It's official (a day off of the 24-hour news cycle but who cares):
Breaking the mold of traditional political Conventions, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today announced that Senator Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for President of the United States at Denver’s INVESCO Field at Mile High. INVESCO Field can accommodate more than 75,000 people and will be the site of the 2008 Democratic Convention’s final day of programming on Thursday, August 28, 2008
At the Democratic National Convention next month, Barack will deliver his acceptance speech in front of 75,000 people at a free, open event in Denver, Colorado.
Make a donation of $5 or more between now and midnight on July 31st, and you could be one of 10 supporters chosen to meet Barack backstage and watch his acceptance speech in person.
Each of the 10 selected supporters can bring a guest, and will be flown to Denver to spend two days at the convention, culminating in Barack's speech on Thursday, August 28th.
This is shaping up to be a good year to get involved, and Chad and I will be there in the middle of the fray reporting to you all. Do yourself a favor. Throw $5 in. You won't miss it.
I hope I'm not the only one who saw humor in the story in the papers this morning about the Bear that roamed south Fargo yesterday.
"I know people have this mental image of a bear being big," Leier said. "But when you put it in perspective, a 140- to 150-pound bear is probably close to the size of the deer you typically see in North Dakota."
Yeah. Bears are just like deer. The bear in Fargo was just like a big, hungry, carnivorous deer with fangs and claws that can chase you down and rip you apart with one swipe.
The 100 year celebration for the rural church my father's family lived near out in rural Dunn County, North Dakota, took place on Saturday. I went out and attended the celebration before heading to the family reunion. Near the end of the church celebration program, audience members were invited to come up to the microphone and tell a story about the old church. I don't remember who got up and told this story about the church, but I thought it was brilliant, and I'm going to try to do it justice for you here today.
One particularly blizzardy winter Sunday, only one farmer was able to make it to church. The pastor took his place behind the pulpit and gave his prepared Sunday service, with hymns, prayers, the sermon and announcements; the whole works. At the end of the service, the pastor walked to the back of the church, as he always did, to shake hands with and greet the parishioner(s). As the two approached each other, the pastor asked the farmer what he thought of the sermon. The farmer said, "Every day I drive a load of hay out to the field to feed the cows. Some days the whole herd shows up, and sometimes it's just one cow. When it's just the one cow, I don't dump a whole load."
P.S. Thanks to all of your thoughts and prayers. My dad is coming home this morning. He has no damage and his heart is working normally. His ejection fraction is .55, which is exactly what a normal heart has, but a person that just had a heart attack would normally drop to .25 or so. He is a real miracle man.
Twenty-five years ago tonight I found myself in the field behind the school in Glen Ullin, North Dakota. The town was celebrating its centennial. A band from Bismarck -- whose name escapes me (but whose bass player was Rich Pearson) -- coverered this song.
Remarks on Veterans Senator Barack Obama July 3, 2008
As Prepared for Delivery
Tomorrow, we’ll mark the 4th of July with barbecues and parades; fireworks and time off with loved ones. We’ll also have the opportunity to give thanks for our troops and veterans. Their sacrifice has made possible the freedom that we enjoy. And keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core American value and a cornerstone of American patriotism. Because America's commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end.
Without that commitment, I might not be here today. My grandfather - Stanley Dunham - enlisted after Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army. My grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line while he was gone, and my mother was born at Fort Leavenworth. When he returned, it was to a country that gave him the chance to go to college on the GI Bill; to buy his first home with a loan from the FHA; to move his family west, all the way to Hawaii, where he and my grandmother helped raise me. Today, my grandfather is buried in the Punchbowl, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where 776 victims of Pearl Harbor are laid to rest.
I knew him when he was older. But whenever I meet young men and women along the campaign trail who are serving in the military today, I think about what my grandfather was like when he enlisted - a fresh-faced man of twenty-three, with a hearty laugh and an easy smile.
These sons and daughters of America are the best and the bravest among us. When our troops go into battle, they serve no faction or party; they represent no race or region. They are simply Americans. They serve and fight and bleed together out of loyalty not just to a place on a map or a certain kind of people, but to a set of ideals that we have been striving for since the first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord - the idea that America could be governed not by men, but by laws; that we could be equal in the eyes of those laws; that we could be free to say what we want and write what we want and worship as we please; that we could have the right to pursue our individual dreams, but the obligation to help our fellow citizens pursue theirs.
Allegiance to these ideals has always been at the core of American patriotism - it's what unites a country of so many different opinions and beliefs. At the same time, we must never forget that honoring these ideals must mean honoring the men and women who defend them in the uniform of the United States. This requires more than saluting our veterans as they march by in a 4th of July parade. It requires only sending them to war when we must, and giving them the equipment they need to complete their mission safely. It requires giving them the care and benefits they have earned. And it requires standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our veterans and their families after the guns fall silent and the cameras are turned off.
