Weather Video of the Day

Every Tuesday morning I talk to the good folks of Harvey, ND via KHND Radio, the local talk and music station.  As I was enjoying the mild 70 degree sunshine of Southern California this morning, they were having a very different weather experience:

I wish it would do that just once in Los Angeles just so I could see what the freeways would look like after about 5 minutes of that kind of snow.

The Natives Are Restless and the Sioux are Suing

My friends in North Dakota have been following this story for some time.  The NCAA has been trying to force the University of North Dakota to change their "Fighting Sioux" nickname. It's a typical nanny state move in which a quasi-governmental agency decides that the poor Native Americans can't fend for themselves and therefore must be protected by the Great White Father.

Turns out the Sioux tribe is pretty fond of the "Fighting Sioux" nickname, and in fact gave that name to the university in a religious-type ceremony, and they're not going to allow the NCAA to take it away (from Say Anything):

FORT TOTTEN, ND – Speaking at the tribal headquarters of the Spirit Lake Sioux Nation, attorney Reed Soderstrom announced a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging copyright infringement and civil rights violations. The Sioux tribe supports the University of North Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” nickname and logo, but the NCAA has deemed them to be “hostile and abusive.”

“Today, the Spirit Lake Tribe of Indians, by and through its Committee of Understanding and Respect, and Archie Fool Bear, individually, and as Representative of more than 1004 Petitioners of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association in direct response to their attempt to take away and prevent the North Dakota Sioux Indians from giving their name forever to the University of North Dakota,” said Soderstrom in prepared remarks.

Soderstrom alleges that the NCAA has violated “the religious and first amendment rights of the Dakota Sioux tribes.” He also alleged a double standard in the application of the NCAA’s policy against the use of Native American names and imagery. …

The lawsuit claims that the Sioux tribe were “indispensable parties” to a lawsuit filed by the State of North Dakota against the NCAA in 2007, the settlement of which required the state to get permission from the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux tribes, but were never included in negotiations of that settlement. It also alleges defamation, violations of the Indian Civil Rights Act, defamation and an unlawful restraint on trade.

The lawsuit asks that the NCAA’s policy be stricken and that the organization pay punitive damages in the amount of $10 million.

On the radio this morning I suggested that perhaps UND propose a nickname change to "NCAA Morons" and see how that flies.

The NCAA has no business approving school nicknames or mascots. That should be left up to the local campuses to decide for themselves. Many schools have opted for changes over the years. The Stanford Indians became the Stanford Cardinal in 1972 after they caved in to requests from angry Indians, and my old school Point Loma College was The Crusaders when I was there but have since switched to the Sea Lions in 2002, probably in response to political correctness given the connection of The Crusaders to the fight against Islam. My daughter's college, Sonoma State University, was once known The Cossacks, but changed to The Seawolves after some lib professor got his tighty-whities in a knot.

Whether you agree with these changes or not, they were made at the local level and not by some NCAA mandate. That's the way it should be.

River Level in Minot, ND Up 1.5' in 24 hours, May Go Up Another 6' by Tomorrow

The big water is now hitting Minot, ND. Flood waters are spreading through the river valley that runs through the town. There's live coverage from the local TV affiliate available here. The hydrograph readings with predicted levels can be seen here.  The rise expected in the next couple of days is astounding.

UPDATE:  River level increased a foot in just two hours from 9-11 am local time, reaching the previous all-time high that was set in 1881.

Another 7' rise is possible between now and Saturday.

UPDATE 2: River has gone up another 1.57 feet as of 3:30 local time.  New all time record, but it won't end there.

Minot, ND Flood Level Expected to Rise 9 More Feet

Yikes! I've been following the pictures and reporting by Rob Port out of Minot, ND of the flood that's currently overtaking the city. They're in a major flood stage already but the worst is about to come. Here's the estimate from the National Weather Service:

They're going to be a long time digging out from that mess.

From time-to-time I've tuned into the local Minot TV station via their UStream site and I've heard several of the on-air reporters and anchors talk about the fact that their homes will be flooded. They already know it's coming and they can't do anything about it. It's hard to imagine what that must be like.

Historic North Dakota Floods

My North Dakota friends are fighting the battle of their lives this week as historic floods threaten to inundate Minot and other communities:

Disastrous. Unstoppable. Historic. Unprecedented.

