More from the SOB

Note these remarks by Al Neuharth in a July 23, 2004, edition of USA Today:

My long-range, long-shot predictions for the top of the Democrat ticket in '08 if Kerry-Edwards lose this year: Hillary Clinton and Tom Daschle (or) Tom Daschle and Hillary Clinton.  ...  Daschle, longtime Senate minority and majority leader, came within a hairsbreadth of seeking the presidential nomination this year.  If he is re-elected again in South Dakota this November--and that's a fairly close call because big Bush bucks are being imported to try to beat him--Daschle likely would find it hard to stay out of an open presidential race in '08.

Neuharth has been promoting "President" Daschle for some time now.  Also note how he already decided that if Daschle lost in November it would be because of "big Bush bucks" and not legitimate scrutiny of Daschle's career of double-talk.

More Funk

Jeremy "I want to rip Thune's n--- off" Funk, also known for advertising "F---
John Thune" t-shirts, has been stalking Thune since 2001.  Literally.  The
FORMER DASCHLE STAFFER was arrested in 2002 for tailgating Thune.  Here's
some more info.  Last summer, a reader reminds us, Thune campaign manager
Dick Wadhams got tired of Funk's stalking and called Funk a "chickenshit" at
yet another event where Funk was stalking Thune with a video camera.  Then
guess what...the Daschle campaign complained about the terrible "startling
meanness" toward Funk!  The Daschle press release: "Berating young staffers
and referring to public issues with obscenities is not how we do things here
in South Dakota."  AL, 10-10-04.  OMIGOD!  How did the young stalker who
envisions doing violence to Thune and who advertises "F--- John Thune" t-shirts
possibly withstand such an assault by Wadhams!?!?  Oh, and don't forget that
Funk and Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrand have started a new
organization dedicated to attacking Thune.  Good work guys, you're making
Senator Daschle proud!

Funk has also taken the time to call me a derogatory name because I took Dave Kranz to task in a recent column for taking quotes from Sen. Thune out of context.  Funk thinks that this is fine because "Senator Tom Daschle was clearly joking when he said he was a “D.C. Resident."  Please, last time I checked reporters were supposed to be objective campaigns are not.  If Dave Kranz wants to quit his day job and go to work making campaign commericals it wouldn't bother me a bit.  Since he's still writing for a newspaper he should try a little harder not to take quotes out of context. 

Ethanol Bill

The Argus Leader ran this headline yesterday morning:  "Ethanol push is gathering steam; Herseth, Midwest legislators offer blending bill in U.S. House."

Rep. Herseth co-sponsors a new bill with a bunch of other Congressmen and it's headline news.  Yet, when Senator Thune passed his own ethanol bill out of committee a few weeks ago, the Argus never ran a story on it. We're still dealing with the same old Argus--promoting Democrats and ignoring Republican acomplishments.

UPDATE:  To clarify, I mean that the Argus didn't run a story soon after Thune's ethanol bill passed out of committee.  That's a problem, because the fact that a freshman Senator had his own ethanol bill sent to the floor of the Senate is a big story.  That the Argus later folded that information into a bigger story about ethanol is fine, but it clearly deserved its own story, much like the Herseth story from Friday.  What also underscores the double standard is the fact that Thune's ethanol bill passed out of committee, a big event, and Herseth just signed onto to some other legislation.  The big (Republican) story (getting something done) doesn't get the ink it deserves.  The borderline meaningless (Democrat) story (of course she co-sponsored an ethanol bill) gets a headline.  On the subject of ethanol reporting, note this SDP post from last year, which notes how hard the Argus tried to tout Daschle's "clout" even when there was no evidence of it:

Ethanol is a hugely important issue in this year's Senate race in South Dakota. Since ethanol is so important, it is illuminating to observe the coverage of the issue in the Argus Leader, the state's newspaper of record. Last fall, when the energy bill with its ethanol provisions was poised to pass in the Senate, and which the President was prepared to sign into law, the AL had a front page, above the fold, horizontally placed story with the headline "Daschle lends clout to energy bill" (Nov. 20, 2003). That is a laudatory, cheerleading headline, which goes far beyond reporting the fact that Daschle supported the energy bill, and into the realm of pamphleteering. Worse, the headline was misleading. The fact is, Daschle didn't "lend clout" to the energy bill. The National Journal quoted Democratic sources to that effect:

But Democratic senators and aides close to leadership today said Daschle feels he has done enough in announcing his support for the bill and will respect the fact that a majority of Senate Democrats strongly oppose it. "He doesn't owe [Senate Majority Leader Frist] anything," one Democratic source said today.

The energy bill ultimately failed due to a Democratic-led filibuster.

Today, when Tom Daschle's efforts to tack the ethanol amendment onto the internet tax bill failed miserably, the story about it in the Argus Leader did not make the front page, above the fold. It was relegated to a different section of the paper. There was no headline like "Daschle fails to deliver on ethanol." It seems that when Daschle succeeds, or is even on the brink of success on an important priority, it's front page news, but when Daschle fails, it's kept off the front page.

More Web Domain Oddities

An anonymous reader sent in the following information. 

see where these go:

www.davekranz.com

www.davidkranz.com

Judicial Nominees

I'm not adamantly opposed to the idea of fillibuster.  There is some hypocrisy on both sides over its appropriate use.   However, I take exception to our own Sen. Johnson's support for the filibuster of certain judicial nominees given his statement that certain "controversial" nominees are outside the "mainstream."  As I noted here, Sen. Johnson seems to be out of touch with what South Dakota deems the mainstream.  Until Sen. Johnson gives substantive reasons why a particular nominee should be blocked, one can only assume that his view of the mainstream is clouded by liberal lenses, the likes of which are worn by Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Nanci Pelosi, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, et al.  It's startling to think Sen. Johnson would support the filibuster of good nominees given that very topic was a major campaign issue leading to the downfall of Sen. Daschle.  I imagine a Senator in the middle of his term can feel safe shunning the views of his constituents knowing the friendly local media (Argus Leader) won't ask such substantive questions. 