We know that over the last eight years, we've often fallen short of meeting this test. We learned about the deplorable conditions that were discovered at places like Fort Bragg and Walter Reed. We've walked by a veteran whose home is now a cardboard box on a street corner in the richest nation on Earth. We've heard about what it's like to navigate the broken bureaucracy of the VA - the impossibly long lines, or the repeated calls for help that get you nothing more than an answering machine.
It doesn't have to be this way. Not in this country. There are many aspects of the war in Iraq that have gone inalterably wrong, but caring for our veterans is one thing we can still get right.
When I arrived in the Senate, I sought out a seat on the Veterans Affairs Committee so I could fight to serve our veterans as well as they have served us. We fought to make sure that the claims of disabled veterans in Illinois and other states were being heard fairly. We passed laws to get homeless veterans off the streets and to prevent at-risk veterans from getting there in the first place. I led a bipartisan effort to improve outpatient facilities at places like Walter Reed, and to slash red tape, and reform the disability process - because recovering troops should go to the front of the line, and they shouldn't have to fight to get there. And we passed laws to give family members health care while they care for injured troops, and a year of job protection so they never have to face a choice between caring for a loved one and keeping a job.
But there is so much more work that we need to do in this country. We have much further to go to keep our sacred trust with the men and women who serve.
That's why I've pledged to build a 21st century VA as President. It means no more red tape - it's time to give every service-member electronic copies of medical and service records upon discharge. It means no more shortfalls - we'll fully fund VA health care, and add more Vet Centers, particularly in rural areas. It means no more delays - we'll pass on-time budgets. It means no more means-testing - it's time to allow every veteran into the VA system. And it means we'll have a simple principle for veterans sleeping on our streets: zero tolerance. As President, I'll build on the work I started in the Senate and expand housing vouchers, and launch a new supportive services housing program to prevent at-risk veterans and their families from sliding into homelessness.
I'll also build on the work I did in the Senate to confront one of the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. We have to understand that for far too many troops and their families, the war doesn't end when they come home. But only half of troops returning with PTSD receive the treatment they need. Think of how many we turn away - of how many we let fall through the cracks; of how many suffer in silence. We have to do better than this.
In the Senate, I've helped lead a bipartisan effort to stop the unfair practice of kicking out troops who suffer from PTSD. And when I'm President, we'll enhance mental health screening and treatment at all levels. We also need more mental health professionals, more training to recognize signs and to reject the stigma of seeking care. And we need to dramatically improve screening and treatment for the other signature injury of the war, Traumatic Brain Injury. That's why I passed measures in the Senate to increase screening for these injuries, and that's why I'll establish clearer standards of care as President.
We have called on our troops and their families for so much during these last years, but we haven't always issued that call responsibly. We need to restore twelve month Army deployments, but we also need to restore adequate training and time at home between those deployments. My wife, Michelle, recently met with Army spouses in North Carolina who told her about the toll it takes to have your loved one leave for tour after tour of duty. And they told her something we all need to remember: "We don't just deploy our troops overseas, we deploy families." That's why we also need to provide more counseling and resources to help families cope with multiple tours. That’s what we owe our military families who have sacrificed so much for us.
And when our loved ones do come home, it is time for the United States of America to offer this generation of returning heroes the same thanks we offered that earlier, Greatest Generation - by giving every veteran the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the GI Bill. That’s why I was proud to be a strong supporter of the 21st Century GI Bill that was introduced by my friend Senator Jim Webb. This bill will provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it won’t harm retention.
The brave Americans who fight today believe deeply in this country. And no matter how many you meet, or how many stories of heroism you hear, every encounter reminds that they are truly special. That through their service, they are living out the ideals that stir so many of us as Americans - pride, duty, and sacrifice.
Some of the most inspiring are those you meet at places like Walter Reed Army Medical Center. They are young men and women who may have lost a limb or even their ability to take care of themselves, but they will never lose the pride they feel for their country. It's this classically American optimism that makes you realize the quality of person we have serving in the United States Armed Forces.
This, after all, is what led them to wear the uniform in the first place - their unwavering belief in the idea of America. The idea that no matter where you come from, or what you look like, or who your parents are, this is a place where anything is possible; where anyone can make it; where we look out for each other, and take care of each other; where we rise and fall as one nation - as one people. It's an idea that's worth fighting for - an idea for which so many Americans have given that last full measure of devotion.
I can still remember the day that we laid my grandfather to rest. In a cemetery lined with the graves of Americans who have sacrificed for our country, we heard the solemn notes of Taps and the crack of guns fired in salute; we watched as a folded flag was handed to my grandmother. It was a nation's final act of service and gratitude to Stanley Dunham - an America that stood by my grandfather when he took off the uniform, and never left his side.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. But I also like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."
