Month: February 2011

FRACKING: REDUX Last week: (Director of the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources) Lynn Helms said he doesn’t believe it’s necessary to know what’s in fracturing fluid. “We’d just bury ourselves in information doing the full disclosure thing. I don’t think people read ingredients on food they buy at the grocery store. This would just alarm … Continue reading A Few New Weekenders

North Dakota Democrats are scrambling to find candidates to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kent Conrad, as well as Governor and the U.S. House seat. They’d do well to focus first on the Governor’s office, as I mentioned last week. As Democrats have learned in the last decade, you don’t build … Continue reading Timing, Vol. II

WHAT THE FRACK? The chief regulator of the North Dakota oil industry, Lynn Helms, was asked by a reporter last week if he was interested in knowing what goes into the water used in fracturing oil shale to release the oil, and if oil drilling companies should be required to disclose what goes into the … Continue reading Weekenders III

Of all the participant or spectator sports I know of, politics is the one, I think, in which timing is the most important. Politicians come and go. Elections are won and lost. There are many factors which figure into the eventual outcome of an election, but it almost always starts with timing. Some examples. Kevin … Continue reading Timing, Vol. I

Once upon a time, when I worked for The Dickinson Press, we ran a local feature on the editorial page on Saturday morning called “Weekenders.” The whole staff contributed, but the editor, John Neckels had the final say on what was included, and how it was said, and took responsibility for any repercussions. The Weekenders … Continue reading Weekenders