All words used to describe what city, county and state officials warn is an imminent assault on all residents of the Souris River Valley.

The highest flows ever recorded on the Souris are approaching a city whose defenses are destined to be over run. Can the city hold?

Dikes currently in place, recently improved greatly to combat high flows, are now expected to disappear under the traveling torrent. The amount of water flowing with a vengeance down the Souris River Valley is forecast to inundate Minot to a level seven to eight feet higher than the catastrophic and benchmark flood of 1969.

Saddened with that horrific knowledge, officials announced during a late afternoon press conference Monday that very little can be done to stop the powerful onslaught. Massive secondary dikes that were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to save much of the town from the previous high on the Souris this year fall far short of defending against the impending and rapid rise of the Souris.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday for all evacuation zones within Minot. Mayor Curt Zimbelman said all affected residents and businesses must vacate those areas no later than 10 p.m. Wednesday. Within minutes of the announcement residents once again began the laborious and hastened work of moving out of their homes for the second time this year.

That has to be a terribly sick feeling to know it's coming and you can't do anything about it. KHND Radio in Harvey, the station I usually do a weekly interview on, will be doing a special flood relief fundraiser today. If you're interested in helping you can tune in here.  Minot Live River camera can be seen below:


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Sen. Kent Conrad Sees the Writing on the Wall

North Dakota's remaining Democrat representative in Congress, Sen. Kent Conrad, will not seek another term in 2012:

North Dakota U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad said Tuesday he will not run for re-election in 2012, saying he will concentrate instead on reducing the national debt and dependence on foreign oil.

“It is more important I spend my time and energy trying to solve these problems than to be distracted by a campaign for re-election,” the Democratic incumbent said in a statement sent to supporters. He currently chairs the Senate Budget Committee.

Just a few weeks ago North Dakota had three Democrats in Washington (they only get three because of the small population). Sen. Byron Dorgan chose to retire and was replaced with Rep. John Hoeven, and Rep. Earl Pomeroy was ousted in the November election by Republican Rick Berg. The red state of North Dakota is finally looking like a red state in Washington.

I would guess that Republicans will have a good shot at this seat, which may explain why Conrad decided not to take the Pomeroy route.

Just for fun the Democrats ought to run Ed Shultz, the idiot MSNBC host and former Fargo-based liberal talk show host.  That would make for a truly entertaining campaign.

Democrats Running Away From Obama....and Towards George Bush

My how things have changed in two years:

We’ve seen plenty of Democrats in tight races trying to distance themselves from President Obama. But one Democrat, North Dakota’s Rep. Earl Pomeroy, is taking this a step farther by actually embracing President George W. Bush.

Pomeroy is locked in what’s shaping up to be the toughest contest of his 17-year House career. He faces GOP state Rep. Rick Berg…

…In his latest ad, Pomeroy goes a step further, highlighting his support for the Bush prescription drug plan which he says Berg would “roll back.”

The ad opens with a bill signing featuring President Bush while a woman’s voice says, “When George Bush proposed a Medicare prescription drug plan, Earl Pomeroy voted yes, putting seniors before party.. Rick Berg would roll back prescription drug coverage.”

To be sure, Pomeroy sits in one of the most Republican states in the country. McCain carried North Dakota with 53 percent of the vote. And, his campaign notes that this ad was in response to an earlier ad by the GOP that attacked him for voting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 97 percent of the time.

You need ask only one question of any Democrat candidate: Will you vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker? If yes, they're disqualified.

UPDATE:  Rob Port reminds us that in 2008 Earl Pomeroy called Bush a "man-made disaster".

Weekly KHND Interview

On this morning's "Get it Off Your Chest" radio show on KHND we talked about the case that could be the death of Obamacare, and Obama's silly and dangerous change to our nuclear strike policies, among other things. You can listen via the player below:

Weekly KHND Interview Podcast

Here's this week's KHND interview. As you can imagine ObamaCare was a featured subject along with various other items of interest:

Weekly KHND Radio Interview

This morning we focused on the Obamacare bill that was being signed right about the time I went on the air. Let's just say I didn't try to hide my feelings about this bill and this president. Click on the link to listen.

AMTalk Mar 23 Rick Moore

Weekly KHND Interview Podcast

Here's the podcast of my March 9th interview on KHND Radio:

Weekly KHND Interview

About 2 1/2 years ago I started doing a weekly 25 minute radio interview on KHND in Harvey, ND. We talk about politics for the most part, but at times get into other stuff as well. Until now the only way you could hear the interviews was to actually be within their broadcast area, but now they're putting the interviews on podcasts and I'll be posting them here for those that would like to listen in.

Here's this past week's interview in two parts.

Part 1


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Part 2


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North Dakota Dems Want Crazy Talk Show Host for Senator

Well, Minnesota picked a porn-writing comedian to be their senator, so I guess this move by North Dakota Democrats isn't that surprising:

North Dakota Democrats are actively pursuing liberal MSNBC talk show host Ed Schultz as a candidate to replace Sen. Byron Dorgan, who announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election.

State House Minority Leader Merle Boucher told POLITICO he made an official overture to Schultz late Tuesday night about launching a campaign and said he believes the TV commentator is "intrigued by the idea."

"We have to find someone that has a high profile and a national fundraising base and I can't think of anyone better than Ed Schultz in that regard," said Boucher. "He certainly didn't say no to me by any means," he added.

If you think Al Franken is crazy, just wait until Schultz starts campaigning. It will really make you miss the good old days when we tried to pick politicians based not so much on their ability to campaign but their ability to do the job for which they were campaigning.

In other North Dakota news, Congressman Earl Pomeroy, the state's only House member, will run for re-election. Rumors suggested he might be retiring, and then when Dorgan announced his retirement some thought Pomeroy would be the strongest candidate for Senate. Given the way things are going in that state he might be lucky to hang on to his current job.

Byron Dorgan Will Not Seek Re-election

Looks like there might be another Dem seat available for the taking in the Senate. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2010 (announced on Fox News).

Very surprising, but indicative of the kind of year the Democrats are facing.

I had an earlier post that indicated that Dorgan was in trouble if GOP Gov. John Hoeven got in the race. Now, it's wide open for whoever wants it, and the Dems may have trouble coming up with a strong candidate.

There's also word that North Dakota's lone House Member, Earl Pomeroy, may also be considering spending more time with his family. Could we be seeing a big GOP shift in the great frozen north?

I hope so.

The downside of this decision is that for the next year Dorgan will feel himself untouchable so he'll be free to vote for every crazy thing that comes along. Without the fear of losing an election the voters of North Dakota can now expect nothing but unrestrained liberalism from Dorgan.

A "Safe" Senator Losing Badly

Since I'll be talking to the audience in North Dakota this morning I thought I'd include this item about one of their Dem Senators who faces re-election next year:

Incumbent Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan may have a serious problem on his hands if Republicans recruit Governor John Hoeven to run for the U.S. Senate in North Dakota next year.

The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 telephone survey of likely voters in North Dakota finds the popular Republican governor leading Dorgan by 22 points – 58% to 36%. Just six percent (6%) are undecided in that senatorial contest.

Part of the challenge for Dorgan is the health care legislation working its way through Congress. Dorgan, along with every Democrat in the Senate, has voted to move the legislation forward and is expected to vote for final approval of the reform later this week. That’s not likely to be well received in North Dakota where just 30% favor the proposed health care reform plan and 64% are opposed.

North Dakota is a pretty red state, and yet has three Democrats in Congress - their one and only House member and both Senators.

From what I hear Gov. Hoeven is a big spender, something which a lot of Republicans in the state disapprove of, but if he could knock of Dorgan I think they'd be glad to vote for him.

The Public Option is Terminal

Looks like there's little or no chance a public option health plan will make it past the Senate:

Momentum behind a new government-run health care plan appeared to slow considerably Sunday, as a lead Democratic negotiator called the option a "wasted effort" and President Obama's health secretary suggested the White House is ready to accept a health care reform package without it.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., one of six negotiators trying to hammer out a bipartisan compromise measure on the Senate Finance Committee, told "FOX News Sunday" that the so-called public option simply does not have the votes to pass.

"The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never have been," he said. "So to continue to chase that rabbit I think is just a wasted effort."

Conrad and other negotiators on the finance committee are instead pushing a system of nonprofit insurance cooperatives, as an alternative to the public plan.

"Co-ops are very prevalent in our society," Conrad said. "They've been a very successful business model."

Yeah, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Look how well those worked out.

Kent Conrad is up for reelection next year and he comes from a fairly red state. I have a feeling he's hearing from North Dakotans who don't much care for Obamacare.

Should the public option die in the Senate the whole health bill will be imperilled because the liberals in the House have vowed not to support any bill that doesn't have a "robust" private option. There's always the risk that the conference committee will put it back in, but that would just set-up a filibuster in the Senate and hopefully nothing would get passed.

U.S. Has 25 Times More Recoverable Oil Than Previously Thought

And yet, they probably still won't let us go get it:

Reston, VA - North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.

Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.

New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007.

The USGS Bakken study was undertaken as part of a nationwide project assessing domestic petroleum basins using standardized methodology and protocol as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000.

The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest "continuous" oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A "continuous" oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest "continuous" oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil.

"It is clear that the Bakken formation contains a significant amount of oil - the question is how much of that oil is recoverable using today's technology?" said Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota. "To get an answer to this important question, I requested that the U.S. Geological Survey complete this study, which will provide an up-to-date estimate on the amount of technically recoverable oil resources in the Bakken Shale formation."

For at least 30 years the doomsayers have been telling us the world is running out of oil, and yet, we keep finding more.

Oil extraction technology has dramatically improved since 1995, and therefore oil that was previously unrecoverable can now be pumped out. However, this administration and congress still considers drilling for our own oil to be politically incorrect, which means regardless of how much oil is out there, they won't let us go and get it.

Instead, we'll tax domestic producers out of business with cap-and-tax and will cause even more of our oil to be imported.

"Tater Salad" Goes Bad

Ron White, the comedian whose stage shtick usually includes a cigar and healthy amounts of adult beverages, may be in trouble again - this time in North Dakota (h/t KHND):

A popular comedian could face charges in Bismarck for a regular part of his routine.

Ron White, the Scotch-swilling, cigar-smoking Blue Collar Comedy Tour comedian, performed at the Belle Mehus Auditorium on April 30. But prior to that, a Bismarck citizen tipped off police that part of White's routine might run afoul of a Bismarck city ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places.

Gary Semmel, 55, wrote a letter dated April 17 to the Bismarck Police Department, letting them know White smokes a cigar during his act, which seems to be at odds with the city ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places, Sgt. Dwight Offerman said.

Semmel did not have a listed phone number.

Management for White declined to comment, publicist Kathe Nelson said.

Because of the letter, police placed a plainclothes officer at the first of White's two performances to document his smoking, Offerman said. The officer reported back that White lit up a cigar to start the show, took one puff, then let the cigar burn out. He lit up again and took another puff later in the show, again let it run out, then didn't light it up again until the end of the show, Offerman said.

Smoking in public places is an infraction, punishable by fines of up to $500. Offerman said the report will be sent to the city attorney.

White, whose nickname "Tater Salad" was listed as his alias on the police report, is best know for his performances on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy. The Texas Legislature declared April 27 "Ron White Day" to honor the Texas native.

White is no stranger to run-ins with the law, having been arrested in Vero Beach, Fla., for marijuana and paraphernalia possession in September. He pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal and was sentenced to probation.

I'll admit that having seen White perform on TV a few times I've wondered myself how he's gotten away with smoking on stage given that it's illegal to smoke in most public buildings in the country. There are some areas that will allow smoking if it's an integral part of a play or performance, but apparently not in North Dakota.

This reminds me of days gone by when police would raid rock concerts and carry off the band members because something they said or did was considered obscene. Smoking is the new obscenity.

My friends in North Dakota are a little worried that they'll become the butt of jokes because of this. Well, it certainly won't help.

Pictures From the Flood

The rookie president tells us that runaway global warming is responsible for the flooding going on in North Dakota and Minnesota along the Red River. Take a look at this amazing photo essay on the situation up there and tell me if you see a lot of warming going on.

Also, in times like this the very best is brought out in people and that's certainly true based on the photos in this collection. Neighbors helping neighbors.

Weather Photo of the Day

My friends in North Dakota are getting pounded. Believe it or not, these poor folks in Fargo are fighting a flood, not a blizzard:
Meanwhile other parts of the state, including Harvey where I do a weekly radio hit, are still getting lots of the white stuff as global warming rages on. Big fun.

Meanwhile, we suffer through another day of 75 degree sunny weather. There might be a little wind, though.