There is no doubt that we are a nation that is deeply proud of where we live. But it is now our task to live in a way that Stanley Dunham lived; to live the way that those heroes at Walter Reed have lived. It is now our task to live so that America will be proud of us. That is the true test of patriotism - the test that all of us must meet in the days and years to come. So as we mark this Independence Day, let us rededicate ourselves to meeting that challenge, and to serving those who have worn the uniform of the United States as well as they have served us.
It looks like Duane Sand, a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, forgot to fill his airplane with fuel before taking off on a flight across North Dakota last month.
Republican Congressional candidate Duane Sand said an icy carburetor likely caused the crash of the airplane he was piloting last month.
Sand told WDAY-AM radio that he was en route from Bismarck, N.D., to Lisbon when his single-engine Cessna tumbled into a LaMoure County cornfield.
When I was in college, one of my best friends was a private pilot. (He now flies for American Airlines -- Hey Johnny!!! -- and is based out of New York City.) While in college, John and I used to go flying fairly regularly. We'd fly up around Lake Sakakawea and out to Lake Tschida and up over the Heart River. We kind of went all over Western North Dakota. It was a lot of fun. But before we ever taxied out on the runway, John -- who was probably 20 years old -- had a checklist he'd go through. Check the tires. Check the wings. Check the gas. Check the instrument panel. Check the navigation equipment. Check the communications system. Yadda, yadda, yadda. (I'm not a pilot.) That seemed to make sense to me. We were, after all, going up in an airplane. If you run out of gas in your car, you can usually just pull over. It kind of seems like a no-brainer to me that you'd check your gas before going up in an airplane. I was thankful to have a responsible, professional person manning the yoke of the airplane.
According to the story in the Forum, Sand's plane had "less than 32 ounces" of fuel in it when he crashed. I've had coffee drinks bigger than that.
Thank goodness he survived the emergency landing, but this just seems like something that never should have happened. Forget his whacky politics and the fringe tax protester group he used to run; if he can't remember to put fuel in his plane, do we really want him representing our entire state in Congress?
Last night I attended the 4th of July (observed) celebration and picnic for the Bismarck Democrats. All of the Democratic-NPL legislative candidates from the area gave short (30 second) speeches, and we also heard from Rep. Earl Pomeroy and Sen. Kent Conrad (pictured.)
Among other interesting points, Senator Conrad mentioned that polling was done in North Dakota a little less than 2 weeks ago, and Senator Barack Obama leads John McAngry in North Dakota by 1 point. Though I'm not a big fan of polls, I still think that's huge. I wouldn't say it's indicative of what will happen in November, and I won't say that I think Obama is going to win North Dakota, but I think it's a miracle that a Democratic presidential candidate is even in the running in North Dakota.
I'll have internet access (I think) but don't know how much blogging I'm going to be doing over the long weekend. I'll be spending the weekend with family (father, spouse, 3 sisters, 2 brothers-in-law and 8 assorted kids between 2 months and 11 years). Fireworks, lake, boats, good food and western North Dakota sunsets.
I've got a couple things I'm working on but doubt I'll get around to posting them until next week. We'll see. Some of what I've been looking at lately is stuff I don't think most of you would be interested in, but I need to think about that. [Wonk alert!] Stay tuned.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Remember: America can be respected around the world again. North Dakota's government can be worthy of respect again. We just need to make some major leadership changes.
Adam -- my co-blogger here at NorthDecoder.com -- has a blog post over at DailyKos from yesterday. The title is "My Dad Had A Heart Attack Today."
I was sitting this afternoon at work when I received a call from my sister with the news. As the title suggests, my dad had gone in that afternoon with chest pains, and sure enough, he had a heart attack. I passed by three people as I bolted out the door to the hospital and told them what happened. When I got there we had about ten agonizing minutes of waiting before the cardiologist came and spoke to us. It was a miracle how it happened. He was coded immediately and taken to the cardio cath lab and a stent was placed in his artery. It took all of 17 minutes for that to happen from the time he walked in to the time they were done.
It was bad. His artery that pumps the left main ventricle was blocked. The blood flow stopped completely while they were performing the catheter, so they got there just in time. He is now in stable condition, sedated but in as good of condition as could be hoped for in his situation.
He is extremely lucky to be alive and for circumstances to have been what they were. He works in Kindred, ND, 30 minutes out of Fargo, with no hospital of significance in town. Had he been at the office he would not have made it. Had the golf tournament at the Moorhead Country Club not been rained out last week and been rescheduled for this morning and not this afternoon he would not have made it. Had the tournament not been at the nearest golf course in town he might not have made it. Had he not had two brothers with heart problems(one who died almost immediately after he had it) he might not have had the levelheadedness to go to the hospital emergency room, and he might not have made it. If this was a normal day, my dad would not be alive right now.
