I Make Sense

IT'S ON!

2005-04-15T13:20:00.000-06:00

My new blog is up...

Here's the address

http://endstandards.blogspot.com

Come check it out

So that didn't last long...

2005-04-14T20:00:00.000-06:00

I've already started building my new blog...

A little less politics, a little more computer stuff, a lot more random thoughts.

I'm still toying with the name, but right now i'm leaning towards </Standards> . I'll explain what it means if I go with it and I'll let everyone know where its located at as well.

Thanks
HRYK.
(oh yeah, that anonymous bullshit just might end too)

Done Dundee

2005-03-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

If you haven't noticed I haven't blogged for weeks. I'm gonna be done, I got a wedding to get through and that whole graduating and going to law school thing too. I want to thank everyone who linked to me, especially Wes and Ryne.

I'll most likely start blogging again at some point in the somewhat near future. Wheter it be political or not, I don't know, but I doubt I'll be able to keep my opinions to myself.
Peace out.

State of the Union

2005-02-02T23:05:00.000-07:00

So I missed the live speech, watching the rerun right now...

First thought: anyone else notice who Kerry was standing next to? Sen Tim Johnson. I got nothing more on this, just an observation.

PS. I'll keep blogging sporadically at best for the next couple of months.

Dem's idol collected coin too

2005-01-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

As just about everyone should know, the dems in SD have been making a big hubbub about a couple of SD rep bloggers who were paid as consultants for the Thune campaign.

It looks like Kos, the democratic bloggers equivalent to God, was also on the take, not just on the take... Selling his airtime.

zonkette: Financially Interested Blogging:
On Dean’s campaign, we paid Markos and Jerome Armstrong as consultants, largely in order to ensure that they said positive things about Dean. We paid them over twice as much as we paid two staffers of similar backgrounds, and they had several other clients.

While they ended up also providing useful advice, the initial reason for our outreach was explicitly to buy their airtime. To be very clear, they never committed to supporting Dean for the payment -- but it was very clearly, internally, our goal.

This is all over the blogosphere, everywhere. But not on the SD dems blogs. The SD conservative bloggers were willing to openly discuss Thune's payment to two DBA members, one even openly criticized them. Whether we agreed or not we were not afraid to talk about it.

Come on Ben, Come on Todd, what are your thoughts?

I'll take it...

2005-01-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

Trent Dlugosh has a post challenging SD bloggers to take an oath here.

"'Jeffrey Dubner, from the online site of the American Prospect, suggests commentators take an oath:
'I swear that I have never taken money -- whether directly or indirectly -- from any political campaign or government agency -- whether federal, state, or local -- in exchange for any service performed in my job as a journalist (or commentator, or blogger, or whatever you think I should be called).''

I am willing to take that oath. I challenge all other South Dakota bloggers to do the same, left and right both."

Sure I'll take the oath, I don't think it is necessary, but I'll take it. Blogs are journals of opinion, not news sources. Does Mr. Dubner or Mr. Dlugosh expect me to take the Hypocratic Oath that a doctor would if I intend to pull out a tooth, or apply a band-aid? I know what the SD left blogs are trying to do, and they're doing a decent job at making people believe that these blogs purported to be news sources so they should be judged the same way as news sources. The fact is they didn't and they shouldn't. Regardless of who was paying their bills.

E-file shenanigans

2005-01-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

/. has a post about taxes (slashdot? taxes? huh?) that got me thinking about something. Here's their quote

Slashdot | Tax Time Again: Any Linux Solutions? -
As a Linux user, I've used Intuits Turbo Tax On The Web in the past but I don't like paying someone $20 to $30 to submit my forms. For the last few years I've been filling out the forms by hand and mailing them for $0.37 instead. Call me cheap. The IRS has a target of 80% of all taxpayers using e-file in the near future. Does anyone know where the 'free and open' solution is? Do we need to petition the IRS? Currently the IRS seems to be protecting their 'approved e-file partners' profit margins in the name of a security layer. (I call shenanigans!)" So how will you be doing this year's taxes? I'd settle for a good PDF editor to neatly complete the IRS's PDF forms.

Good point. Why can't we get a secure free .gov site to file our taxes electronically? too many eggs in one basket? Last year I did mine online through a site called taxslayer.com I was happy with them last year and I will use them again this year. Last year my filing fee was waved because, well, I'm a full time student who doesn't make that much money (If was free last year anyways, I don't see anything suggesting it would be offering the same deal this year).

Like the /. post says, it should not cost me 20-30 bucks just to do something that I am already required by law to do anyways. If taxslayer won't offer the same deal they did last year, I'm going to be spending .37 cents as well, and make some johnny pencilpusher try and read my hand writing. bwaha, bwahaha, mbwahahahahaha ya, that's my evil laugh... what of it?

Abourezk and Fonda, a match made in hades

2005-01-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

THAT TITLE IS JUST A JOKE, DON'T SUE ME FOR LIBEL.
I REALIZE NEITHER OR THEM ARE ACTUALLY THE DEVIL.

I'm sure many of you have heard this story a while back. Former SD Senator Jim Abourezk (yes, that Abourezk) sued a website that was run by a teenager in Pennsylvania for libel after the youngster put him on a Traitor list (www.probush.com". Well recently Hanoi Jane Fonda was added to Abourezk's lawsuit. The RCJ has a story about this site.

Rapid City Journal: Site won't fight adding Fonda to suit -
An Internet site that calls former U.S. Sen. James Abourezk a traitor will not legally oppose adding Jane Fonda and another woman to Abourezk's lawsuit against the Web page, according to court documents.

Abourezk, who's of Arab descent, was a Democratic U.S. senator from 1973 to 1979 and now practices law in Sioux Falls.

He accused ProBush.com of libel for putting him on a "traitor's list" for criticizing President Bush.
...
Abourezk, who seeks $2 million in actual damages, $3 million in punitive damages and a retraction, had been critical of the war in Iraq. He was part of a four-person delegation that traveled to Syria and Iraq in 2002.

ProBush.com has said in court documents that the First Amendment protects political statements such as those on the Web site, labeling the list "satirical and politically expressive."

Atop the "traitor list" page is this statement: "Parody. Not to be taken seriously. These ‘traitors' are not legal traitors of the United States."

I'm pretty sure that Larry Flint cleared up this whole constitutional protection for parody a while back. His case set precedent protecting parody about politicians that is much more harmful to their character and prestige than simply putting his name on a list on the internet.

And while i'm on the subject had anyone from South Dakota, or anyone else who might deal with Mr. Abourezk profesionally, even heard of the site Probush.com before Abourezk sued? I sure hadn't. I'm willing to bet that the only way Abourezk found out about this list is by googleing himself one day.

This lawsuit is ridiculous, anyone with even a minor understanding of the law knows that. Even Mr. Abourezk and his co-council in the case (and author of at least 3 blogs), Mr Epp, know that it is ridiculous. This lawsuit was simply brought forward to try and strong arm this teenager. That's how these things work, Abourezk figured that the kid couldn't afford an expensive lawsuit and would have to cave and remove Abourezk's name from his list. It's a good thing that there are groups out there that stand up for the true meaning of the constitution (not like the ACLU) and help the kind of people like the defendant's in this case.

Freakin' Sweet Tech - I

2005-01-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

/. has just posted this

Gigabit Transfer Rates Over Power Lines?:
Penn State engineers, Pouyan Amirshahi and Mohsen Kavehrad, estimated in a research paper released Wednesday that their system could deliver data at close to one gigabit per second over medium-voltage electrical lines in ideal conditions, with speeds of hundreds of megabits per second available to home users.

This would be sweet, so sweet, imagine the rampant bittorent use that would happen with transfer rates like THAT. The RIAA has gotta be loving this information.

Reid pushes Dems to blog

2005-01-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

Professor Lauck posts the following story from Congress Daily

SENATE DEMS TALK RELIGION AND BLOGGERS AT RETREAT -

Catholic members of the Senate Democratic Caucus warned their colleagues Wednesday the party must find a way to bridge the religion gap between the Democratic Party and voters of faith to regain control of the chamber, Democratic sources said. The warning came during a day-long retreat convened by Minority Leader Reid. Democrats also discussed the role of Web logs last year, focusing on the November defeat of former Minority Leader Daschle.

Yada yada yada. Same old news, but the Professor also comments on the story...

Sources also tell SDP that Senator Reid copied off articles about the Dakota Blog Alliance and distributed them to Democratic Senators as "must read" items. Reid said Democrats up for re-election in 2006 need to hire bloggers and organize pro-Democratic bloggers in their home states.

Here's my question, does anybody actually want to read a campaign's blog? Did anybody read Bush's blog? not Blogs for Bush, but Bush's Blog? How about The Daschle Digest? anyone? Campaign blogs are boring and lack the same kind of tone that make other blogs daily reads. Additionally if politicians start saturating the market with boring blogs they simply won't be effective. Bloggers like the DBA came together because of their interest in the topics, not because they were paid to start up. Blog groups will naturally come together if they have similar views anyways, I doubt alliances will be very effective if a candidate or party tries to organize them.

South Dakota Politics: January 3, 2005 - January 9, 2005

Daschle's Pension.

2005-01-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Steve Sibson at sibby online has posted a story this morning in which he links to this story...

For lawmakers, pain of defeat eased by generout pensions -
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle's 26-year political career ended with defeat in the November elections, but he did take home a consolation prize: a pension that in its first year will total $121,233.

The 57-year old South Dakotan can also look forward to receiving about $5 million in pension benefits over his expected lifetime for his service in the House and Senate, according to the National Taxpayers Union.

