Random Thoughts On A Cold Morning

Having it Both Ways

I’m trying so darn hard not to be a partisan on this blog, but geez, there are some things that just tick me off. One of them is what was said by Governor Hoeven in the paper this morning, commenting on the President’s speech Wednesday night. Our Governor was critical of a 21 per cent budget increase in some federal programs. Well, people who live in glass houses . . . I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I seem to recall at least two recent North Dakota Legislative sessions where Governor Hoeven’s budget proposal was at least 25 per cent higher than the previous biennium. You won’t find me among the critics of those budgets, because much of the increase was for much needed new funds for education. You will find me among the critics of hypocrisy and pandering now that the Governor is a candidate for higher (?) office and needs to swing way to the right to keep his party’s activist base happy. But then, I think Curly and his friends have good memories too.

Cousins, But We Ain’t Kissin’

Okay, so now we learn (it’s true, you can look it up on the Internet) that President Barack Obama and newly elected Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts are related. Yep, they are actually 10^th cousins. They are both descended from one Richard Singletary, who died in 1687 at age 102. Uffda. Let me tell you, though, that stretching out distant cousin relationships doesn’t reveal much about family similarities. I’ll give you an example of how far apart relationships like that can go. I have a second cousin named Margaret. Her grandmother and my grandmother were half-sisters. My great grandfather was widowed at a young age and remarried. He had daughters with each of his wives. They were the grandmothers of Margaret and I. Margaret and I don’t have much in common though, other than a mutual interest in politics. We hardly know each other, even though we both live here in Bismarck. Margaret ran for political office once, and I didn’t vote for her. She will be running for the North Dakota Senate again this year, against one of my best friends, Tracy Potter. No offense, Cousin Margaret (Mrs. Sitte), but blood is not thicker than politics. Tracy will get my vote again. (I think Margaret and I once had an agreement not to tell anyone we were related, but one of us broke it long ago. Now the whole world knows. Uffda again.)

Friends, Not Cousins

Speaking of voting, I’m ticked off at a couple of my friends too. Three of them, actually. And all three are running for Congress in North Dakota. There’s been a lot of criticism coming from the right directed at my friend Earl Pomeroy the past couple of weeks. My friend Kevin Cramer (God, I hope he’s still my friend a year from today) and my friend Rick Berg (Rick’s from Hettinger, and I’m from Hettinger, and Hettinger has never had a Congressman, and he’s going to cause me a lot of heartburn on Election Day if he is the Republican candidate) have both accused Earl of walking in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress. Y’know, guys, this goes both ways. EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN in the U.S. Senate voted in lockstep with Mitch McConnell on the major pieces of legislation last year. And EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN in the House of Representatives voted in lockstep with . . . aw, darn it, I can’t even think of the House Minority Leader’s name (that’s how insignificant a player he is), and I’m not going to waste time looking it up. Now, if Rick or Kevin gets to Washington, that’s exactly what they are going to have to do. So just don’t pay any attention to that kind of criticism this year. As for Earl, I hope he quits talking like a weenie on health care. He voted for the House bill. He should vote for the Senate bill (see Monday’s blog post). And then fix it.

Totally Unrelated

And speaking of friends and cousins, today’s paper also says state wildlife officials say there are more coyotes in western North Dakota, and with the increase has come a jump in the number of coyotes with mange. Nah, I’m not going there.