If you pray, please say a prayer for Adam, his dad, his family and the medical professionals working with his dad today. If you don't pray, please send them some kind thoughts.
Update(Adam): Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. My dad is doing great, and the doctors say that there is no damage to his heart. It is amazing. The hospital staff is calling him their miracle man. I couldn't ask for him to be any better. They are probably moving him out of the ICU this afternoon or evening sometime.
The North Dakota Supreme Court, today, filed a decision, reversing the dismissal of criminal charges against the former director of North Dakota's Workforce Safety and Insurance, Charles "Sandy" Blunt.
In a 12 page, unanimous decision, the Court determined the trial court judge had committed reversible error:
The court essentially engrafted an additional element onto the offense of misapplication of entrusted property that is not included in the statute. The language of the statute, the legislative history, and our case law do not support the district court’s conclusion. The focus and purpose of the statute is protection of the owner’s interest in the entrusted property, not whether the defendant received a personal benefit from misuse of the property. In short, “[a] public officer entrusted with public funds has no right to give them away.” 63C Am. Jur. 2d Public Officers and Employees § 265 (1997); see also Teigen v. State, 2008 ND 88, ¶ 35 (Sandstrom, J., concurring specially) (N.D. Const. art. X, § 18, “restrain[s] . . . government actors from gifting public funds or property”).
We conclude the district court erred when it based its dismissal of the complaint upon lack of evidence that Blunt personally benefitted from the alleged unauthorized expenditures of public funds.
The court characterized the trial judge's application of law as "an apparent misconception of the purpose and scope of a preliminary hearing."
In this case, the district court implicitly found that, as a matter of law, the expenditure of public funds for gift certificates, food, beverages, flowers, balloons, decorations, costume rentals, ornaments, and gifts was authorized because there was a corresponding public benefit in the form of happier, more productive employees.
The critical flaw in the district court’s rationale is that it has no limits. If Blunt had used public funds to give every WSI employee a new car, or to take them and their families to Disneyland, presumably the employees would have been happier, and it may have been easier to retain good employees. We doubt, however, that anyone would argue it was an appropriate expenditure of public funds. While most of the expenditures in this case were relatively small on an individual basis, the aggregate alleged amounts to more than $18,000. We do not view that as an insignificant amount of public funds, nor would its misuse be inconsequential.
The Court also found that the retroactive payments for additional salaries to employees who had already been fully compensated amounted to "improper bonuses not authorized under state law." (If proven at trial.)
I have to tell you that there is nothing in this decision that surprises me, at all. If it had gone the other way, the North Dakota Supreme Court would have been creating new law. That would have been something worth a much longer blog post.
Note: For a short period after today, the Supreme Court's opinion is subject to a petition for rehearing. Petitions for rehearing are rarely granted. Even when they are granted, they almost never result in any change in the outcome of the decision.
It looks like Sandy Blunt may still stand trial for a charge of misapplication of entrusted funds.
The Associated Press and the Fargo Forum are reporting that Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House, will be in Fargo on Thursday, July 3rd. (Click here and here.) They really don't have any details about the visit yet, other than that Obama is coming to N.D.
I won't be there. I'll be heading the other direction for the 4th.
I hope I'm not the only one who saw humor in the story in the papers this morning about the Bear that roamed south Fargo yesterday.
The 100 year celebration for the rural church my father's family lived near out in rural Dunn County, North Dakota, took place on Saturday. I went out and attended the celebration before heading to the family reunion. Near the end of the church celebration program, audience members were invited to come up to the microphone and tell a story about the old church. I don't remember who got up and told this story about the church, but I thought it was brilliant, and I'm going to try to do it justice for you here today.
It looks like Duane Sand, a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, forgot to fill his airplane with fuel before taking off on a flight across North Dakota last month.
Last night I attended the 4th of July (observed) celebration and picnic for the Bismarck Democrats. All of the Democratic-NPL legislative candidates from the area gave short (30 second) speeches, and we also heard from Rep. Earl Pomeroy and Sen. Kent Conrad (pictured.)
Adam -- my co-blogger here at NorthDecoder.com -- has a blog post over at DailyKos from yesterday. The title is "My Dad Had A Heart Attack Today."
The North Dakota Supreme Court, today, filed a decision, reversing the dismissal of criminal charges against the former director of North Dakota's Workforce Safety and Insurance, Charles "Sandy" Blunt.
The Associated Press and the Fargo Forum are reporting that Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House, will be in Fargo on Thursday, July 3rd. (Click 