In the meanwhile, Powerline has a great post regarding blocked judicial nominees:

This transcript from Brit Hume's Wednesday night interview with law professor Jonathan Turley confirm how dishonest the Democrats are being when it comes to explaining their efforts to deny an up-or-down vote on ten of the president's judicial nominees. The Democrats claim that these nominees are extremists, outside the "conservative mainstream," as Senator Schumer has said. However, Hume asked Turley, who is a moderate to liberal, to assess the four most prominent judges being blocked.

With respect to Janice Brown, Turley was "a little bit mystified as to why [she] has attracted so much criticism." He does not consider her an extremist, and he commended her for rooting her decision in a philosophy of the law.

Next up was William Pryor. Turley knows Pryor personally from their days as appeals court law clerks, though they are not friends. Turley's view -- "I think he's gotten a raw deal, quite frankly." Turley explained that (as we have pointed out), though Pryor is conservative he ignores his own views when necessary to follow the law. Maybe the Democrats have become so addicted to the unprincipled rulings of their favorite liberal judges that they cannot give credit to principled conservative jurists.

As to Priscilla Owen, Turley stated, "My view is that she was interpreting things like the parental notification law in a way that was plausible. I don't agree with it. But she's not some wild-eyed extremist."

Last up was Terrence Boyle, who has served for years as a United States district judge. Turley does not consider Boyle an extremist, but he noted that Boyle is often reversed by his appeals court (which is conservative) for "plain error." In other words, the Democrats stated reason for opposing Boyle lacks merit, but there may be a case that he's simply not a good judge. The Democrats should make that case and then let the Senate vote.

Turley was back on Fox last night to discuss the other six stalled nominees. The transcript isn't up yet, but it was basically more of the same. Turley thought that two of the six (Haynes and Myers)arguably had taken extreme positions in their capacity as Bush administration lawyers. As to the other four (Neilson, Saad, McKeague, and Griffin), Turley could not even get Democratic staffers to give him a basis for finding them to be extremists, and Turley knew of none. His view was that the Dems have no substantive arguments against these four, and that they are being blocked by the two Democratic Senators from Michigan as some form of retribution.

6.6 Billion Hours

There are a couple reasons why I tend to vote Republican.  One is that I am pro-life.  The other you'll see in this article where it indicates that Americans spent 6.6 Billion hours this year complying with Byzantine tax code.  Form 1040, filed by most of us, took up 1.6 Bilion of those hours.  Happy Tax Day!! 

Mass Graves

In case anybody is still wondering, this is one reason why we're in Iraq.

The Dems claim that we have not done anything there to better the lives of the Iraqi people.  I would think that being able to live securely and without the constant threat of you or your family being yanked off the street and murdered for no reason is a much better lifestyle that it was under Saddam.

More Confessions of an SOB

Here's an excerpt from the 4-7-05 Mitchell Daily Republic about Al Neuharth, the former CEO of Gannett Corporation, which owns the Argus Leader (both Neuharth and the Argus are long-time Daschle boosters):

Neuharth also was critical of South Dakota voters. When South Dakota favored Richard Nixon in 1968 over Hubert Humphrey, and Nixon in 1972 over McGovern, Neuharth thought, “Shame on those South Dakota voters.” And “shame on those selfish special interest” out-of-state groups who misled voters and unseated Tom Daschle.

Please, Mr. Neuharth, elaborate on how the voters were "misled."  Voters were not misled when bloggers exposed the misleading nature of some of Daschle's ads (remember the COOL ad, which was false, and the terrible hunting ad, which the target audience thought was ridiculous, not to mention that Daschle received an "F" grade from the NRA). There was nothing misleading about Daschle hugging George Bush while fighting his War on Terror policies (note Daschle's "failed miserably" speech on the eve of war).  The only obvious deduction there is that it was a phony acquiescence. No one was misled by Daschle’s stance on abortion: in 1986, he told ministers it was “murder” but now he is aligned with the NARAL/Emily’s List team. In fact, if you look at Daschle’s stance in 1986, he was pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-income tax increase, and pro-balanced budget amendment. In 18 years, those issues changed.

In addition to all of that, Daschle also opposed tort reform and filibustered the Federal Marriage Amendment (H.J Res 56), which would have defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman only. Ultimately, Daschle was on two sides of too many issues.

Again, Mr. Neuharth, enlighten us on how people were misled in voting against Tom “Startling Meanness” Daschle?  Nobody has yet to identify something factually inaccurate that was said about Daschle in the last election by the Thune campaign or the Dakota blogs.  That the voters were "misled" is a Democratic myth designed to make themselves feel better. 

Is Matt Zabel being set up?

A reader who obviously knows ALOT more about computers than I, emails this information about the anonymous registration of mattzabel.com.  This registration led some to imply that the Thune staffer was planning a run for office:

The "mattzabel.com" domain name controversy caught my attention and I thought I'd do some research.  In looking at the page headers from the rncc.org Web site, I receive:

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Content-Length: 1758
Content-Type: text/html
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 20:10:01 GMT
Connection: close

When I go to "mattzabel.com", the site quickly redirects to the nrcc.org Web site, but returns these page headers:

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 20:07:49 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.31 (Unix) mod_pointer/0.8 PHP/4.3.2
X-Redirected-By: mod_pointer - http://stderr.net/mod_pointer/
Location: http://nrcc.org/?
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

(You can try this yourself at http://www.hashemian.com/tools/browser-simulator.htm)

Notice how mattzabel.com's hosting service uses a Unix/Apache server rncc.org uses a Microsoft server?  Kind of odd for the "same" Web site.

