For a while now I’ve been wondering if we have a housing bubble in North Dakota. I definitely think we’ve got a bubble of hotel rooms. In Minot, and points further west into the Bakken boom area, there are hundreds of new hotel rooms, but occupancy rates are beginning to fall and where just a…
With Carbon Emissions Already Dropping, Why Do We Need "Sweeping Action" On Climate Change?
“Obama to take sweeping action on climate,” reports the Washington Post. “President Obama will announce his intention to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, increase appliance efficiency standards and promote renewable energy development on public lands in a speech Tuesday outlining his plan to use executive powers to address climate change.” In other…
Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Oversight Of Elections
The Voting Rights Act, in part, gave the federal government authority over state elections in some jurisdictions, mostly in the south but also in states like Alaska and parts of New York too. The law was intended to stop discrimination against minority voters, and when it was challenged in the 1960’s the Supreme Court upheld…
Chancellor Shirvani Blasts Minot State, UND And NDSU President In Evaluations
Chancellor Hamid Shirvani may be on his way out the door, but per his contract buy out agreement he’s still in-office until the middle of July, and he had some choice words for some of the university system’s presidents on the way out the door. Specifically, he’s requested full evaluations for the leadership of Minot…
A Father's Day Lament
Father’s Day isn’t quite the same as mother’s day. Every year statistics, well-worn but still true, are cited to prove it. There are more collect calls on Father’s Day than any other day of the year. About 140 million moms receive cards for Mother’s Day, compared to just 90 million dads getting Father’s Day cards.…
Some Things Are Scarier Than Terrorism
The news that the NSA is monitoring pretty much every phone call in America, and accessing our electronic communications as well, is scary stuff. There may be no more certain evidence of how disconcerting the American public is finding these revelations than the fact that George Orwell’s classic novel about a future, dystopian surveillance state…
Poll: Most Americans Blame Welfare For Persistent Poverty
You have to wonder, if this poll is accurate, where were these people in November when the number of people on food stamps and other social programs were a major part of the campaign? Two decades after President Bill Clinton promised to “end welfare as we know it,” Americans blame government handouts for persistent poverty…
“Can You Trust This Administration With Your Phone Records?”
The headline is the question Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) asked on Face the Nation this morning, but I think that’s the wrong question to ask. It’s not whether or not we trust the Obama administration to monitor our phone calls and read our emails. It’s whether or not we can trust any administration, or the…
When Shoddy Journalism Obscures A Real Public Policy Problem
Health care prices are out of control. I don’t think that’s a statement many in America would disagree with. But when reporters like the Fargo Forum’s Kyle Potter cover the issue, they often do the problem a real disservice. Potter has a story about prices charged at Fargo-area hospitals, prices that are below the national…
Obama Calls NSA Scandal A "Modest Encroachment On Privacy"
I never thought I’d say this, but these days President Obama is sounding a lot like Dick Cheney. Because right before calling the NSA’s enormous, data-mining program a “modest encroachment” on the privacy of American citizens he basically acknowledges that Bush was right about this stuff. The President was skeptical of these sort of programs…