Sibby goes on to say

As the rest of us get ripped off by the government’s Social Security program, the ripped off money is used to fund their cushy retirement...

The $44,000 amounts to over $3,500 per month. That’s about three times higher than the rest of us get to "augment" our retirement with. Of course Daschle’s $121,233 will only augment his wife’s hundreds of thousands of dollars she receives from lobbying.

I am by no means against pensions for legislators, but come on, 5 million dollars? 120k pension for a job that paid 175k? This seems a little outlandish to me. And I'm not just complaining because it's Daschle that's getting this much, The story points out Republican congressman Phil Crane and Doug Bereuter, both of whom are pocketing over 100k a year. Seems to me that it wouldn't hurt any of these guys to cut the pension by about 20k across the board.

I'm back-ish

2005-01-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from the vacation, have been for a while now actually, just been doing other things instead of blogging. I'll probably get back into it at the old pace once classes start in about a week.

Man a lot of stuff has happened since I've been gone.

Yuschenko won, the Tsunami, Thune sworn in, big news stuff.

Tomorrow I have to call one of my least favorite state senators (from RC, I'll give you one guess who it is) because he mentioned to my mom that he wanted me to shadow him at the caucus meetings this upcoming legislative session, and man, if the abortion bill comes up again like Rounds has hinted he would support I would be right in the thick of things, especially since said state senator was one of the leading opposers to the 2004 bill.

I'll keep the blog posted if I go and if anything interesting happens.

Merry CHRISTmas

2004-12-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

I will probably not be actively blogging during the holiday from now through new years. I'm heading down to Rapid City tonight to be with the fam and then on the 26th I'm heading east river to be with the fiance. Dial up is an option, but not one that I'm likely to take up.

SNL video hosting

2004-12-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome WesRoth.com Readers...

I'm helping out with hosting a mirror to the controvercial SNL cartoon file.

Here's the link.

Amazing story

2004-12-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

Check out this email that was sent from a soldier in Iraq, and how an iraqi girl saved an entire US patrol over at BLACKFIVE: The Heart of America

another test

2004-12-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

asd

Politician Won't Say Pledge, May Be Recalled.

2004-12-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

Politician Who Won't Say Pledge Of Allegiance May Be Recalled:
"I have not been standing for the Pledge of Allegiance due to a conflict I have with the wording of the pledge, specifically the words 'under God,'" Councilman David Habecker said.

Sound familiar? It should Rapid City.

Perhaps we should do the same to our beloved Tom Murphy? The same district who sends Sam Kookier, a good conservative, (sp?) to city hall sends a transexual, socialist, secularist who won't even stand for the pledge.

test post

2004-12-15T21:06:00.001-07:00

ASDASDad

test post

2004-12-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

changing things around... making sure atom still works.

More from Ukraine

2004-12-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

"The Blue" Tries To Set Orange Tents on Fire in Simferopol
On the evening of December 14, after Viktor Yanukovych addressed his supporters in Lenin Square, a group of these supporters destroyed several opposition tents with Orange signs and tried to set them on fire.
...
A witness, journalist Nikolay Borysenko, said, "When they overturned the Yushchenko supporters' tents, the crowd began to burn stacks of the popular "Our Krym" newspaper and jump around the fire. It very much reminiscent of 1930s Germany." He also saud that he had called the police, in vain, when the attackers were trying to burn the tents.

That story pretty much speaks for itself. Why is it that the sensitive caring left is always the one who's rallies end up violent? Can you seriously remember a group of conservatives who's political gathering ended up being a riot?

New Forms of Falsification - Double Responsibility
Based on information from Lviv news program, Reporter, Yanukovych supporters have started printing duplicate passports. There are reasons to suspect that these passports will be used by Yanukovych supporters who are willing to "actively" vote multiple times on Election Day in the event absentee ballots are nullified.

Does anyone really think that this will work? I mean in the broader sense of the whole thing. If you look at the maps over at SCSUscholars those regions (states? provinces? whatever they're called) that are light orange are going to be bright orange. The light oranges are going to bleed over into the east and Yuschenko is going to take it to the house. If he doesn't then the entire world will have even less respect for those elections as they did for the last.

On the dioxin note: Yuschenko apparently had 6000 times the normal amount of dioxin in his blood. The second highest concentration ever recorded in a human.

Obligatory post of the day

2004-12-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

I had two finals today, one tough one tomorrow at 8 and another on Friday, so the posts have been light, obviously.

I'm in the middle of studying Early Political Philosophy right now with Legal Env. of Business on the backburner. Of course there's always gotta be something distracting me from studying so I download MovableType, playing around with that on the server where my "real" website is hosted (www.BHTrails.com) I've got zero experience with sql and really none with perl either (I'm an STF at BH, but we're discouraged from learning stuff that the incoming freshmen next year won't be able to do). So anyways, be on the look out for my blog moving, or I may completely blow the whole thing off and stick with blogspot.

In closing let me just throw out a pet-peve I have. Feeds with only a few lines of the posts in it. Come on POWERLINE!

Yushchenko's staff suspects Russia

2004-12-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

ABC News: Yushchenko Aide Alleges 'KGB' Plot:
When asked by ABC News' Bill Weir if the Russian government, and specifically President Vladimir Putin, had anything to do with the poisoning, Yushchenko chief of staff Oleh Rybachuk said: "I am not very positive about government, but what I might say that was Soviet Union ... sort of KGB experts are clearly involved in this plot.
...
Rybachuk added that Yushchenko had been forewarned of the plot. "I actually talked to [Yushchenko] in late July when getting messages from both Ukrainian and Russian ex-secret service agents saying there was a plot and poisoning is number one," he said. Rybachuk said the agents told Yushchenko the goal would not be to kill him but to make him an "invalid" in order to knock him out of the campaign.

And apparently some people think that Yanukovych himself is a KGB agent...

Yanukovych is allegedly a KGB agent:
H. Omelchenko alleges that V. Yanukovych is an agent of the KGB and that his campaign for the Presidency is an operation of the Russian Special Services. But he denies the presence of Russian Special Forces in Ukraine.

He commented on this during a live radio program on NART. "I know the surname of the officer who enlisted him. He is now a KGB lieutenant-general of the Ukrainian RSR reserves, lives in Ukraine, and is a citizen of Ukraine... he lives in the south, his name begins with 'O'; I will not say anything more," said H. Omelchenko.

"The Russian Secret Service, including analytical psychologists, took practically everything into account to ensure that Yanukovych wins the presidency. He would then be completely directed by the Russian Secret Service and, especially, by the president of Russia, Putin. They did not take one thing into account: that the Ukrainian people will rise up in peaceful revolution," stated the parliament member. At the same time, Omelchenko confirms that he personally inspected the facilities of the Presidential Administration when it had been thought that the Russian Special Forces squads were camped there. He did not find any foreign troops. He considers this information to be a rumor deliberately spread so that protestors would be provoked into aggression by which blood would then be shed, and a State of Emergency could be declared.

It takes a whole lot for a guy like me in South Dakota to get interested in Ukrainian politics, but here I am, writing about this wearing a bright orange shirt... Of course it says Dusty Johnson on it, but oh well.

I got money.... Who cares???

2004-12-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

If you somehow got to this site, then you probably linked here from someone interested in South Dakota in some way. If you're interested in South Dakota in some way and are on blogs then you've probably heard about the DBA. If you've read the DBA's recently then you know about the "controversy" about two DBA members, John Lauck and Jason Van Beek, who got paid by Thune's campaign.

Background:
Sibby Online
Ryne McClaren
CQ 1
CQ 2
CQ 3
SDP 1
SDP 2
SDP 3
SDP 4
Powerline
Irrec MusWally and Ryne have a bunch of posts at IM. Scroll through the site.

and posts from the evil empire: (I'm reading them so you don't have to)
CBSThe death groan before the "Bush Memo's" report comes back.

ThunevSD:
It always facinates me how the party of personal responsiblity can't seem to take any. Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo aren't bad because Saddam's torture chambers where worse. I may be ethically challenged but Dan Rather is worse. It's ridiculous.

This is not a matter of taking responsibility or not, It's about the left making a big deal out of nothing.

DailyCockus 1:
Lauck, meanwhile, has zero credibility on the Thune race, he may have violated the Board of Regents rules about professor's extra curricular activities, and now he is peddling a book about the Daschle race.

Firstly, with no times for postings over at DVT there is absolutely no proof that Lauck broke any regents policies, even if there were posts in the middle of the day who's to say that he didn't post from his house? I'm sure that he owns a computer, maybe even a *GASP* portable laptop that he could have taken with him to the campus. Secondly, it's a professor's job to get published. If the book that he is "peddling" has one drip of history in it, guess what... He's doing exactly what he's paid to do.

PrairieProgressive:
I don't have a problem with either getting paid for "research consulting." What is bothersome is the lack of candor. Strikes me that when you are bashing and trashing someone day in and day out, some semblance of propriety or integrity might prompt you to mention to blog visitors that you're on the payroll of the opponent's campaign. But then, why would a campaign preaching moral values worry about things like that?

August 9, 2004. Who would have thought that the Argus Leader would present evidence AGAINST the left in this state. On August 9, 2004 the Argus Leader informed everyone who wished to read their newspaper, most of the people in this state, that John Lauck was a paid consultant of the John Thune for US Senate Campaign. I guess I would think that if the most prominant newspaper in the state gave disclosure for you, you wouldn't have to. Not like you'd have to to begin with.

DailyCockus 2:
"Daschle v. Thune" and "South Dakota Politics" were and forever will be paid advertisements by John Thune.

SDP was founded LONG before Thune even announced his intention to run for Senate. Strike 1.

Let me just throw this out there right now. If you ever, evah evah evah evah EVAH, had any delusions about ANY politically oriented blog being non-partisan. If you think that any blog made up predominately of political news isn't pushing an agenda, I got a bridge in Owakoma to sell you.

Secondly, they weren't "Paid to Blog". They were paid as research consultants. They Researched, They Consulted, Then they blogged. Nothing wrong there.

I got paid this summer by the Republican Party, I'm blogging after the fact, I was trying to defeat Daschle, WHO GIVES A CRAP!?!?!? People talk about the DBA members in question as having "no credibility". Again, who says blogs have credibility to begin with? People used to say that you shouldn't believe anything that you read on the internet because anyone with a computer and a little know how could start a webpage and put whatever they want on it. Now, with blogs, you don't even need a little know how. Any schmo with a pulse can run a blog.

The bloggers never claimed to be fair, they don't have to. The day a blog, an online log of opinions, needs a disclaimer as to who you work for, is the day that free speech is truly threatened.

Wadhams working again

2004-12-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Wadhams joins staff of Virginia senator:
Wadhams starts work early next month as chief of staff for Sen. George Allen, a potential 2008 presidential candidate.

If Karl Rove is The Architect then Dick Wadhams is The Foreman. Pfeiffer and Hildebrand? They're just the garbage men

IT'S DONE

2004-12-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Frequent readers will know that I've been quite preocupied with a paper I had to get done.

Well 24 hours of working on it over 4 days later.

ES FINITO
(I don't konw if that's the right Spanish for it, and frankly do not care right now)

it weighs in at a lofty 25 pages and 181Kb in .doc

Daschle Signs coming down

2004-12-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Daschle highway signs removed Jan. 4:
Q. Now that Tom Daschle is not our senator, will they be removing his name from the sign at the city's entrance?

A. The Daschle signs will be taken down Jan. 4 when John Thune is sworn in, according to the state Department of Transportation Aberdeen office. Thune, a Republican, defeated outgoing Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in the November general election. Daschle was born and raised in Aberdeen. Signs inform motorists of that as they drive into the Hub City.

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye.

Where's Kim Jong Il?

2004-12-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Mystery still swirls around Kim Jong Il:
"Last week, speculations swept the stock exchanges of Seoul and Tokyo that not only was Kim, the absolute ruler of the closed, impoverished communist holdout nation dead, but that his own nephew had allegedly killed him."
...
"in the public sphere, something is certainly going on there, though it is impossible at the present time to ascertain precisely what. Kim Jong Il's face has disappeared from some of the ubiquitous poster billboards in North Korea.

The second theory being floated is that Kim Jong Il is either dead, imprisoned or, at the very least, has been forced to relinquish much of his power to the only institution in North Korea capable of forcing him to do so -- the army."

Serious Cultural Question.

2004-12-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it happened.

Something that has shaken America at it's very core. And this is a subject that EVERY American should be very concerned about...

Is Dodgeball funnier than Dumb & Dumber?

Do we have a new number 1 funniest movie in America?

vs.

Let me know what you think.

Remind me never to get poisoned

2004-12-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Who poisoned Yushchenko?
MEDICAL experts have confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's opposition leader, was poisoned in an attempt on his life during election campaigning, the doctor who supervised his treatment at an Austrian clinic said yesterday.
...
Specialists in Britain, the United States and France had helped to establish that it was a biological agent, a chemical agent or, most likely, a rare poison that struck him down in the run-up to the presidential election, he said. Doctors needed to examine Mr Yushchenko again at the clinic in Vienna to confirm their diagnosis but were in no doubt that the substance was administered deliberately, he said.

ND Partisanship

2004-12-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

via flickertail...

Rep. Scot Kelsh, D-Fargo, has a young party operative at home, he told his fellow House Democrats at their caucus meeting Sunday night.

He amused them with stories of his 6-year-old daughter, Jackie, who, when bickering with her 9-year-old brother, will say, "You're so Republican. All you care about is yourself."

Little Jackie also adds the GOP to her nightly prayers, asking God to watch over Republicans because hey're "wrong" and "how stupid they are."

Ya it's funny, but way to brainwash your kid. Unintentionally turning her into the next generation of bitter, liberal, feminist cat lady.

And some new Election result maps that go beyond the typical red state blue state map.

Risk Perception influence on Gun views.

2004-12-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Download This PDF if you have some spare time and want to read an interesting analysis on what shapes a persons gun views. (warning: 38 pages)

I Hate My Lifeat least until this semester is done

2004-12-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

As I eluded to in a previousl post I'm having trouble staying on task for my Research Methods Paper. Do I really need a 15-20 page paper to know that a New England Liberal is more likely to support mandatory gun permits than an East-South-Central Conservative? Nevertheless I have run across some interesting stats having to do with people's views on guns and what not. I may post some of them over Christmas break, or I may not.

Really this post serves only one purpose, wasting time on something other than research.

Stuff for when you bored: 1

2004-12-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Or more aptly titled: Stuff that's distracting me from working on my Research Methods paper, hense making me fail SS350, hense bringing my academic career falling to the Earth in a gigantic ball of flames.

Why is this even entertaining???

[hat tip to: Ace of Spades]

Negative Campaigns

2004-12-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

This article, by Alan Aker, from the Nov, 14 RCJ seems to have slipped through the cracks.

Rapid City Journal: Let's hear it for negative campaigns
"I like negative campaigning. If John Thune had nothing negative to say about Tom Daschle, what other reasons could there be to run against him? All the alternative reasons are unsatisfactory and petty."
...

"An example of a nasty personal attack is: "Tom Daschle is a rotten, lying scoundrel because he divorced his first wife." We don't know why he divorced his first wife, and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with his performance in office. It's a personal attack, which may not be totally true.

An example of healthy comparative campaigning is: "Stephanie Herseth should not be elected because she's against Bush's tax cuts, while her opponent is in favor." These are statements about candidates, which are verifiable and go to the heart of their jobs as legislators."
...

If you can't find anything good to say about an official's public record, you should say what's wrong with it, loud and clear.

2004 Weblog Awards

2004-12-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

THREE DBA Members nominated for weblog awards:

DVT is nominated for best election coverage weblog for 2004. Vote here.
Wally is nominated for Best of the Top 1000 - 1750 Blogs. Vote here.
Ryne is nominated for Best of the Top 3500 - 5000 Blogs. Vote here.

VOTE FOR ALL OF THEM

Groningen

2004-12-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Below I will post a series of links concerning this shocking development from the Netherlands.

The two most shocking quotes of the story follow:

Weekly Standard
Groningen University Hospital has decided its doctors will euthanize children under the age of 12

...

Approximately 21 percent of the infant euthanasia deaths occurred without request or consent of parents

AP: Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies
Knight Ridder (via Grand Forks Herald): Euthanasia debate in Europe focuses on children
The Weekly Standard: Death by Committee
The Weekly Standard: Now They Want to Euthanize Children (from 9/13/04)

Blogs:
Captain's Quarters: A Question Of Values
Evangelical Outpost: The Groningen Protocol:
Infant Euthanasia and the Substance View of Personhood
FreedomDogs: Like the First Jew on the Train to Auschwitz...
Hugh Hewitt: Death By Committee
In the Agora: "Mercy" -KILLING in the Netherlands
John Mark Reynolds: Preventing Death Versus Killing
Johnathan's Ink: Nazi Dutch Camp
Kowabunga: The Groningen Protocol
PowerLine: Let the killing begin
Power Pundit: The Groningen Protocol
Q and O: The Groningen Protocol
Slant Point: Groningen Protocol
Wes Roth (via COAPJ): Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies
Wizbang: ~~Netherlands~~ Neanderthals Kill Babies (Groningen Protocol)
Wizbang: More on the Neanderthal Baby Killers (Groningen Protocol)

Updates will be posted as I find new links

Johanns to be Ag Sec.

2004-12-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Johanns To Be Named Ag Secretary:
It appears Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns is leaving for Washington to be the next secretary of agriculture.

KETV NewsWatch seven has learned President George W. Bush is expected to name Johanns to the post Thursday morning. Johanns would succeed outgoing Secretary Ann Veneman, who announced her resignation two weeks ago.

The announcement is scheduled to take place at 10:30 a.m. at the White House. Watch live coverage of the event on KETV NewsWatch 7.

Johanns is currently serving his second term as governor. As governor, he's led five delegations of Nebraska government, business and agriculture leaders on trade missions to foreign countries including Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Australia, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil and Chile.

I'm sure that Ryne will have some news on this later, being a Nebraskan himself.

Well it turns out Diedrich won't be our next US Ag Sec. Oh well, maybe there will be room for him high up in that department so that he can continue to fight to make a difference for South Dakota agriculture, a fight he's been carrying on for quite some time now.

That time of year.

2004-12-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

I know that I've been light on the posts. And I'm going to be until finals are over. That's how it's gotta be.

Ag Secretary Diedrich?

2004-12-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

If you'll remember a while back I talked about how Thune had thrown Diedrich's name into the ring for possible Secretary of Agriculture replacement. Well it seems today that the RCJ is reporting that it might not be quite as far of a long shot as I previously thought.

"From everything I understand, I'm going to be on the shorter list. I've moved from being somewhat of a distant thought to being a legitimate part of that conversation," Diedrich said from his farm near Elkton.
...
"This is one of those positions vacated without a clear-cut replacement in mind. They didn't have a clear frontrunner," Thune said. "My argument was, he's a real farmer, he's got legislative experience, he's been the head of a national farm organization and he's led trade missions. He's somebody from the Upper Midwest who understands agriculture here, grains and the livestock industry. In light of all the other names that have been advanced, he brings a lot to the table."

No wonder Thune won, he sure can make someone believe things from his point of view. The mere fact that Thune's comment in passing about Diedrich being a good fit for the position can be taken seriously, and now Diedrich is legitimately being considered bodes well for Thune's influence in D.C. before he's even sworn in.

Members of the DBA have posted about this:
Sibby: here.
SDP: here.
Wes: here.

Lauck heading over to SDP

2004-11-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

From now on DVT is a huge archive, and Lauck and Van Beek will be working together over at SDP.

Liberal Bashing

2004-11-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

Ace of Spades has this post about fox bashing liberals in their editing on Trading Spouses.

Not So Stealth Blue State Bashing
It may be too late to watch this, but Fox's obnoxiously crass show Trading Spouses has been indulging in rampant Blue State bashing for some time.

The premise of the show is that two moms switch families. The recent switch is a Cajun Louisianan mom for a San Diego vegan ultra-liberal PETA type.

The latter woman is a complete jackass, forever lecturing, forever hectoring, always asserting her moral and intellectual superiority. The Cajun woman, on the other hand, seems uneducated, but is pretty sharp and wise. The contrast between them-- the PETA type always giving lectures; the Cajun woman taking a more "let us learn from another" take, couldn't be starker.

...

"Fox's editing job is particularly mean to the PETA mom, but honestly, she supplies them with so much damn material. It was pretty rich to watch her lecture the extended Cajun family about how meat causes cancer, followed up with a quick cut to her sucking down a cigarette."

...

"as the two moms are discussing the meeting they're going to have to mark the end of the swap, the Cajun mom says something bland, like that she just wants to share experiences with the PETA mom.

The PETA mom, on the other hand, has a more focused agenda. "I have to tell her all the mistakes she's making in her parenting," she announces.

Meanwhile, the Cajun kid seems like one of the best-raised kids in the world.

There's another bit where the PETA mom is at a Cajun dive restaurant with the Cajun dad and the kid. The dad and kid and chowing down on fried alligator, which, I gotta tell you, looked tasty.

The PETA mom won't shut up about her veganism, but at one point attempts to sound reasonable. "If I and my family were starving," she offers, "I mean, I would eat a dog if I had to." She meant this to be conciliatory-- for once.

But the Cajun dad said, "I don't know if I'd go that far."

"Why?" the PETA mom wanted to know. "If you were starving...."

The kid had an answer: "Because it's a dog. You don't eat Man's Best Friend."

It was a funny moment. She had been declaring her moral superiority as regards her treatment of animals for weeks, but now these two Cajuns were trumping her, at least as far as dogs go. You may have a rigid code about eating cows, they were saying, but you're not all that. You'd eat a dog. We'd starve first before eating Man's Best Friend.

She seemed a little discombobulated by that, and maybe upset that they'd one-upped her as far as care of animals, at least in regards to one special animal.

I've honestly never really watched the show, the whole concept makes me sick. But I may have to tune in if the liberals come off looking as bad as this makes it sound.

A funny story from East River

2004-11-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

As some of you know over the holiday weekend I headed East to spend the holidays with my fiance's family. We went to church on Sunday to her family's church (a small church in a small town). Her pastor had just gotten back from the hills here where he went deer hunting and throughout the sermon he mentioned shooting deer and hunting (even getting somewhat graphic at times), I thought that was a little odd, I didn't have a problem with it, just unusual to me.

The point of my story follows, stay with me. His sermon was about how the holiday season is turned into something other than it really is. He mentioned that on the covers of the Rapid City Journal that if someone didn't know better they'd think that it would be a shopping season. His exact words follow:

I saw on the covers of the Rapid City Journal, and I'm sure it was probably the same way with the Argus Liar...

Ha, and then from behind me I hear people whispering things like "that's about right too"

Isn't it funny that people have so little respect for the Argus that they openly criticize it IN CHURCH.

Dumped

2004-11-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

I just made an image inspired by what I saw someone here in Spearfish do to their Dump Daschle bumper sticker on their van.

do with it what you will.

A Tale of Two Toms

2004-11-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

A new article on Tom Daschle and Tom Foley by webcommentary.com entitled "A Tale of Two Toms" was posted over the weekend. Here's an excerpt

"What happened? Tom Daschle, of course, was exposed as a very liberal Democrat in a very conservative Republican state and his attitude seemed less of malice toward his fellow South Dakotans as of condescension. He brought home the bacon. He helped constituents. He represented the interests of his state well. He assumed that was enough. He assumed that South Dakotans were more South Dakotans than Americans."

You can find the whole article here.

No posts till Monday

2004-11-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

If you're a frequent reader you've already realized that posts are light this holiday weekend. I'll be back home on Monday. I'm stuck on a 2001 e-machine with a 56k that only transfers at 4.5kbps. Lets see, what else is wrong with this heap. Oh ya, the first run through of adaware se found over 200 pieces of junk and i've already found 4 viruses and I know they still have sasser.a hanging out somewhere on here. Any way be back on monday, and I got a bone to pick with mz. Herseth.

The "Cartoon"

2004-11-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

If you're on this blog you have probably already heard about this disgusting cartoon posted by the Deaniacs over at Daily Cockus. Sorry I'm a little late picking up on this story, (Damn 5 day video game rentals!!)

Upon first seeing the cartoon I had one of the first feelings of genuine anger that I've had in quite a long time. Then I remembered this quote from The Blogfather Hindrocket.

you have just perfectly demonstrated the ignorant arrogance that explains why the Democrats can't win an election

Hunters know that before a big game animal finally dies it lets out one god-awful death groan. That's all this is, nothing more. Let's be the bigger party and let these left-wingers alienate and bring down the otherwise center-left party in this state.

UPDATE: Just a little background on the kind of people that run this daily cockus site. Click on their top referrer "Crazy Ass 13" Now on the site you are now on you find a 13 year old boy's (maybe what the 13 stands for) dream stash of porno links.

Oh ya, these are guys that we should be taking seriously [sarcasm]. Lets just do all that we can to try to get this news mainstream and associate the entire SD Democratic party with these nut jobs.

The RV Vote

2004-11-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

If you'll remember in the weeks before the election the Argus Liar started drumming up awareness that there was a growing movement of "Rolling Voters" in South Dakota. People who live out of their RV's are attracted to South Dakota because of our low vehicle tax and lack of state income tax. The undertones of the Argus' coverage of the RV vote seemed to imply that these people should not be allowed to vote here. Whether you agree with that or not is moot. I disagree with the Notary law on the Absentee Ballot Requests, but it is the law and I'm living with it. The same goes for the RV vote, they are allowed to vote here, that's the law. If you don't like it, try to change it, but don't complain. Anyways, the RCJ has a story of the RV voters turnout here. Here is the text of the article.

SIOUX FALLS (AP) — Voters who call South Dakota home but have no permanent roots to the state turned out in big numbers for the Nov. 2 general election.

In Minnehaha County, 2000 people who live in other states but claim South Dakota as their residence for tax breaks and other financial benefits cast ballots, County Auditor Sue Roust said. That compares with 800 in 2002, said Roust.

"I think that is extremely high," she said.

Many of those who claim South Dakota as their residence are those who live in recreational vehicles but travel nationwide.

Roust said many of those who registered said they wanted to vote for president.

But a check of the precincts shows RV voters also cast ballots on most issues and races, including the sales tax initiative, state legislative and other statewide races.

"We encourage them to vote in the state where they live, and they say, ‘You are taking away my right to vote,'" Roust said.

By claiming residency in South Dakota, RV owners pay no income tax, have no residency requirement, and pay low vehicle licensing fees and insurance rates, Roust said.

Minnehaha and Hanson counties are among the most attractive to RV residents because they have mail-forwarding businesses that promote services to RV owners, she said.

I do agree with this law, these people are modern day nomads. They have no homes, their borders are the horizon. Even though they may not identify themselves as members of any one state they will all identify themselves as Americans, so just shut up and let them vote. If it's where they get the best tax breaks, so be it. (And if they can help topple the nations top obstructionist, more power to em).

Are you sure you want to delete the file "Rather"?

2004-11-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dan Rather announced today he will step down as anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News" on March 9, 2005, 24 years to the day after his first broadcast as the network's anchor.

Rather will stay with CBS News, working full time as a correspondent for both editions of "60 Minutes," and taking on other assignments as well.

It's a pretty mushy story, I can't wait till those memogate investigations come back and this guys "reputation" is tarnished

Dusty Johnson is THE MAN

2004-11-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

So, I just got an email from Public Utilities Commissioner-elect Dusty Johnson.

I'm not sure if I know you, but I wanted to say "thank you" for posting some nice comments about me on your website. It is much appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dusty Johnson

Are you kidding me? Who does that? D.J. is a stud.

RC Marine dies from injuries in Fallujah

2004-11-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Lance Cpl. Joseph T. Welke

RAPID CITY - Lance Cpl. Joseph T. Welke, USMC, 20, Rapid City, died at Ramstein AFB Hospital, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2004. He died as the result of injuries received at Fallujah, Iraq.

He is survived by his mother, Betty Welke, two brothers, John Welke and Nick Welke, all of Rapid City; and his paternal grandparents, Clayton and Helen Welke, Redfield, South Dakota.