Also, I researched "X-Redirected-By: "mod_pointer"" and found that it is (from the author's web site at http://stderr.net/mod_pointer/) "an Apache module for making domain redirects easy - the known service of many hosting providers that lets a domain point to your webpage on another server.

That's precisely what is happening.

Someone registered the name 'mattzabel.com" (anonymously) and redirected people from mattzabel.com to the rncc.org Web site.

Without that knowledge, we're supposed to draw the logical conclusion that "mattzabel.com" was registered by the NRCC for Mr. Zabel.

But, why would Mr. Zabel, possibly running for public office, become shy about having his name listed as the registrant for MATTZABEL.com?   Why would the NRCC go to the effort to make the domain registration anonymous, yet point the domain to their Web site for identification?  Why sign up for redirection services on GoDaddy.com when the NRCC could have easily set up the domain using their own Web hosting company?

I believe someone found a clever, and nearly-perfect way to "tie up" a candidate's domain name so they're unable to use it, AND imply an association between Mr. Zabel and the RNCC.

I also suspect that posting this information will cause the mattzabel.com link to RNCC will mysteriously "disappear" in the near future.

UPDATE:  This is what Hugh Hewitt once described as a "black blog op."  Maybe the people behind this are involved.

Kranz

Dave Kranz did some reaching in both of his weekday columns this week.  He started out the week by attempting to fuel speculation that Thune Chief of Staff Matt Zabel is challenging Rep. Herseth in 2006. 

Political observers writing on the Internet who pay attention to this House race say that Matt Zabel, chief of staff for Sen. John Thune, reserved a mattzabel.com Web site registered via Domains by Proxy.

Thune has said he encouraged Zabel to consider a candidacy, but Zabel said he is happy in his current job.

I wonder if Kranz took the time to ask Matt Zabel whether he reserved the domain name, or any other Republican for that matter?  My suspicion is rather than take the time to investigate the story he took the word of a left wing anti-Thune blog.  Where is the evidence it was Zabel who registered it?  There is none, only speculation by political observers writing on the internet.  (code for liberal bloggers who are former Daschle staffers that are so bitter they promote F--- John Thune T-shirts.)

Then today Kranz did an excellent job taking quotes out of context in an effort to make Sen. Thune look like he's not serious.  This is what Kranz wrote this morning under the heading "Whats Cool?". 

When Sen. John Thune appeared on the TV show “FOX & Friends” Wednesday, he was asked what, in his first 100 days, was the coolest part of being a U.S. senator.

“I think being able to park wherever you want, maybe,” he said.

This is the full exchange via Fox:

DOOCY:  And finally, Senator, I know you've only had the job for
100 days, but what is the coolest part of being a U.S. senator?

THUNE:  I think being able to park wherever you want maybe.

DOOCY:  Sweet.

(LAUGHTER)

THUNE:  Actually, it's great to be here.  It's exciting to be
here, but it's very challenging.  We've got some heavy lifting ahead.
But we're ready to get after it.

DOOCY:  All right.  Well, then get to it.

John Thune, U.S. senator from South Dakota, thank you, sir.

THUNE:  Thank you all very much.

DOOCY:  Stay away from the hydrants.

(LAUGHTER)

THUNE:  I'll do what I can.

HILL:  Do they still tow there?

DOOCY:  They do me.

END

Kranz took a joke by Senator Thune and wrote it up to appear that Senator Thune really thinks the coolest part of being a Senator is the parking.  Speaking of jokes that is exactly what both of Kranz columns this week were.  Maybe he should write about something serious such as Senator Johnson's comments in support of filibustering judges. 

Hanson, Lincoln counties growing

AP is reporting the fastest growing counties in the US:

PALM COAST, Fla. - Flagler County, Fla., is the fastest-growing county in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau   figures released Thursday. Its population grew by 10.1 percent from July 1, 2003, to July 1, 2004, adding 6,309 residents — the biggest percentage change in the country.

***

Other fast-growing counties were in the South or West. Loudoun, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., ranked third in growth with rate of 8.1 percent. Two South Dakota counties, Hanson and Lincoln near Sioux Falls, were fourth and fifth fastest growing at 7.9 and 7.5 percent respectively, the Census Bureau reported.

South Dakota labs received pandemic flu strain

Not good:

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - At least one South Dakota laboratory is among those that received samples of a deadly flu strain that caused a pandemic in 1957, a state health department official said Thursday.

The state's public health lab in Pierre was notified last Friday that it was among the labs where the strain has been shipped, said spokeswoman Barb Buhler. The samples were destroyed immediately, she said.

The virus might have been shipped to other labs in the state, too, said Buhler. But she said she doesn't know for sure since they are not required to report that information to the state.

Sioux Falls television station KELO reported three labs in South Dakota have confirmed they got similar shipments.

"If anyone did, they received the same notification we did that it needed to be destroyed," said Buhler.

At the state health lab, Buhler said the virus was destroyed in a routine steam sterilization process. She said it is unlikely that anyone would have come into contact with the virus.

The samples were included in kits used to test workers' ability to identify unknown viruses. Nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries have been urged to destroy the samples.

Granted the risk of spreading the strain is minimal, but still.  I also hope the person responsible for sending pandemic flu to 18 countries (!) gets fired. 

Poppen

The AP is reporting that one of the long-serving giants in the state legislature has passed:

Former state Sen. Henry Poppen of DeSmet, a longtime chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee during a 26-year legislative career, died Wednesday. He was 83.

Poppen, a farmer, served in the state Senate from 1967 until 1992, when he chose not to seek re-election. The Republican lawmaker was chairman of the Appropriations Committee for his final 12 years in the Legislature.  ...

Former state Sen. Randy Frederick of Hayti, who followed in Poppen's footsteps to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said Poppen was one of his mentors when he was first elected to the Legislature. ...

"You never saw him stomping around or yelling or shouting or shoving his fist or his finger at anybody," Frederick said. "If was really disturbed, he would put his arm around your shoulder and discuss where he thought you were mistaken. That was about as shaken up as Henry ever got."

More on Ellsworth

The Rapid City Journal has a detailed account of the state delegation's trip to the Pentagon here.

Our neighbors to the north harbor similar fears.  Grand Forks AFB is similar to Ellsworth in that it was once a strategic bomber/missile base but is now denuded of its missile wing.  Its current mission is a refueling wing.  Minot AFB, home to B-52 bombers and 150 Minuteman missiles was once thought by ND to be safe, but the Pentagon is reviewing and considering reducing the nations 500 silo based ICBM's.  As well, Fargo officials are fearing the loss of the ND Air National Guards F-16 fighter wing, affectionately known as the "Happy Hooligans."  See Grand Forks Herald articles here and here.

I haven't heard of any worries or planning by Sioux Falls officials over potentially losing our ANG fighter wing.  If I'm wrong on this, somebody let me know.  The S.F. based F-16's are newer than Fargo's, but apparently all installations will be considered for closure. 

For some interesting reading, here's the base closing legislation here.

USD Volante

From USD's Volante:

IN THE KNOW:  Political youth.  In towns throughout South Dakota, high school students are running for school board.  you're aware, active and have no desire to sport a combover.  Kudos.

IN THE DARK:  Tom Daschle chocolate.  As if his defeat wasn't bitter enough, now we have to eat crappy candy with his picture on it.  Tom, use your leadership experience and send us some Sour Gummi-crats.

Ditto the kudos for the young "politicians" across our state.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe an 18 year old defeated an incumbent for a city council seat in Hurley.  In Harrisburg, a 19 year old ran and was defeated for a school board seat.  There were other races involving teenagers across the state as well.  Congrats on their efforts and hopefully it won't be their last.

I haven't seen the Tom Daschle chocolate.  Given the former Senator's newly revealed zeal for redistribution of wealth, I assume the candy is free.

Thune Protecting Ellsworth

From the Argus Leader:

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, the Republican freshman South Dakota senator said he and his staff have taken every opportunity to make sure key people in the White House and the Pentagon know the history of Ellsworth Air Force Base and its value to the state - as well as the nation's defense system. ...

Ellsworth has survived four rounds of closings - in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995.

But this next round is expected to be the biggest yet, with the Pentagon calling for shutting down up to 25 percent of the roughly 400 bases that remain. ...

For South Dakotans, the base is an indispensable economic cornerstone, noted Mark Johnston, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Rounds, who led a delegation of Ellsworth supporters from South Dakota to meet with Pentagon officials early last week.

"It's got hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact in southwest South Dakota," Johnston said.

Gourley Clinches Magic Number

South Dakota's Paul Gourley is doing well in his campaign for National Chairman of the College Republicans.  He also reached the "magic number" today.  From a press release:
 

Sioux Falls, SD – Following a flood of endorsements over the last two weeks, Paul Gourley today received the support of the College Republicans of New Jersey, Georgia and Mississippi. With a total of 12 votes at the upcoming CRNC Convention, these three states give Gourley 91 votes in the race for CRNC Chairman.

“It is humbling to know that I have earned the votes necessary to be elected as National Chairman, but I will continue to campaign vigorously and reach out to College Republicans across the country. I will work everyday leading up to the convention and beyond to unite our organization and get back to the important work of CRs - electing Republicans and helping the President implement his conservative agenda!” 

***

Paul has now received public endorsements from College Republicans in Arizona(4), Colorado(2), Delaware(2), District of Columbia(3), Georgia(4), Indiana(4), Louisiana(4), Maine(4), Maryland(2), Minnesota(8), Mississippi(3), Nebraska(2), Nevada(3), New Hampshire(2), New Jersey(5), New Mexico(2), North Dakota(2), Ohio(8), Oklahoma(7), Oregon(4), Rhode Island(2), South Dakota(3), Utah(3), Virginia(5), Wyoming(2) and National Treasurer(1).

Not good news for Gourley's opponent, California's Michael Davidson (grin).

Johnson and Judical Nominees

From the House:

Tim says: “I’ve never heard Reid say that he would shut down the Senate.” Wow. Tim, did you hear Reid say, as The Hill reported - “The majority should not expect to receive cooperation from the minority in the conduct of Senate business,” adding that Democrats would allow passage of legislation “supporting our troops” and keeping the government running but otherwise would not cooperate even on “routine” issues. ...

Worse, our Tim betrays his ignorance of South Dakota politics and of the judicial nominating process with this gem: “South Dakotans want to see more bipartisanship” and the president has not consulted with Democrats on his selections for the federal bench. Yikes. ...

You know what South Dakotans want to see much more than they want to see bipartisanship Senator? They want to see democracy. They want to see the process work. They want to see the President they supported, or even the one they didn't, have his nominees voted on. They don't want to see the thuggish antics of your party to hold the process hostage. They don't want to see Harry Reid threatening to shut down the Senate. They don't want to see their Senator be ignorant of or dishonest about the judicial nominating process. They don't want to see "bipartisanship" thrown about as a value on a par with honesty, integrity, or law-abiding.

Not only that Senator, most South Dakotans don't view nominees who oppose Roe v. Wade as "highly controversial". They want to see states rights such as those that were stolen by the Roe v. Wade decision preserved to the states. They want to see far greater restrictions on abortions than are currently allowed. An Argus Leader poll last spring showed 63% of South Dakotans want to see abortion outlawed or restriced to cases of rape an incest. Unfortunately, thanks to Roe v.Wade, South Dakotans don't have the freedom to make their view of abortion law.

South Dakotans want to see their views reflected in law. But, thanks to the work of Grouchey Old Senator Tim and his Democrat cronies who would sacrifice democracy on the altar of "bipartisanship" (ie. minority bullying), that day is a long way off.

Death Tax

Stephanie Herseth placed a "nay" vote on the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act.  You can see for yourself how she voted by going here.

In an upnote, the National Federation of Independent Business applauded the passing of the bill:

“Not too long ago, total death tax repeal seemed out of the question,” said NFIB President and CEO Jack Faris. “Today, it's not so far-fetched, because many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have heard first-hand about how terribly unfair this tax is." ...

As the Joint Economic Committee and numerous other studies have made clear, the death tax is one of the most economically and socially destructive means of raising tax revenue. Annual death tax revenues today are only 1.4 percent of total federal receipts, but the social and economic costs the death tax imposes on family businesses and the American economy are far higher. The death tax discourages savings and investment, reduces wages and job creation, and is a leading cause of dissolution for thousands of family-run businesses.

Herseth voted against repealing a bill that, ultimately, was hurting South Dakota farmers, ranchers, and small business. 

Democrats and Catholics

From the very useful No Left Turns (internal links removed):

The report shows that from 1996 to 2004, the Democratic presidential candidates lost a net 20% of the white Catholic vote. The Democracy Corps analysts argue that Democrats can recapture some of these voters (who either voted for Clinton in ’96 or still identify themselves as Democrats) by adopting a position of "middle class populism" and by repeating the "safe, legal, and rare" mantra with regard to abortion. Since younger Catholics are actually somewhat mroe pro-life than their elders, I’m not sure the doubletalk will work. Indeed, I still like my proposal better: Democrats should support the overturning of Roe v. Wade, permitting states to regulate (or not) abortion as they will. If abortion isn’t a national issue, then we’ll see whether the other issues Democrats identify as their own have the kind of magnetic pull these pollsters seem to think they do.

What Laura Bush is reading

I knew there was a reason to like Laura Bush.  She is a fan of Willa Cather, the great novelist of the plains.  I have an article in the works on My Antonia, my favorite Cather novel.  On the other hand, Mrs. Bush likes Toni Morrison's Beloved, which is pictured in the dictionary next to the entry for "mediocre."  Hat tip to Lone Prairie, who evidently is a fan of Napoleon Dynamite.  You know, there's, like, a buttload of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join 'cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.

Professor Daschle

Kelo is reporting former Sen. Daschle has accepted a job as a visting professor at Georgetown University. 

Former Senator Tom Daschle is joining Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute as a visiting professor.

Starting this fall, the former Senate minority leader will conduct student seminars, guest lecture in classrooms and hold public discussions related to politics and policymaking.

John J. DeGioia, the Washington, D.C. school's president says Daschle's presence will strengthen the school's ability to engage in and contribute to the policymaking process.

Associated Press

From the mailbag:

Good news from AP land.

Associated Press has hired a new Washington regional reporter. She will be
responsible for ND, SD, MT and WY, filling a job that's been vacant for at least a year.

Her name is Mary Clare Jalonick. She now works at Congressional
Quarterly.  She starts April 25.

One Hundred Days Down

What has John Thune done in his first 100 days in the Senate?

Sponsored three original pieces of legislation (S.606, S.374, S.RES.87)

- Co-sponsored 30 pieces of legislation, including Class Action Reform, expanded country-of-origin labeling (COOL), a permanent repeal of the death tax, and a Constitutional amendment to Protect Traditional Marriage

- Elected Deputy Majority Whip and Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s Inner Circle

- Appointed to Senate Armed Services, Environment and Public Works, Veterans Affairs and Small Business committees.

- Joined congressional delegations to Iraq and Alaska.

By the way, you can read the transcript and see the video of Sen. Thune on "Fox and Friends" at this website. 

Where Is Your Sense Of Decency, Sir?

Just about a year ago USA Today ran a story on Sen. Daschle that quoted thim thusly:

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle on Monday decried what he called the "startling meanness" of American politics.

"Demonizing those with whom we disagree politically does not serve the interests of democracy. It does not resolve differences," the South Dakota Democrat said to about 500 people at Kansas State University.

"Today, enormous new challenges confront each and every one of us," he said. "We will not meet those challenges or seize those opportunities if we indulge in the brutal politics of division, if we attempt to silence those who have other ideas."

A local blog has decried the malignancy and derogation of the political climate and are calling for more reasoned debate.  They don't want us stalking them, which means reading them, so I won't link this time. 

Yesterday, Q mentioned the vulgarity coming from an organizer of an anti-Thune group.
Now we get this, courtesy Powerline.

 

Michelle Malkin notes other goods for sale that encourage the killing of the president.  Many of us saw on Drudge the other day a t-shirt for sale begging Tom Delay to commit suicide.  There is the string of attacks (from mere heckling to a couple pie throwing incidents) on conservative speakers on campuses.  Let's not forget the "Bush is Hitler" ads that Moveon.org used to show.  I am not a pollyanna when it comes to politics, so I can take strong disagreement that sometimes sinks into name calling.  That's just part of the mess that is democratic politics.  And I won't deny the right had its own issues during the Clinton years (remember the Clinton Chronicles) but the level of Bush hatred seems unprecedented for recent times (say, for the last century at least).  I wonder if the  items noted above are enough to qualify as "startling meanness" or "politics of division."

From the Mailbag

A reader wants to know:

Using filibusters to block appellate court nominees is appropriate when those judges are controversial or out of the mainstream, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said Wednesday.
"The president clearly has the option of having all of his judges approved by a very large margin," Johnson said. "But where they are highly controversial, I think a 60-vote margin is the proper approach to take."

I did a google search of Tim Johnson and judges and this is the best I could come up with.

I believe the reason Thune beat Daschle was his ability to show South Dakotans how Daschle was voting and behaving as our representative in Washingon. A large part of getting that message out was from websites like yours.

Maybe I'm naieve but  why isn't Johnson being held accountable for his votes to continue judicial nominee filibusters? I just watched an informative interview on Fox News and they went down a list of nominees and why they were considered "controversial" by the Dems. It would be nice to have someone ask Johnson point blank, especially one that is considered pro-life, the judges name and why he is against them. We know the Argus Leader isn't going to ask so I don't understand why someone doesn't show up at his townhalls and put it the question directly to him as a citizen. It took Thune and a campaign to finally expose Daschle. I don't know why we have to wait every six years to ask questions on what and why they are doing in Washington. It seems they get elected and have 5 years to be liberal and vote against South Dakota values.

Thanks for the website,

Redstone

Good Question.  Sen. Johnson has flown under the radar for a long time thanks to that big liberal lighting rod Tom Daschle.  Even with Sen. Daschle out of the picture, Johnson continues to be overshadowed by Sen. Thune and Rep. Herseth.  Certainly Sen. Johnson's visibility, or lack thereof, has its advantages, one of which is lack of scrutiny.  Of course, Johnson's positions hardly vary from those of the prior senior Senator.  Senator Johnson needs to answer questions as to his litmus test for judges and how he determines that a particular nominee requires 60 votes.  As Prof. Schaff noted below , Roe v. Wade is the test Democrats apply to judicial nominees.  If a nominee does not hold the save view of Roe, and abortion as the Dems, they will be fillibustered.  If a pro-life stance is what Sen. Johnson views as out-of-the mainstream, he ought to look at the Zogby results Prof. Schaff posted below.  Of course, he need not look at poll results to know South Dakotas prevelant feeling on abortion.  It is time for Sen. Johnson to answer why his view of the "mainstream" is out of touch with South Dakota.

Senator Thune will be on the Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends tomorrow morning (Wednesday April 13) at 6:20am CT to discuss his first 100 days in the Senate.  For readers who, like me, will be on the road at that time, listen in on XM Satellite Radio channel 121. 

Pro-life Democrats

There are indeed pro-life Democrats, in fact they have their own organization.  One thing you will notice if you look at their list of pro-life "Democratic all-stars" is that almost all of them are state, not national, representatives.  The national Democratic Party is particularly unfriendly to pro-lifers, as Prof. Blanchard points out.  Remember, Al Gore, Dick Gephardt, and Jesse Jackson were all pro-life until they decided they wanted the Democratic nomination for president in the 1980s.  Then they all suddenly became "pro-choice."  They knew that their party would not put up with any dissent on this topic.  Democrats for Life are touting the candidacy of pro-lifer Robert Casey for governor of Pennsylvania.  Some readers will recall that Casey's late father, Bob Casey, was a pro-life Democratic governor of that state (indeed the mind bogglingly awful Planned Parenthood v. Casey Supreme Court decision carries his name).  In 1992 this governor of a crucial electoral state was denied the podium at the Democratic National Convention because he was pro-life.  Off the top of my head I can think of such pro-choice Republicans as Condi Rice, Rudy Gulianni, George Pataki, and Arnold Schwarzenegger who have had prime time slots in the last couple Republican conventions.  There is no doubt the Republican Party is a pro-life party, and I hope it remains so, but dissenters get to speak their piece.  This past election every Democratic candidate for president had to go to NARAL-Pro Choice America and assure them that they were pro-abortion extremists and pledge their commitment to abortion on demand.  Even the "moderate" Joe Lieberman did so.  I wish Democrats for Life all the luck in the world.  Considering the intellectual commitment of their party to abortion on demand, they will need all the luck they can get.

Update: A wise and faithful reader passes along this Zogby poll that shows strong national support for the pro-life position.  From Zogby:

As previous polls have shown, a strong majority of Republicans take a pro-life position, but so do a sizable number of Democrats.

Some 68 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement that abortion "destroys a human life and is manslaughter" while 43 percent of Democrats in the U.S. also agreed.

The Zogby poll also showed that Americans are more inclined to support "restrictions on abortion" compared to five or ten years ago.

Let's not forget that Roe v. Wade, which is the litmus test for the Democratic Party, allows virtually no restrictions on abortion.  For example, an overwhelming percentage of Americans support laws against having abortion as a means of birth control.  It just so happens that this is the reason for a strong majority of abortions.  Under the Roe regime, such restrictions are not possible even late in pregnancy without exceptions for life and health.  The Court then defines health so broadly that it includes pregnancies that causes "distress" or "emotional strain," which is to say every pregnancy.  Thus, according to Roe you can regulate, even proscribe, abortion in the third trimester, with the exception of every single pregnancy.  Very clever.  This is the part most Americans don't get.  Every pregnancy is the exception to the rule.  Thus there really is no way to proscribe any abortion, even late term pregnancies. 

 

 

Clinton Accuses Homosexual Republican of "Self-Loathing"

A tip of the hat to Northern Valley Beacon and James Taranto.  From The New York Times:

Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.

President Bill Clinton seems to have added psychoanalysis to his list of talents.

The former president noted that an earlier article over the weekend reported that Mr. Finkelstein had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts, then he alluded to the Republican Party's use of the same-sex marriage issue to mobilize conservative voters.  "Either this guy believes his party is not serious and he's totally Machiavellian," Mr. Clinton said, or "he may be blinded by self-loathing."

So any homosexual has to be a Democrat; otherwise he is automatically guilty either of being ruthless or psychologically defective.  You'd think that respect for gay persons would mean allowing them to make their own political decisions. 

But Tarranto points out that President Clinton himself signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which CNN called the "anti-Gay marriage act."  So how come his party is so much more worthy of non-Machiavellian support? 

In point of fact, the Republican Party is much more diverse politically than the Democrats.  Most Republicans are pro-life, but several prominent speakers at the Republican National Convention were pro-choice.  Libertarian Republicans are pro-gay rights. Either way they are usually honest about it

But find me a pro-life democrat?  There probably is one somewhere.  And find me a Democratic Presidential Candidate who will admit to being in favor of gay marriage.

 

An Idea for Social Security Reform

The Dems like to believe they are defeating the prospects for Social Security reform.  However, President Bush and the GOP have succeeded in the first real hurdle of Social Security reform, convincing the country (save for a couple of vulgar out-of-work Daschle devotees; see below) of the looming crisis, setting the stage for substantive reform proposals. 

At the beginning of the debate, the left attempted to fleece Americans into believing that there were no questions of Social Security's solvency, and, I'll submit that most of the country may have believed likewise.  Now, thanks to simple math and a persistent message, it is well accepted that Social Security is in trouble and our benefits are not guaranteed (See Sibby Online).  Any proposals up front without convincing the country of the very real need for reform would have been dead on the water.  Although the GOP has yet to offer a substantive reform plan, they have laid several options out on the table. 

Note well that the left has yet to offer a single proposal or offer to solve the Social Security crisis (attn:  Senator Johnson).  Instead, they are: 1) attacking the President and the GOP for not having a plan;  2) attacking any ideas offered, such as partial privatization, etc. ; or 3) taken the short cited view that because Social Security is solvent now, there is no urgent need to fix its deficiencies. 

The first major hurdle has been cleared in the Social Security reform debate, admitting its Social Security as we know it is doom to fail.  With that in mind, I found an interesting proposal from political consultant Dick Morris.

Morris proposes "Designer Social Security."

The key is choice. Lots and lots and lots of individual choice.

Call it "Designer Social Security" — create a system that gives us each options that let us create a system that is right for us.

We are all adults. We get the point that the Social Security system can't pay us the benefits now on the books with the revenues slated to flow in during the coming decades. We know that something has got to give. That's why we are hesitant to buy into privatization in the first place until Bush explains how he will solve the basic problems of the system.

So offer us options. For example:

Option A — No increase in taxes. No change in the retirement age. A cut in benefits.

Option B — No increase in taxes. A later retirement age. The current level of benefits.

Option C — An increase in taxes. No change in retirement age. The current level of benefits. (For those who can document higher income levels, there could be a further option of an increase in the ceiling of taxation or a raise in the rate.)

Throw the Bush choices into the mix — private investments in exchange for an added tax hike, benefit cut or increased retirement age.

Morris goes on to describe the personal, economic, and political benefits of such a plan. 

Who knows if such a plan would work.  The important thing to note is that we are talking about reform.  Its a sign that we've taken the first step in acknowledging our current system is doomed to failure.  Now we can move on to proposals for strengthening and improving Social Security.

Daschle Favors Investing Social Security in the Stock Market

Or, at least he once did.  Tom Daschle and many other Democrats have no problem with the government investing your money in Social Security, but they have a big problem with you doing it.  This is the Cato institute in 1996:

Recently,     Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) embraced one of     the most dangerous ideas to come out of Washington in a long     time--allowing the federal government to use the Social     Security trust fund to purchase stock in major American companies.

Given Social Security's dire financial condition--the program will run a deficit as early as 2012--it is easy to understand why there is growing interest in attempting to harness the power of private capital markets to bail out the faltering system. However, despite its surface attractiveness, allowing the government to invest     funds from the Social Security trust fund in private capital markets would be a terrible mistake that would have severe consequences for the U.S economy.

It is easy to see why Senator Daschle is attracted to such an approach. The Social Security trust fund is currently "invested" in special government bonds, a procedure that allows the federal government to borrow the trust fund and hide the real size of the federal deficit. Allowing the trust fund money to be invested instead in private capital markets would provide an opportunity to earn a much higher rate of return. Using that return to fill in some of the gap between future revenues and benefits would reduce the need for future tax increases or benefit cuts.

 
In reality, however, that approach is fraught with danger. Allowing the government to invest the trust fund in private capital markets would amount to the socialization of a large portion of the U.S. economy. The federal government would become the nation's largest shareholder, with a controlling interest in nearly every major American company.

 

Not his first run in with Thune

Back when he was running his own blog, Quentin noted this:

Jeremy Funk is no stranger to political campaigns. He worked for Tim Johnson in 2002. His job was to follow John Thune around to all his events and videotape him. In August of 2002 Funk was pulled over by the police because he was tailgating the John Thune for Senate Campaign bus.

I guess someone had to do the dirty work, and still is. 

John Thune's Enemies/Tom Daschle's Friends

I read with interest Q's post below on the anti-Thune organizations.  I must say that I am saddened and deeply disappointed that the other side should stoop to such levels. Social Security is an important program for all of us, especially our most vulnerable seniors, and we need to work together to find a solution that protects today's recipients while providing for the future solvency of the program.  The other side seems more intent on dividing and fear mongering. I am saddened and deeply disappointed in their mean spiritedness and divisive actions. Those aren't the values that we cherish as South Dakotans.

This is Nice

Two former Daschle staffers have formed an organization to criticize Sen. John Thune for his stance on social security reform. 

Sioux Falls, SD – With the first hearings on the future of Social Security
planned for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee later this month, concerned
South Dakota citizens have formed a new statewide coalition called South
Dakotans United to Protect Social Security with the sole objective of
defeating President George W. Bush’s expensive and risky scheme to privatize
Social Security.

