The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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Common good are those things that emphasizes community as compared to individual good which emphasizes self. Every level of civic society - national, state and local needs common good to negotiate and provide the services to everyone in its jurisdiction. The national government must provide security, goods and services; state government supplements the national good with another level of security, goods and services; the county government adds administration while also providing local assistance...
A seismic shift is taking place in the North Dakota party convention nominating system with the fragmentation of power and resources and candidates bypassing the structured nominating system and going directly to the polls. While North Dakota history is full of erratic appeals to primary elections, the present fracture was led by Senator Kevin Cramer and Governor Doug Burgum, both of whom took their cases to the public after rejection by conventions. The precedent has been established. By...
A new scientific poll underwritten by the North Dakota News Cooperative has finally cast some light on citizen opinions about this $10 billion Legacy Fund filled primarily by oil and gas money. The money did not come from the backs of those “hard-working citizens” often used in political rhetoric but it is money owned by everyone in North Dakota. Therefore, everyone has a stake in the use of the Fund. Having taught polling at the University of North Dakota, I offer some cautionary advice. The re...
With the hope of increasing the number of local journalists, the University of North Dakota intends to create a new department of journalism. This comes at a time when smaller newspapers are dropping left and right. According to Joshua Irvine, reporting in Forum Communications, half of North Dakota counties have only one news outlet. As the present editors retire, new ones are not coming forward to buy newspapers. Losing Revenue Dying main streets have no advertising revenue and the vacant...
The issue of homeless students in North Dakota has come to the fore in the last couple of weeks. Homeless in North Dakota? Even though a variety of public and private entities offer services, kids are still falling in the cracks. We shouldn’t be surprised because a global look at our neglect of children in this state reflects our “bootstraps” orientation to life is one of private sector capitalism and not compassion for the needy. Right now, the state is reaping millions of dollars more than...
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house It vas da nacht before Santa Clausen und all through the husens Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; No noise makin’schweinhunt unmousen all qviet The stockins were hung by the chimney with care Oof-da schmnellley foot wearin up the fireplace hanging In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; Expecten gud old Nicholas would quick be fillin’ The children were nestled all snug in their beds The kinderfolk vas restin qviet...
While skeptical North Dakotans scratch their heads over Governor Douglas Burgum’s race for president, we need to be reminded that he is not the first aspirant for the big chair in Washington. While a congressman, North Dakota’s William Lemke threw his hat in the ring as the presidential candidate for the Union Party in 1936. Of course, Doug is not burdened by the likes of Francis Townsend, Charles Coughlin and Gerald L. K. Smith, all of whom fragmented the Union message. Messages of Dis...
Assuming that election fraud is rampant in county offices and in the precincts, a band of 50 sponsors are proposing to pass a constitutional amendment to prevent fraud. The problem is that there is now no voter fraud in North Dakota, never has been, never will be. I have personally been involved in a survey of local election inspectors and states attorneys and did not find any reports of fraud. This is another case of passing legislation to restrict something that is unlikely to happen. In case...
Here we immigrants have been in North Dakota officially as a recognized territory since 1861 and our wind swept prairies are still suffering from an embarrassing nakedness. It seems appropriate to bring the subject up since May is Arbor month and there is no one more romantic about trees than Joyce Kilmer: I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy a...
“I’ve been watching the legislature meeting in Bismarck…” started Little Jimmy when interrupted by Dorsey Crank. “Somebody needs to be watching them,” Crank barked. “They need their mothers with them.” “Well the legislature is thinking…” Little Jimmy started again when Crank snorted “thinking” is a new verb around Bismarck.” The interruptions irked Little Jimmy. He didn’t have to put up with this. He was named the 2022 Outstanding Graduate of the Year at Omega University in northern Texas...
Looking at the tax cut proposals now being debated in the legislature, maybe it’s time to revert back to a territory. Apparently, we don’t want the state to accept the responsibilities of providing minimum support for public services. States are supposed to be communities with common interests. In North Dakota, it seems like frontier thinking of starving the public to benefit individuals prevails in the legislature. The tax cuts being proposed will do nothing to raise the quality of roads, edu...
11 is old. I can document that. Been there, done that. At 92, you end up looking at all of life’s questions that were not solved during your term of life. Therefore, you must pass them off to the next generation where they will be kicked around some more but never solved. As for my family, I had 10 siblings so parents were too busy dealing with crises from meal to meal. Life’s real problems were always pushed to the back of the stove until the potatoes were done. Dealing with Dumplings Som...
It wasn’t true but it was effective. As a former advertising agency guy, I can appreciate the genius of the Trump campaign when they came out with “Make America Great Again.” There was no time in history when the United States was greater than it is today. Just about everybody has some source of income - including all of those people in the service industry who disappeared while we were wearing COVID masks. Our economy was never stronger; our world power was never greater. We can now build a sup...
