North Dakota’s own Byron Dorgan (D - Comb Over) won’t support the President when it comes to combating terrorism in Iraq, but when it comes to prairie dogs rats he’s serious.

Dead serious.

Because the Prairie Dogs Are Taking Over!  They’re Replacing North Dakota’s Population!

From (I’m serious) the actual Congressional Record:

SEN. DORGAN (D-ND): The Prairie Dogs Are Taking Over. “In recent months, we had a little prairie dog fight. I will not go into all of the details. But prairie dogs took over a picnic grounds in the Badlands in North Dakota.” (Sen. Dorgan, Congressional Record, S.795, 02/14/02)

SEN. DORGAN (D-ND): Prairie Dogs Replacing People In North Dakota. “Look we are not short of prairie dogs in western North Dakota; we are short of people. My home county went from 5,000 people to 3,000 people in 25 years. The county next to mine is bigger than the State of Rhode Island, and it has 900 people and only had seven babies, in a recent year, born in the entire year. These are counties that are dramatically shrinking, and losing their economic vitality.” (Sen. Dorgan, Congressional Record, S.795-796, 02/14/07)

Dorgan won’t “go into all the details.” How...ominous.

And Dorgan didn’t stop there.  He launched into a full on rant about prairie dogs and black footed ferrets on the Senate Floor:

The Park Service, by the way, at the moment also says my State is short of prairie dogs. Of course, that is not the case. We have far more prairie dogs than we know what to do with. The prairie dogs were born — I should say luckily for them — with a button nose and fur on their tail. Otherwise, they would essentially look like a rat. But we have a lot of prairie dogs.

We are told by Federal authorities we need more prairie dogs, not because they think prairie dogs are cute, but apparently because they want to reintroduce something called the black-footed ferret in my State. The last person to spot a black-footed ferret in my State allegedly spotted a black-footed ferret some 20 years ago and was widely thought, according to local folklore, to have been drinking at the time.

So there apparently are no black-footed ferrets that live in my State. They apparently went to warmer climates in the South some long time ago. Now we are told by Federal authorities we need more prairie dogs as food for black-footed ferrets who are going to be reintroduced to North Dakota.

It is no small wonder, then, I look at some of these Federal agencies and wonder if there is any reservoir of common sense left.

One has to wonder what Dorgan has against prairie dogs.  Maybe it’s because the prairie dogs have better hair than he does: