Gary Hoffer

Bismarck

I always placed my bets on wise North Dakota logic. Wait, I might have been wrong. Old white guys leading us to the promise land. I had progressive ingenuity in mind. What was I thinking?

When you think you have a sure thing the one armed bandit spits out a rusty peso. For instances, medical marijuana was a good bet and the people bet against the house and won. Not so fast on recreational marijuana. Medical and recreational sounds confusing. Medical good, recreational an orgy of smoke filled rooms and grannies in aprons whipping up batches of pistachio brownies. Take pharmaceutical companies, their drugs are just medical. Oxycodene, fentanyl, purely medical and you can leave it up to the user to determine the recreational side of it. Smart marketing.

Another bet I will not be taking is wind energy. Not much backlash from nature lovers camping next to an oil rig but please no wind turbines. The sound of blades against the night air and falling birds thumping on my camper roof while sleeping is the energy from hell. Wind pollution, a liberal nightmare. Does it get any worse? We can’t stop now. The ethics thing took everyone by surprise. Have we lost our right to bribe? Where is the 1 1/2% extraction tax giveaway going? Caterers taking a hit, crab and lobsters saved, snacks absent from the needy. Voter tyranny at its worst. A bright spot is the alcohol industry. Hard to give up No.1.

Right now I have some sure bets. Property taxes rising, continued oil spills, no Legacy dollars for citizens, The North Dakota 500 with Rep. Blum taking the checkered flag and of course 80 days of ethics whining. A winning combination.