Services are pending under the direction of the Osheim-Catron Funeral Home.

Rapid City Journal: Obituaries for Nov. 22
Rapid City Journal: Front Page

Deer hunter shoots five dead

2004-11-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

So, the day after all of the sports related brawls (here, here, and here), a hunter in Wisconsin shot 8 people, killing 5 and wounding 3, just because he was asked to leave public land.

Vang is reported to have walked away but then turned and opened fire killing four men and one woman. Three other men were wounded, one of whom is in a critical condition.

Read the whole story here.

Specter Is In

2004-11-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official now, Arlen Specter is going to be sworn is as chairman of the Senate Judiciary. SlantPoint has summed things up the best that I have seen so far.

Republicans unanimously chose Arlen Specter as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Unanimously. That should put to rest the allegation that Republicans will self-destruct and canibalize their own. We had a squabble, we debated, we reached an agreement and we acted like a party should.

Now we can fight the opposition, knowing full well they know we are strong.

Here's how the guys over at NotSpecter took the news.

So the fight to stop Specter from getting the Chair is over. The fight to keep him honest, and work to get President Bush's nominees confirmed starts now.

Bin Laden out of commission

2004-11-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

Pakistan's military has been so effective in pressuring al-Qaida leaders hiding in the tribal region of western Pakistan that Osama bin Laden and his top deputies no longer are able to direct terrorist operations, a senior American commander said Thursday.

"They are living in the remotest areas of the world without any communications — other than courier — with the outside world or their people and unable to orchestrate or provide command and control over a terrorist network," said Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, deputy commander of Central Command.

"They are basically on the run and unable to really conduct operations except, in the very long term, provide vision and guidance as Osama bin Laden does when he provides one of those tapes," he added, alluding to a bin Laden video tape released three weeks ago.

Bin Laden has been on the run since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001

Bin Laden is unable to run operations

RC Alderman is an emberassment

2004-11-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

So if you're from Rapid City you've probably heard of Tom Murphy. You know, the one who's getting a sex-change.

Tom Murphy is a radical hateful man, er woman, PERSON. He is like far too many secularist liberals today, in that he wants God and morals, OUT of public life. Here's a letter to the editor from the April 6,2004 RCJ

Under God in the Pledge of Allegiance needs to go. It's been a noble ideal for 50 years when Congress at the height of the Cold War inserted it into the Pledge of Allegiance. Even now I can barely remember not saying "under God" as I did in school.

What our government never could have seen is how these two words have divided our country. We live in a country were God comes in many forms and beliefs, which one is correct? Are we not under Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Mother Earth, and God or no belief in god?

Our country is made up of many different nationalities and cultures. They remain dedicated to their faith and should be. Our country guarantees that freedom to express their faith. Our Constitution was written as a godless document so all faiths may be respected. Our government must remain faith-neutral, ensuring freedom for all.

THOMAS MURPHY

Ward 2 Alderman

Rapid City

Murphy is now back on his protest against the pledge.

The RCJ reports that Murphy is now not standing for the pledge as a sign of "protest" because he doesn't like the direction that the country is going. Clearly Murphy would rather whine about the state of the nation than try to do anything about it. Maybe Murphy is suffering from PEST (Post Election Selection Trauma) or maybe it's just the hormone pills he/she's been taking either way Murphy is an embarrassment to his constituents because of his radical actions.

56-44???

2004-11-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Check out this story SDP has posted. Karl Rove is a genius. No wonder Wes is reporting that Rove is on the short list of Man of the year. Here's the bulk of SDP's post

"The always-scheming Karl Rove has reportedly approached Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska (South Dakota's southern neighbor for those of you out-of-state readers) to offer him the Secretary of Agriculture position in the administration. If Ben Nelson were to accept, Nebraska governor Mike Johanns would appoint a Republican to take his place, increasing the Senate Republican majority to a cool 56."

Ryne McClaren, who currently resides in Nebraskan himself, has a much more indepth post here.

Thune on Hannity & Colmes

2004-11-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

Make sure you watch FNC tonight, I think 8/7Mnt. They're even running a nice little promo asking "is [John Thune] the new face of the Republican Party?"

Saddam Paid Palestinian Terrorists w/ Oil-For-Food funds.

2004-11-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

That's no suprise, we've known that for quite some time. But it appears that now we have proof and a money trail.

"Saddam Hussein diverted money from the U.N. oil-for-food program to pay millions of dollars to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out attacks on Israel, say congressional investigators who uncovered evidence of the money trail.

The former Iraqi president tapped secret bank accounts in Jordan -- where he collected bribes from foreign companies and individuals doing illicit business under the humanitarian program -- to reward the families up to $25,000 each, investigators told The Associated Press.

Documents prepared for a hearing today by the House International Relations Committee outline the new findings.

Today's hearing, however, will focus on a French bank that handled most of the money for the program. An audit by a U.S. regulatory agency of a small sample of transactions out of the $60 billion U.N. escrow account managed by BNP-Paribas has raised serious questions concerning the bank's compliance with American money-laundering laws, investigators said. "

Oh, so most of the money was funneled through a French bank? Remind me again why we shouldn't hate these guys? And why we should care if they hate us?

Liberals have too much time on their hands: Part 2

2004-11-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

BERKELEY: When the homeless lose or abandon stuff, it gets frozen

You gotta be kidding me.

"THE" video

2004-11-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

LGF has the infamous fallujah mosque video unedited here.

Note what LGF points out

"Notice that after the shooting, another wounded Iraqi starts talking and showing his hands to the Marines. Although the group of Marines is clearly cautious with the guy and have their guns at the ready, the man was not shot because he was obviously surrendering."

Regardless of whether or not this action was justified or not this now dead insurgent would have lived to fight another day. I'm not trying to justify what happened, but listen on the tape. You can hear the Marines saying that "these were the guys from yesterday" or something to that effect. In addition to that the marine who shot the man had been SHOT IN THE FACE just the day before. He probably shouldn't have even been in combat that day.

What are those vodka-guzzlers up to?

2004-11-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

Drudge broke this story about Russia developing a new type of nuclear weapon.

Speaking at a meeting of the Armed Forces' leadership, Putin reportedly said that Russia is researching and successfully testing new nuclear missile systems.

"I am sure that ... they will be put in service within the next few years and, what is more, they will be developments of the kind that other nuclear powers do not and will not have," Putin was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Putin reportedly said: "International terrorism is one of the major threats for Russia. We understand as soon as we ignore such components of our defense as a nuclear and missile shield, other threats may occur."

"and will not have"? Is that a challenge comrade? I'm not sure but who won the first arms race? Refresh my enemy, i mean memory. Putin is on thin ice with American's anyways, and when we've just reelected the President whose more like Reagan than I believe any other could be he should keep his mystery weapons a mystery.

Arlen is in

2004-11-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

It seems in spite of all of the blog-driven protest that Arlen Specter will be the next Senate Judiciary Chairman. Stones Cry Out, a blog I'm really starting to like, has a nice recap with lots of sources here.

Another new look.

2004-11-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't going to be a weekly thing. I like this one and am going to stick with this very wizbang-inspired layout.

Supreme Court Nominees

2004-11-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Opinion Journal has posted an article outlining some of the possible Supreme Court nominees here.

The Short List 10
Possible Bush nominees for the Supreme Court
Samuel Alito Jr., 54 - Third Circuit
Janice Rogers Brown, 55 - Calif. Supreme Court
Miguel Estrada, 43 - Washington Attorney
Emilio Garza, 57 - Fifth Circuit
Edith Jones, 55 - Fifth Circuit
J. Michael Luttig, 50 - Fourth Circuit
John Roberts, 49 - D.C. Circuit
J. Harvie Wilkinson, 60 - Fourth Circuit

E-Hypocracy.com (AKA Microsoft)

2004-11-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Is Microsoft using pirated software?

You be the judge.

[hat tip to Wizbang]

Proof that Liberals have too much time on their hands

2004-11-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Drudge broke this story

You gotta be kidding me.

PETA needs to take a hike.

2008 GOP Nominees

2004-11-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

Polipundit has posted his take on the 2008 GOP nominees.

I think that his analysis is great. And he raises one of the best points about the possible field of nominees. And that is that if Jeb wasn't George's brother, he'd be #44. He also raises another point that I have been a strong subscriber to for quite some time

... but I'm warning them that Senators will not be elected President, especially those ... who have no executive experience.

Kennedy was the last US Senator to successfully get into The White House, and while the drought for legislators is sure to end sometime, I don't think it will be '08.

So what would my dream ticket be? Well that depends on if you're asking me who I think can definately win, or who would be the best aligned with my political beliefs. For the latter I can't really put my finger on it. I gotta put some limits on my ideal ticket in that it should be one that could possibly happen (suspending reality would produce something ridiculous like Thune-Rounds, not only impossible, also unconstitutional). The closest "possible" ticket would probably be Santorum-(J)Bush. For a ticket that would have a good chance of winning, I must sacrifice some of my positions. Keep in mind this name is one that I am extremely uneasy with, but I'm just thinking in terms of who would win. That McName is McCain. McCain is like a wet dream to moderates and independant as well as common-sense democrats. So speaking solely in terms of who will get over that 270 gap, he's my best bet.