Even though the laws relating to rape have not been repealed, victims are not getting justice in the present system. Administratively, rape gets no priority. Right now, North Dakota has 271 rape cases – doubled since December 21, 2021 – gathering dust because the criminal justice machinery has shoved rape cases to the back burner where nothing happens for months. Gov. Doug Burgum could hardly wait for the legislature to meet so he could rush through funding for business development – even borro...
Writing as a political scientist, there were a number of significant lessons learned from the 2022 political scene. So who won and who lost? Sure, the Democrats gained a little in the U. S. Senate and Republicans gained a little in the House of Representatives but democracy gained the most because the black mark against the electoral system was expunged. The American voting system has been proven clean – no fraud, no cheating, no election stealing. Because Donald Trump had such a big voice on t...
Before venturing into the deep water of state and Native-American relations, I need to reassure North Dakota’s tribes that I am not an adversary but a friend. I believe we owe the native people reparations for taking their country, killing six million of their people and forcing them into reservations That being said, let us move into the question of tribal sovereignty, an idea that is over 200 years old. The federal government has declared that recognized tribes are sovereign entities within a...
The runoff election in Georgia will be a waste of money. All signs point to a Warnock win and the Democrats will end up with a 2-seat edge in the U.S. Senate. For the party of the president to pick up rather than lose seats is very unusual. Looking at the past figures, political observers were unanimous in their expectation that the Democrats would lose both houses of Congress. Noted Prof. James Campbell observed 30 years ago: “In midterm elections, the greater a party’s prior presidential vote...
Yes, It’s true. I have been a male chauvinist most of my adult life. I grew up in a family where the Dad was a poster guy for chauvinism, no questions asked and no answers given. He never touched us but he had an air of authority that we never questioned. Not only did I get chauvinism at home but I also got it in church. When I was young, just about every church taught men that they were the head of the family and taught women that they were merely “complimentarian”. So chauvinism was the norm...
According to news reports, North Dakota officials have 250 sexual assault cases waiting for possible criminal charges, most of which have aged beyond resolution. In the meantime, there are 250 victims waiting for justice to be done - and if state officials continue their behavior - justice will never be done because the viability of rape cases lasts only a couple weeks. Many of these cases are months old so evidence is blurred, perpetrators are on the loose, defense lawyers drag their feet,...
American democracy is suffering from the symptoms of terminal illness. To have a “government of the people, for the people” it is necessary that the people are willing to govern. Through the decades, we have expanded the definition of “the people” to include millions of people who lack the interest to assume their roles as governors. For various reasons, we are able to muster only two-thirds of the voters in presidential elections and even fewer in the off-year races. One third of the populat...
North Dakota needs a dream - a dream of equality for rich kids and poor kids, white kids and minority kids, smart kids and slow kids because every kid deserves an equal chance to succeed. We have the money to lift our kids out of a mediocre education system into the brightest one in the United States. Yes, we have the money. In this dream, we quit exploiting teachers and start treating them as professionals dealing with a wide variety of parental expectations. That means higher licensing...
“Inflation is killing us,” Dorsey Crank announced as he entered the community hall where the Homeland Security Committee was meeting to plan Christmas decorations for 2022. “We are on the short end of the stick,” he continued. “I think our retailers and service people are taking the opportunity to grab excess profits.” That suggestion really steamed Madeleine Morgan, the newcomer from Montana who spoke at meetings, disregarding the code of the town that women did not speak in public meetings. ...
My cover has been outed. A friend said he Googled me and discovered that I was older than dirt. Since it may not be dirt from the Garden of Eden, the cat is out of the bag and the truth must be told. I was born prematurely and have been on a dead run since. It was during the Great Depression when I became the eighth in the family of 11 – and we weren’t even Catholic. For my mom, the depression got to be greater so she wanted to name my “Depressing” but my Dad found a Lloyd in English history...
The citizens are restless. They seem to be frustrated with the failure of government to respond or interact with the voters and are looking for options to loosen up the system. Jared Hendrix, GOP Chair of a legislative district in the Minot area, filed a petition with 46,366 signatures to limit the terms of governors and legislators but Secretary State Al Jaeger threw out 29,101, leaving the petitions short of the 31,164 required to get on the ballot. The Secretary of State claimed that...
Frustrated by the inability of the present two-party system to function, more folks are talking about the creation of a third party thinking that would break the deadlock in Washington. At the outset, let us admit that the present system was designed by the Founding Fathers to keep anything from happening until a massive consensus developed that would move a proposal through two houses of Congress, the president and the Supreme Court. Alexander Hamilton worried about that when the Constitution...
