For a variety of reasons we are not at liberty to discuss, events in the Peace Garden State catch the eye of Morganobrien.com from time to time. This weekend, two pieces caught our eye:

The first was written by a member of the extended Chaminade alumni family network and long-time Morganobrien.com favorite, Maj. Patricia Traynor. Minot Air Force Base has seen a number of military dignitaries visit it's hallowed grounds.

(In other Magic City-related news, pop star Fergie was also spotted working out in town on Thanksgiving. Apparently visiting beau Josh Duhamel's family. Seriously).

Deterrence is not a fading concept, CSAF says

by Maj. Patricia Traynor
5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

12/6/2008 - MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (AFNS) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz reminded community members and North Dakota's senior elected representatives at a luncheon here Dec. 1 that "deterrence is not a fading concept."

(link)

And while North Dakota is often the butt of numerous jokes, look who's getting the last laugh:

A Placid North Dakota Asks, Recession? What Recession?
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: December 6, 2008
Surging oil production, a good year for farmers and a conservative culture have shielded the state.
FARGO, N.D. — As the rest of the nation sinks into a 12th grim month of recession, this state, at least up until now, has been quietly reveling in a picture so different that it might well be on another planet.

A slow afternoon at the Fargo branch of Job Service North Dakota, where the state employees outnumbered the job seekers.

The number of new cars sold statewide was 27 percent higher this year than last, state records through November showed. North Dakota’s foreclosure rate was minuscule, among the lowest in the country. Many homes have still been gaining modestly in value, and, here in Fargo, construction workers can be found on any given day hammering away on a new downtown condominium complex, complete with a $540,000 penthouse (still unsold, but with a steady stream of lookers).
(link)

Oh, and the best part of the article...

Katie Hasbargen, a spokeswoman for Microsoft’s Fargo campus, which is in the middle of a $70 million or so building expansion and is, even now, looking for a few additions to its work force (of more than 1,500), said false perceptions of the state are the problem when it comes to recruiting workers. “The movie,” Ms. Hasbargen said, referring to the 1996 Coen brothers’ film that bears this city’s name, “didn’t do us a lot of favors.”