McCain, in my opinion, will have a much harder time getting out of the primaries than he would getting into the White House. In the Iowa caucus' in 2000 McCain was only able to get 5% of the votes coming in behind GWB, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, and Gary Bauer. McCain did better in the Northeast than GWB, taking New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont. But as Kerry has shown us, The Northeeast can be irrelevant. I think, barring any extreme economic or social events, McCain could take a few states that Bush didn't almost regardless of the Dem's put up to the plate. I think that he would do very well in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Now in a symbolic attempt to reach out to the more conservative spectrum of the party you gotta like Rick Santorum. As PoliPundit says in his post that I've linked to above he's a "hero to social conservatives". Ultimately though the choice for a Veep comes down to the decision of the nominee, Would McCain be smart enough to pick someone with a contrasting political philosophy simply in order to please the right-wing of his own party? Or would those pesky morals of his get in the way? My bet is that if McCain were to get the nomination he would pick someone who was a whole lot less celebrated by the Jerry Fallwell's of the party. Giuliani? McCain-Giuliani would be a winning ticket, I don't care if they resurrect JFK, McCain-Giuliani would be unbeatable.

But I wouldn't be happy with that, would you? I guess I'll stop short of saying that, I'd be happy with it IF we got 60+ GOP Senators and all of the Arlen Specters and other liberal Republicans of the hill inexplicably retired, being replaced by some strong conservatives.

So in the end Republicans are left with a decision. Do we want to put someone up there who we agree with, or someone who has a better than average shot of winning? it's FAR to early to have an answer to this, if GWB's approval ratings are above 55-60% in early '08 we can go with whose policies we like, if he's hovering around 50-55% I think it'd be best to put up McCain-Santorum. If Bush is below 50% i think McCain-Giuliani would virtually be the GOP's only hope.

This is obviously a far off subject and I'm sure things will change a hundred times between then and now. But if you're thinking that we're going to luck out and get a candidate as conservative as GWB in '08, I'm not holding my breath.

Marine / Kerry connection

2004-11-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

No doubt that you have by now heard the news coming out of Fallujah about the marine who shot an injured, unarmed insurgent. Of course this seemse harsh, and human rights groups like Amnesty International have spoken out making claims of violations of war crimes.

But let's put this all in perspective. In the climate of the times where Daschled is becoming a verb all this marine really did was pull a Kerry.

Patrolling the Bay Hap River, Kerry and his crew discovered they were about to be ambushed by a Vietcong soldier who had just popped up at the shoreline with a loaded rocket launcher in his hands. With the VC about to fire, Kerry crewmate Thomas Bellodeau shot and wounded the attacker, saving the entire boat.

Only then did Kerry leap to the shore to chase the wounded enemy down - finishing him off behind a hootch.

When critics suggested that Kerry's actions that day were something less than heroic, they were hooted down by the press.

Certainly the as yet unnamed Marine in Fallujah deserves, if not the Silver Star, the same slack the press cut Kerry.

[hat tip to instapundit]

Terrorist Remembered

2004-11-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

This is how Yasser Arafat will be remembered.

GAZA CITY - The ruling Fatah movement has deployed a new rocket named after its late leader Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian sources said Fatah's military wing has named the rocket "Yasser-1." The sources said the rocket was an advanced model of the Al Aqsa-2 and has a range of 15 kilometers.

Abu Mohammed, an operative of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade told the Israeli daily Maariv that the Yasser-1 was developed by his group's engineering unit, Middle East Newsline reported. He said the new rocket was an enhancement of Al Aqsa and could strike Israeli communities near the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Fatah has produced dozens of Yasser-1 rockets, Abu Mohammed said. He did not provide additional details of the weapon.

"Under certain conditions we would launch our rockets into Israel to deter the Israeli military from carrying out large-scale operations in the Gaza Strip," Abu Mohammed said.

And to think, all US Presidents get is a library or a battleship.

Herbert Hoover Irony...

2004-11-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this story from RedState

here's the long and the short of it.

For much of the year, Democrats have blasted President Bush using the ghost of Herbert Hoover. John Kerry said we have experienced the greatest job loss since the Great Depression. Dick Gephardt said the President has lost more jobs than Herbert Hoover. Congresswoman Schakowsky prepared a Power Point presentation entitled "The Worst Job Record Since Herbert Hoover."

Well, try this on for irony. The Democrats, after a thorough drubbing at the polls, "will have only 44 seats when the new Congress convenes in January, fewer than at any time since Herbert Hoover sat in the White House, according to records on the Senate's Web site."

There is a God and He has a great sense of humor.

Thune says Diedrich would be good ag secretary

2004-11-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

SDP links to this story about Thune hinting Diedrich's name in the ring for Ag secretary.

The way I see it this isn't a good move. I mean obviously it would be good for SD if Diedrich were somehow able to get into the spot, but what are the odds that a former state senator with two failed congress runs under his belt would ever be considered for a cabinet spot? Thune is just giving his critics amunition. The Thune-bashers will throw this up as something that Thune couldn't get done and spin it somehow as a reason that we should be wishing we still had Daschle.

Crazy $H*&@ going on at the White House

2004-11-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

No it isn't all the cabinet shuffeling...
Wes has updates about the dude who set himself on fire. Plus this Psycho jumped over the fence.

SD GOP picks legislative leaders.

2004-11-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Senate
Majority Leader - Eric Bogue, R-Faith.
Asst. Majority Leader - John Koskan, R-Wood.
Pres Pro Tempore - Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown.
Whips - Tom Dempster and Jay Duenwald.

House
Majority Leader - Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center.
Speaker - Matt Michels, R-Yankton.
Pres Pro Tempore - Tom Deadrick, R-Platte.
Asst. Majority Leader - Joel Dykstra, R-Canton.
Whips - Elizabeth Kraus, Tim Rave, Cooper Garnos and Sean O'Brien.

Crack for Kerry!

2004-11-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Read this story out of Ohio.

OK, so it's not technically for Kerry, but it is for the NAACP, and us midwesterners aren't as dumb as blue staters make us out to be. We get the connection.

Peterson guilty

2004-11-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

Isn't it convenient. Isn't it convenient that if a child is mudered before birth by a criminal it is murder, but if it is by a doctor it is a medical procedure.

Scott was convicted on murder 1 for Lacy and murder 2 for Conner.

Americans United for life has this press release.

"This very public case shows that juries are certainly willing to convict those who kill unborn children," said Denise Burke, Senior Litigation Counsel at Americans United for Life. "Fetal homicide laws are important to the social fabric of our society. No one should get away with killing another human being just because they haven't been born yet."

Currently, 31 states protect unborn victims from violence including homicide. In addition, President Bush signed the Federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act on April 1, 2004.

Red logic vs. Blue logic

2004-11-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

Wes posted this story the other day about a ranting college drop out who, among other things tell us Red states that, and I'm paraphrasing, Terrorism doesn't matter because New Yorkers think Iraq is the top issue. Obviously New York is the area most affected by terrorism. But who's most affected by Iraq?

I would argue states like South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Montana, the heart of the nation; we're most affected by the war in Iraq. I've been searching on the internet for a ranking of troops in Iraq by state per capita, haven't found it yet, if anyone does let me know.

But the point is this, we don't ridicule New Yorkers for not thinking morals are the top issue, so don't ridicule us "backwoods, small-town folk" for not thinking Iraq is an unjust war.

New email forward going around

2004-11-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

One sunny day in 2005, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench.

He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry." The Marine replied, "Sir, Mr. Kerry is not President and doesn't reside here." The old man said, "Okay," and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry" The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Kerry is not President and doesn't reside here." The man thanked him and again walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry." The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Kerry. I've told you already that Mr. Kerry is not the President and doesn't reside here. Don't you understand?"

The old man answered, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it." The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."

And for all the web geeks out there...

2004-11-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is sweet layer based scrolling, click me.

Theo Van Gogh

2004-11-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't heard about Theo Van Gogh yet where have you been?? He's the Dutch filmmaker who was brutally murdered by a muslim extremist in Holland. The Opinion Journal has a good piece on his life and his death here. Here is an excerpt describing the actual murder.

Having shot Mr. Van Gogh while the filmmaker was riding his bicycle, and clutching a knife in both hands, Mohammed B. tried to cut off Van Gogh's head--"as if he were slicing bread," as one eyewitness related. For the deed, he had dressed himself in traditional Moroccan garb and, it seems, attempted to ritually slaughter the infidel, like an animal. He stuck a note on Van Gogh's chest with a knife.

So what is all this about? As the article above points out Van Gogh had a history of criticism towards Islams beliefs towards women. You can now watch part of his film Submission here. Powerline also has a post here. The Dutch blog Peak Talk has posts here and here. Plus check out this, and this blog post about some of the Dutch reaction.

Some coverage of ND's senate race.

2004-11-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Flikertail has some information on Byron Dorgan's opponent, Mike Liffrig who Dorgan defeated handily here. (no permalink, so check it out soon)

"Mike Liffrig says the $150,000 personal debt he has left from his campaign against Sen. Byron Dorgan is like another mortgage.

The Center for Responsive Politics's most recent analysis of the Senate and U.S. House races shows Dorgan raised $3.6 million in campaign funds since he was last re-elected in 1998.

Republican challenger Liffrig raised $327,000, almost half of it a $150,000 personal loan he took out for the race and is now stuck with repaying.

He said today he'll try to get his jury consultant business back up to full speed. He usually handles three cases a month and this year he worked on only two cases since the state convention in April.

Liffrig also says the National Republican Senatorial Committee promised him $35,000 and never came through. The NRSC says it made no such promise.

In the House race, the CRP shows Earl Pomoery's Republican challenger, Duane Sand, did quite a bit better, raising about $1.1 million to Pomeroy's $1.8 million. That is remarkably better than when Sand ran against Sen. Kent Conrad four years ago.

Like Liffrig this time, Sand raised a paltry $300,000 to fund his campaign against a well-financed incumbent."

If Dorgan follows in Daschle's footsteps in the next six years he may be subject to the same fate as Daschle. I think Dorgan is smarter than that though, while he's definately no conservative, I think that he'll tone it down and make sure he keeps getting elected from his very red state.

Daschle to drop intimidation suit

2004-11-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

Remeber Daschle's pre-election lawsuit? Well, they're gonna drop it.

"'Now that Election Day has come and gone, the issue is moot,' said Dan Pfeiffer, deputy campaign manager for Daschle"

No crap Pfeiffer, this lawsuit was a joke to begin with.

Not so fast! To Fight Specter or not to fight?

2004-11-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

First off, do you like the new look??

Hugh Hewitt has a good post on why we should rethink the fight against Arlen Specter for the Senate judiciary chairmanship.

Must read of the day

2004-11-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

AlphaPatriot on Kofi Annan, the UN, and their oposition to the Fallujah offensive here.

NRA Thought's on Daschle's Defeat

2004-11-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from the NRA-PVF thought you might like this excerpt.

SENATE MINORITY LEADER'S POLITICAL FUTURE "DASHED"

One of the biggest victories for gun owners in Tuesday's elections was the defeat of anti-gun Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). It is virtually unheard of for a high-profile Senate leader to lose a re-election bid, but thanks to the efforts of NRA members, gun owners, and hunters in South Dakota, that's exactly what happened on November 2, for the first time in 52 years!

Daschle, as you will recall, was the architect of the defeat of S. 1805--NRA-backed legislation to end politically-motivated, reckless lawsuits against the firearm industry. Through parliamentary chicanery, Daschle secured enough anti-gun (and unrelated) amendments to the underlying measure to ensure it was voted down by an overwhelming majority. Daschle also led the campaign of obstruction to preclude many of President Bush's judicial nominees from ever getting a vote in the full Senate.

Aping the deceptive political strategy unsuccessfully utilized by the top of his party's ticket, Daschle campaigned back home in South Dakota as being pro-gun, trying to distance himself from his long anti-gun voting record in Washington. The strategy failed, just as it did for John Kerry. NRA's Political Victory Fund ran ads and distributed hundreds of thousands of pieces of literature in South Dakota demonstrating that Daschle's phony pro-gun campaign rhetoric was not matched by his votes in the Senate. And as happened to Senator Kerry, voters rightly judged that actions speak louder than words!

Replacing Senator Daschle is former U.S. Representative John Thune (R), who amassed a solid pro-gun voting record while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator-elect Thune proudly campaigned as the true champion of our gun rights that he is, and will continue to be in the U.S. Senate.

Thanks to the efforts of South Dakota's Second Amendment supporters, Daschle's strings, that for too long were pulled by the likes of Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), have now been finally cut!

So now what?

2004-11-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

People may have been crying in their lattes on the coasts, but in Iran they were dancing in the streets. Read the story here.

The presidential election was only three days ago in real time, but in news time it was weeks ago. Today the news channels are asking "what went wrong?" I'll tell the democrats exactly what went wrong, you guys nominated the worst possible candidate for the job. John Kerry is not a likeable character outside of his posh New England atmosphere or the yuppie new age neighberhoods of California or the Pacific Northwest.

If the Democrats want to get a candidate that can have some degree of success in middle America he can be nothing like John Kerry. He must be a hunter, not take photo-ops with a gun that he voted to ban. He must be religious, not just show up to church for campaign events. He must have a picturesque family life portraying stability and traditional values, not a hypochondriach wife, a daughter who wears see-through dresses, and a step-son who calls the president a "coke head". He must be a real American guy who loves sports, not someone who mispronounces the most sacred field in a battleground state, or someone who tells Michigonians he is a Ohio State fan, and for god sakes he has to know the score of the World Series when his "favorite team" has a chance to win for the first time since 1918. He needs to come across normal, maybe slipping up his words once in a while, not come across as a polished politician and a silver tongued devil.

And you know what the hard truth is? He can't be from the Northeast. New England may be the birthplace of our nation but currently it is the deathbed of what the red states view as their most important issues: values and morality. When 11 states pass a traditional marriage amendment he absolutely must not be from the only state in the nation who's Supreme Court finds gay marriage to be a constitutional right.

People say that America has never been more divided. But the way I see it, America has never been searching so hard for a moderate banner to unite under. To say that the Democrats have not turned more to Socialism and Secularism than anytime in their past is ridiculous. To say that the Republicans have not pushed morality to their forefront in recent years is equally ridiculous. In this respect you must abide by the much over used cliche and decide which is "the lesser of two evils".

People should not be afraid of a policy position that puts high value on morals, acknowledges God, or even *GASP* embrace Christianity. The liberals like to tout their banner of "tolerance". Remeber when tolerance meant that you respected that people with alternative beliefs were the same but different? When did tolerance come to mean acceptance? OK, I can deal with that, if tolerance somehow means acceptance than tolerate this liberal America; tolerate the fact that America is more religious now than it has been in recent history, tolerate the fact that over 70% of Americans oppose gay marriage, and tolerate the fact that the red states care more about the constituation's views of equality than some new age tantra-ridden belief of equality. Can you imagine how the electoral votes would have shaped up if Iraq wasn't an issue, or if Bush hadn't inherited a recession? Can you imagine the landslide this election would have been if moral character was the top issue for 60-70% of Americans instead of just 30-40%. Even a master of words like Kerry can't convince a farm family from rural America that the moral weight of his views on health care outweigh the dead weight of his views on abortion and gay marriage.

The liberal Democrats need to do some serious soul searching if they ever want to be in power in this America again. To all of the people in America who voted because or moral reasons this election, I say keep it up. Don't let the media in America, or the liberals on the east and left coast tell you that there are more important things that need to be considered. To all the people in America who oppose gay marriage but can't explain why, don't explain. You need not be the one to interpret why you feel what you feel. It is up to them, the people who want to change America, to explain to us, the quiet, moral majority, why it is right. Don't yield in your opposition to something until you know the motives of your opponents.

So what are the Democrat's going to do? Beats me.

SD Democrats are looking for someone to blame

2004-11-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ha, Check out this quote from the only liberal blog in South Dakota worth it's bandwith.

I just got back from drinking. A lot of people were doing that, in fact.

I think it's clear that we need to soul search again. Not only do we need to look at the candidates we choose, but the institutions that support them. I still think back to the DLC / Lieberman / Kerry / Gephardt attack and kill on the Howard Dean movement. We have to quit killing our own.

And for South Dakota, we need to get to a point where our state party is supporting legislative candidates. We don't have any means to recruit candidates for statewide and national office because we don't have a significant number of legislators. Less all the time, in fact.

The Jim Burg loss is inexcusable. The very idea of the PUC is a democratic one. And our state party dropped the ball. As we did on the state house and state senate and food tax repeal.

So... starting tomorrow, I hope you'll join me in asking for the heads of our state and national party leaders. The same goes for subordinate institutions. Out with the old, in with the new.

Especially note that last paragraph. The people that run this blog are not the moderate/conservative Joe Lieberman-John Breaux-Stephanie Herseth Democrats that it would take to win office anywhere outside of the northeast part of the state. These people are Massachusets Democrats transplanted in South Dakota. I say good luck to these guys, if they think that they're going to expand Democrats foothold in the state legislature by placing people like themselves in charge of the party in this state.

Picture

2004-11-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yasser Arafat DEAD?

2004-11-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Check out this developing story. The Palestinian Authority is still denying these reports.

UPDATE: So apparently he isn't dead yet, but he will be soon.

New Shirts

2004-11-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

SenatorTomDaschle free since Nov. 3

Get the new shirt craze sweeping the state

Apparently I do make sense

2004-11-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ha, batting 1.000 on my senate picks and 34 votes off in the Daschle/Thune race! I, and everyone else in America, was shocked by Vitter picking up over 50% and taking Louisiana without a runoff. I guess Florida hasn't been finalized yet, but it will be, and it'll go for Martinez. Unfortunately Diedrich got beat, but he'll be back.

It really is a great day to be a Republican in America today. By electing Bush on Tuesday the entire United States gave one big, collective middle finger to all of Europe, and the UN. It'll be interesting to see what criticism the European crowd gives us stupid Americans for electing a president who will never yield to their demands.

You can see the South Dakota election results here. This evening I will be going down to the Civic Center in Rapid City with my cousin and my family (including the NEW Pennington County commissioner from district 2!) for a chili feed with our NEW SENATOR JOHN THUNE!

Like I said before, it is a great day to be waking up Republican.

Daschle's troubles

2004-11-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

DVT has a complete rundown of the latest Daschle news..

Check out this story especially.

Daschle v. Thune: Live Report From Courtroom

2004-11-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

You ever have the feeling when something happens and you realize you are COMPLETELY OUT OF THE LOOP!???!?!?!

Tom Daschle is Suing John Thune.... RIGHT NOW!

SDP, DVT, Ryne McClaren, basically all of the Dakota Alliance have news on this... I'm watching DVT's liveblogging at the link above.

UPDATE: Man DVT is getting his money's worth in terms of bandwith. 30,000 unique visitors this evening, plus nerd's like me staying up late and F5'ing it constantly (F5'ing means refreshing the page if you're not a computer nerd like me.) I gotta go to bed soon though, I've got a long day ahead of me poll watching, I mean harassing and intimidating voters, at one of the Lawrence County precincts.

