?

Maybe North Dakotans should elect a Congressman who understands that, when possible, money is best left in the hands of the American people rather than in the hands of greed Washington bureaucrats.

(via Flickertail Journal)

BISMARCK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it voluntarily shut down work Monday on all seven stores under construction in North Dakota, including the Grand Forks store, to check for illegal aliens.

"We wanted to be sure contractors are in compliance with applicable laws," said Marty Heires, a spokesman at Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. "We were not asked by law enforcement or any government agency to do this."

Heires said construction was halted about noon Monday at the Grand Forks Wal-Mart, which is being converted into a Wal-Mart Supercenter. When finished it will include more amenities, including groceries. A gas station already is complete. He said Tuesday nothing was found at the Grand Forks site.

Construction also was stopped at stores in Minot, Williston, Dickinson and three in Bismarck. Work resumed later in the afternoon at all stores except for two in Bismarck and one in Dickinson, he said.

"Once we have assurances (from contractors) that everything is in order, we'll reopen them," he said.

The crack-down on illegal immigrants in the state was prompted by this incident.

From what I've heard, the state-wide shut down had more to do with the number of illegal workers who have been arrested by immigration authorities or fled the state once the crackdown began than any real concern about having "everything in order." One story I've heard is that a work crew of sixty at one of the construction sites was left with only three people.

Frankly, I'm a bit appalled. I'm a Wal-Mart fan, but bringing in criminals to work in our communities isn't the best way to engender support for your business from the citizens.

BISMARCK – Five Republican legislators’ trip to Antigua early this month shows why the state needs stricter disclosure laws, North Dakota Democratic-NPL lawmakers said Tuesday.

Rep. Jim Kasper of Fargo led the trip to the Caribbean island nation to talk about Internet gambling and trade possibilities between the state and Antiguan officials. The others were Rep. Bette Grande, Rep. Ron Iverson and Rep. Blair Thoreson, all of Fargo, and Rep. Mark Dosch of Bismarck.

Sen. April Fairfield, D-Eldridge, and other Democrats introduced a bill in the 2005 Legislature that strengthened gift disclosure laws, but it was stripped of most of its new language by the Republican majority and then passed over Fairfield’s objections.

Fairfield proposed barring legislators from accepting gifts from lobbyists, with a list of exceptions. That was taken out and the $50 threshold for lobbyists to report expenditures was raised to $60.

“Perhaps now we have a fuller understanding of why Senate Bill 2303 was weakened,” Fairfield said Tuesday. “The question is not whether there are legitimate reasons for legislative travel.”

There are. The question is whether, in the interest of good government, all gifts that may influence public policy should be disclosed.”

Ok, here's where I'm at with this issue:

Kasper and his fellow legislators who traveled with him on this trip to Antigua handled the situation badly. They did not do anything wrong or illegal, but they should have made an announcement about the trip before they left. Because they didn't, the lefty demagogues in the state now have a large arrow in their quiver to aim at Republicans during the legislative session. This was a tactical blunder, not an ethical or legal blunder.

But that's not how it's being played.



It's easy for state Democrats to twist a perfectly legal and acceptable legislative trip to a beautiful place like Antigua into some sort of shady, under-the-table dealing and then cast aspersions about it. Especially when you've got a mouthpiece like the Fargo Forum available to trumpet the innuendo. Were this, say, a free trip to Siberia I doubt we'd be hearing much about it. After all, it's hard to insinuate a picture of greed and corruption with free trips to Siberia.

But, since this wasn't a trip to Siberia, that's exactly what is happening right now. The Forum starts this bouhaha with a rather misleading article about the trip, slams the Republicans with an editorial, and then hands over most of an article (the one above) to quotes from Democrats while burying Republican responses at the bottom of the article.

It seems as though the Forum is only really interested in one side of this story.

Also, this quote from Rep. Fairfield in the article is more than a little misleading:

“Perhaps now we have a fuller understanding of why Senate Bill 2303 was weakened,” Fairfield said Tuesday.

That's right. The Republicans obviously weakened the Senate Bill so they could make shady trips to Antigua.

Give me a break. Fairfield's propsed law, which addressed gifts from lobbyists, wouldn't even have applied in this situation (from the same article):

Secretary of State Al Jaeger said Tuesday that a foreign government is not considered a lobbyist.

Anyway, all that aside, I do think North Dakota needs to reform it's lobbying laws. Here's my proposal:

We place no limits on the amount of money lobbyists can spend on legislators, but we require that details on all money that is spent be made readily available to the public.

See, I have no problem with lobbying. I think it's a normal part of the political process and that when we limit it we risk also limiting political advocacy. That's not a healthy thing. So let's keep the system open, but also keep it transparent.

As for state Democrats, if they want to whine about this sort of thing perhaps they should first direct some questions their Senator Conrad and his relationship with "Aspen Group."

In Illinois we have a state-run lotto. So does North Dakota. Most states now have some kind lottery game. I have never really understood it, until now.

In Illinois every couple weeks the game spins off a $3 million, one-time cash payment to some lucky winner whose life then changes for better or worse forever. The indigent instant millionaire is typically indigent again in a few years.

The big sell when the Illinois lottery started was that it would fund education. After 20 years, after expenses, the amount spent on education is so minimal it is almost insignificant. The lottery in Illinois is a zero sum game. A cynical shell game, at best.



So why? Why publish this false hope in a ticket? I’ll admit it, from time to time when the lotto gets up there I’ll pay this voluntary tax and see if I can fund my retirement. For many people I know, this is their primary retirement strategy. Get old, win the lottery.

The mantra selling the lottery is, “Somebody’s got to win, it might as well be YOU” and “You can’t win if you don’t play”.

The truth about the lottery everyone in Illinois knows is that in the poorest parts of the states the amount of direct welfare money that goes into an area like the poor south and west sides of Chicago equals the amount spent on lottery tickets by the poor.

Hope springs eternal, even among the poor.

Then, I read today’s Wall Street Journal. This is an intentional strategy. If the poor are going to pay this voluntary tax and send back all their welfare money you can send them more welfare money, look really compassionate and you have no net out of pocket expense. Cute eh?

The ultimate refinement of this insight might have been a 1997 paper by economist Sam Papenfuss, which showed a strong correlation between lottery adoption and welfare spending. He concluded that lotteries operate as a mechanism by which taxpayers are able to reclaim the money they're forced to spend on welfare programs.

Lotteries advanced on the same wave of voter frustration that led various states in recent decades to adopt balanced budget amendments, property tax caps and requirements for legislative supermajorities to enact tax hikes. Lotteries are but a symptom of a growing standoff between the beneficiaries of federal transfer programs and the taxpayers called to support them.

And, it doesn’t fund education at all. It’s all a scam.

Lotteries don't solve fiscal problems: The Texas proceeds go into a "Foundation School Fund," but that hasn't stopped legal and political wars over education funding from being the nemesis of the past three Texas governors. Studies increasingly conclude that lotteries don't add to state revenues in the long run. They just shift the burden of taxation from higher-income households to lower-income lottery players.

I didn’t get it. Now I do. Clever. Which walnut shell is the pea under?