“North Dakota, United States” on The Daily Caller

This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been on I-94 after a Packers game. (more)

Senate Democrats who blocked an immigration bill in 2007 say they are undecided on how to vote on the measure this week. (more)

A North Dakota man is facing felony charges for hatching the most harebrained scheme to get his ex-girlfriend to have sex with him. (more)

When it comes to federal spending, it easy to become numb to numbers: $180,000,000,000 to AIG; $150,000,000,000 to Fannie and Freddie; and now $26,100,000,000 to bailout the states (on top of an earlier $53,600,000,000 state education bailout described an “historic,” “temporary” and “one-time appropriation” way back . . . in 2009).  All those zeros start to run together pretty quickly.  And when the federal government is running a year-to-date deficit of $1.2 trillion, isn’t another $26.1 billion practically a rounding error?  Horrifyingly, yes.  But the latest state bailout is a particularly flagitious swindle that deserves your attention. (more)

While there is a smörgåsbord of Democratic energy bills floating around Congress, the common thread they all share is a yearning to further tax oil and natural gas producers. Expected to be voted on today, H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010 (CLEAR Act) levies a tax of $2 per barrel of oil and 20 cents per million BTU of natural gas. Thursday the House voted on H.R. 5893, the humorously named, Investing in American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, a bill which would tax oil and natural gas producers and raise gas prices for consumers. (more)

According to Democratic leaders in the Senate, the 60 votes needed to pass a climate bill may be a lot more difficult to come by than they originally thought. Last weekend, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said, “If you actually have a bill that puts in place a cap-and-trade system or a limit on greenhouse gases and a mandatory reduction in greenhouse gases, I think it’s difficult to see where we get the 60 votes to pass that legislation.” (more)

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its review of the American Power Act proposed by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). The analysis is conveniently rosy, and the sponsors are eagerly promoting the EPA’s finding that the average household will face an average estimated cost increase of only $79, to $146. (more)

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Last week, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) gave a keynote speech before a crowd of Internet regulation supporters and stated some amusing falsehoods about the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) attempt to take over the Internet. At a summit held by the organization Free Press, Sen. Dorgan claimed that the government developed the Internet, established the rules underpinning net neutrality when it created the Internet, and that the attempt by the FCC to takeover the management of networks is not a government takeover. (more)

There is an “emerging consensus” that we are headed for a value-added tax (VAT) in the United States. But the more optimistic among the experts and pundits believe it won’t come until after the 2012 election and then only if President Obama is reelected. There is no doubt that something will have to be done about the financial crisis and the federal debt—even if ObamaCare is repealed—and many believe the “hidden” VAT is the politically viable solution. Many openly say that the VAT, with its costs hidden in the price of commercial products, is the only way to get the money to pay for ObamaCare. (more)

In my long career working with low-income and minority families in Alabama and elsewhere across the South, I’ve seen first-hand how groups are disproportionately affected by the cost of rising electricity bills. (more)

ROUTE 83, south of Minot, North Dakota, is a particularly barren stretch of a barren state. Last year, however, nearby fields sprouted a new crop: a $250m, 80-turbine wind farm. Not far west is Fort Berthold, home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Wind hurtles across the reservation, careening around houses and over hilltops. The Indian tribe has just one turbine to catch it. (more)

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill that would provide tax cuts for businesses that hire unemployed workers cleared a GOP filibuster in the Senate Monday, opening the way for final congressional approval. (more)