UPDATE: Ryne has GREAT coverage of the hearing, but don't close the live blogging on DVT.... If you're using Firefox (Which you should be) open them up in tabs and switch between the two.

UPDATE: HA, check out Quentin Riggin's quote.

"This decision better come down soon or the polls will already be open. "

UPDATE: Fox News just carried the Daschle V. Thune story... I've just hit finger, that means there's no fingernail left. Come on judge, get the lead out.

UPDATE: Well, here it is

"The judge has issued an order restricting Republicans from recording license plate numbers of people leaving the polls in Charles Mix County. Well, this is a kick in the pants for the Democrats, who wanted the judge to force the Republican Party to completely re-deploy all its poll watchers. They had no substantive evidence, they relied on Howard Dean operative who has been here for a day, they looked desperate, they didn't get the relief they wanted, the entire GOP poll watching system is still in place, and more questions have been raised about why Democrats are so paranoid about people 'ostentatiously taking notes.'"

I stayed up for this? Well there you go. I'm off to bed so I can "ostentatiously" take notes tomorrow, and hopefully figure out at some point what ostentationsly means

My Absolute Final Predictions

2004-11-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

South Dakota

Orange

Alaska

Colorado

Florida

against

Oklahoma

North Carolina

Louisiana

South Carolina

Kentucky

And oh ya, that little presidential thing. Bush wins FL, PA, NH, WI, AND... here's the kicker... HAWAII

O'Reilly supports Thune

2004-11-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Apparently Bill O'reilly supports Thune.

Not clear if this was an endorsement or a prediction, I'll post more when I can find a transcript

Here's an older story on DVT. O'Reilly: "Daschle is toast"

China criticizes Bush

2004-10-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ha, is this supposed to be China presenting itself as a moral authority??? Read the story here.

So now it's China, France, Germany, and Russia... Keep the criticism from unethical nations coming as far as I'm concerned. If you're keeping score at home that's one link to Iraq's weapons 3 Oil for food connections, and the strongest communist empire on Earth all speaking out against Bush's foreign policy. We must be doing something right.

At least The English still like us, or do they?

Internal gov't documents say GWB wins, BIG!

2004-10-30T23:38:00.000-06:00

Drudge has this story posted about an internal labor department memo that says Bush will win bigger than expected.

My Dark Horse prediction, Bush will win the Electoral College 300-238, maybe even 310-228 if Wisconsin pulls its head out of its butt. But I doubt that we'll find out the final count before Christmas.

And sinse I'm in the prediction mood lets look at some senate races...

Florida - Martinez (R), Super close, the Democrats will lose this one for Castor though. Their strong GOTV for the presidential race, highly concentrating on the hispanic and cuban vote, will seal the deal for Martinez. Also the new Bin Laden tape will just remind the Floridians about terrorism, and Castor is weak there.
Colorado - Coors (R), Zogby and a local are the only recent polls, Zogby leans left and I wouldn't trust a local newspapers poll as far as I could throw it, Coors wins despite what the polls show. This one might be a stretch, I think a big Bush win pushes Coors over the top in a close race (like 524 votes close).
Oklahoma - Coburn (R), by more than you'd think. I know everyone's thinking it, so I'll say it. Coburn is a weird guy, Carson is a slick talker and is a true moderate, why can't a Democrat like Carson win from somewhere like Washington or Oregon?
Alaska - Knowles (D), I'd be suprised if Markowski pulls it off, I had hope a few weeks ago, but It ain't lookin good up north.
North Carolina - Burr (R), not even close, the Dems lose Edwards' seat
Louisiana - Will be a Runoff, Vitter (R) will win in December.
South Carolina - Demint (R), Inez Tenenbaum, nope, not a senator's name... Another big Bush win helps out the Republican candidate.
Kentucky - Bunning (R), Easy one.
South Dakota - THUNE (R), by more than you think. I think that after all is said and done there won't be as many election hijinks as we think there will. The difference in this race will be on the reservations. Daschle has lost a lot of his base there (still a majority, but like 60% instead of 80%) and Thune has spent more time there in '04 than he did in '02. In addition to that, have you seen the final day advertisements? Thune is hammering it home with the "Daschle in his own words" ad, and the new one with his daughters. While Daschle is limping in on a 9/11 based Linda Daschle ad, and the ever present "South Dakota needs me" ads.

Bush wins, The Senate gets redder, and the house stays red too. My brother is a hardcore liberal and told me that he was planning on having an election night party at his house, if my predictions are close that's gonna be one depressing party.

Vote buying allegations ALREADY.

2004-10-30T22:56:00.000-06:00

SDP has some info about an AP story about vote buying here.

As the AP story states Four Directions is behind this. Something has got to be done about these shady groups coming into South Dakota. I'm not trying to say that the Republican's are innocent of having their own shady groups (swiftboats anyone?) but in South Dakota, in this senate race it's one sided. On the Democratic side you have Four Directions and Focus South Dakota (both of which claim to be non-partisan, ya right) and on the Republican side you've got.... what... the US Chamber of Commerce? The NRA?

If we want to get these shady special interest groups out of our state something has to be done. (cough...repeal 17th....cough)

Hilarious Video

2004-10-30T01:05:00.000-06:00

Daily Recycler has this hilarious video highlighting the differences in Bush and Edwards grooming techniques.

While you're checking out funny videos look here here and here.

Good RCJ Stories today

2004-10-29T18:50:00.000-06:00

There's quite a few good articles on RCJ.com today.

Rapid City Journal: Religion key in Senate race
Rapid City Journal: Boy's yard sign puts Bush, Kerry in dugout - check out the picture, I think that that's a "Republican's for Daschle" sign that he's covering up. On a personal note, I'm a Yankees fan... so... this kid sucks.
Rapid City Journal: Bush bust vandalized with paint
Rapid City Journal: Record voter turnout predicted - I don't think that anyone is suprised by this one.
Rapid City Journal: Malpractice provider pulls out of Wyoming - ask the Wyoming residents if tort reform is needed.
A constitutional amendment on the ballot would allow the Legislature to set caps on non-economic damages such as for pain and suffering in malpractice cases.

I predict that this news of the carrier pulling out will almost certainly cause Wyoming's constitutional amendment to pass.

3 Plead Guilty: Is this really front page news?

2004-10-29T18:26:00.000-06:00

Newsflash: This is not a scandal!

Some people have been reacting to the absentee ballot applications like it is a major scandal or something. Here's the facts about this one

These were not fraudulent votes!
The people, mostly students, who applied for their ballots did so in good faith. For the most part these students would have no idea that their ballot application is even in question.
There is no guarantee that these people would vote a straight Republican ticket, or for that matter, vote for any Republicans at all.
This law is important, and was broken. It was dumb, and could have been VERY easily avoided had someone simply had a small standalone copier machine, or even a digital camera with them to get a copy of the ballot applicants ID.
These were misdemeanors, the three individuals that have plead guilty were only fined $200. People get fined almost that much for minor consumptions. In my opinion, this is not newsworthy.
Most Importantly, THESE PEOPLE DO NOT WORK FOR THUNE. There has been attempts by some to tie the actions of a few individuals to the Thune campaign. They worked for an auxilary of the Republican Party, not Thune's campaign.

I know that some people truly do believe that these people committed voter fraud. I'd say to them that they need to learn the facts of the situation, and realize that there is no basis to alledge that these actions truly constitute fraud.

UPDATE:
From this RCJ article in the State section.

A state investigation into the absentee ballot requests obtained by Republicans on college campuses didn't find evidence of voter fraud in the ballot application process, and officials said those whose forms were improperly notarized by the GOP still will have their votes counted.

I'm glad to see that these peoples votes will still be counted, and that the papers clarifies that no evidence of voter fraud has been found.

RCJ Endorses Thune

2004-10-29T16:25:00.000-06:00

The editorial board of the RCJ, the largest ethical newspaper in the state, has endorsed John Thune for the Senate Here. That's 2 of the 3 biggest newspapers in the state vouching for Thune. I don't know if the Aberdeen American has endorsed anyone yet, but I gotta believe that they'll endorse Daschle if they drop an endorsement. In other endorsement news Indian Country Today and the 9 Lakota Chairman endorsed Daschle, but like the Argus endorsing Daschle, and the RCJ endorsing Thune, these endorsements aren't shocking.
Daschle's webpage tries to spin the RCJ Thune endorsement with this post on the Daschle Digest.

RCJ Jinx?

Today the Rapid City Journal editorial page endorsed John Thune in the race against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. The endorsement puts Thune on the wrong side of history, joining such South Dakota political notables as Charlene Harr and Ron Schmidt, both of whom lost their races against Tom Daschle following their endorsement by the Rapid City Journal.

In 1992 the Rapid City Journal endorsement even acknowledged that Harr's "campaign tactics and her adherence to the Republican Party line have not fostered confidence in her ability to make a difference if sent to Washington. She hasn't provided any reason to believe that if the tables were turned, that if she were the incumbent, that we would be any less discontented with Congress." Sound familiar? Despite this condemnation, the paper endorsed Herr anyway.

Herr went on to lose to Daschle, 65 % to 33 %. Ron Schmidt carried his Rapid City Journal endorsement in 1998 to a 62-36 loss. Will John Thune fall victim to the RCJ jinx?

Posted by Daschle Campaign at 3:24 PM

Historically they're right, but Harr and Schmidt were little more than sacraficial lambs, Thune is a credible candidate for the job. The Weekly Standard Staff Seems to like Thune's Chances, 5 of the 15 have Thune winning in their Dark Horse pick.