“President Bush and the anti-Social Security forces, like John Thune, want
to replace Social Security with a privatization plan that is a bad deal for
South Dakotans,” said Jeremy Funk of Americans United to protect Social
Security, the national campaign arm of South Dakotans United. “Privatization
is a bad deal because it replaces security with insecurity by slashing the
guaranteed benefit.  It will hurt our economy and put a huge new tax burden
on Americans by requiring massive new borrowing and debt.  Private accounts
don’t add a single day to the life of Social Security, and privatization
will weaken Social Security by diverting trillions that would otherwise be
used to pay guaranteed benefits.  We believe that instead of replacing and
weakening Social Security, we should be taking common sense steps to
strengthen Social Security so that people who pay into the system can rely
on it as a foundation for retirement security throughout the 21st century,”
Funk added.

Steve Hildebrand, a South Dakota native, who is serving as co-manager of the
national campaign for Americans United, will also head up the South Dakota
effort.

“It’s unfortunate that Senator Thune has agreed to be the President’s ‘point
man’ in promoting a risky investment scheme that would slash our guaranteed
benefit by 45 percent and explode the national debt by $5 trillion.  That’s
just not a ‘South Dakota value’ we share with the Senator.  Instead of
carrying the President’s water on this terrible plan, John Thune should tell
the Senate Finance Committee what the people of South Dakota certainly
believe – privatization is a bad deal for South Dakotans,” said Hildebrand.

South Dakotans United is also disappointed with Senator Thune’s failure to
address his constituents’ grave concerns over privatization back home in
town hall settings.

“You would think the ‘point man’ for Bush’s privatization plan could find
the time to hear his constituents’ thoughts on the matter,” added Funk.

Hildebrand and Funk are veteran South Dakota Campaign operatives
both having worked most recently on the campaign of former U.S. Senate
Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

The leaders of the group are former Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrand and Jeremy Funk.  Funk is best know for being arrested for tailgating John Thune's campaign bus in 2002.  In addition, he now runs a blog where he promoted T-Shirts that say F$#@ John Thune.  Funk has also mentioned on his blog how he would like to tear off various parts of John Thune's anatomy and said that John Thune's message to Native Americans is F@#$ You.  This group seems more like a personal vendetta fueled by an intense hatred of the person who beat their boss in a fair election than anything constructive.  Maybe rather telling us why privatization is so bad and John Thune is evil Funk should come up with a better solution.   At the very least he should follow Tom Daschle's example and show some dignity and class in defeat.

Lutheran Church and Sexuality

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the largest Lutheran denomination among Lutheran churches and the 5th largest protestant denomination.  30% of South Dakotan identify themselves as Lutheran, with 120,000 ELCA members in 258 congregations. 

Earlier this year, the ELCA released its long awaited study on sexuality and the church (Click here for the PDF file).  That study reaffirmed a 1993 church wide policy that allowed celibate homosexual pastors who were not in relationships to lead churches, and reaffirmed the church view that marriage was between one man and one woman; declining to condone a church wide same sex commitment blessing, instead leaving the discretion to individual pastors and congregations.

Today, the ELCA Church Council released its recommendations to the ELCA Church Wide Assembly for action later this year (a helpful site for understanding the bureaucracy of the ELCA and the legislative process on this issue can be found here).  In its recommendations, the Council proposed allowing individual congregations accepting of the homosexual clergy to petition the bishops for an "exception," essentially allowing homosexual clergy in monogamous relationships to lead the petitioning congregation.  In essence, the proposal would condone the practice on a case by case basis. 

It will be interesting to see the effects homosexuality has on the church and whether it jumps into the gay marriage fray.  It is important to note that the ELCA does not condone unmarried single heterosexual clergy who are in sexual relationships.  The prospect of allowing homosexual clergy in sexual relationships would either abandon the churches unmarried celibacy position, or by implication, condone homosexual unions.  The recommendations would, in my opinion, have the effect of condoning gay marriage.  Of course, the biggest threat is a fractured church, as we have seen with other denominations grappling with the issue. 

In response to sexuality and other concerns, groups such as the Word Alone Network and Solid Rock Lutherans have emerged to protest what they feel is an ELCA drifting away from Lutheran teachings and more importantly, God's word.    As well, a number of churches have left the denomination.  The church my wife and I attended in Fargo, ND, voted to leave the ELCA not long after we moved back to South Dakota, opting to continue as a free Lutheran church, and I've read of similar moves by smaller churches.

I'm no theologian or church historian, just a mere sinner like everyone else, so I'll keep my personal beliefs to myself.  Having said that, I hope the church finds the right path.  The recent recommendation by the Church Council, if adopted by the Church Wide Assembly, could create large rifts in the Church, and I would suspect (expect?) among South Dakota Lutherans in particular who feel church policy runs counter to their beliefs.

John Thune: Travelin' Man

As long as he is working in DC, John Thune stops by to help the gubernatorial race of Jerry Kilgore in Virginia.

Also yesterday, Kilgore's campaign brought in about $750,000 during a luncheon fundraiser featuring U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who became the first candidate in 52 years to defeat an incumbent party leader when he toppled Democrat Tom Daschle last November.

Thune to the crowd:

During the fundraiser, Thune urged the crowd of more than 800 to "roll up your sleeves" and hit the campaign trail now on behalf of Kilgore by doing things like writing checks, stuffing envelopes and trolling neighborhoods.

"It's not just two weeks before the election," Thune said. "It starts early. This guy needs your help now."

Novak on DeLay

I'm not the strongest of Tom DeLay's supporters, but this piece by Robert Novak, from RealClearPolitics, suggests why it would be difficult for any fair minded Republican to join the dump DeLay movement.

On March 24, former Congressman Bob Livingston was sent an e-mail by a New York Times editorial page staffer suggesting he write an op-ed essay. Would Livingston, who in 1998 gave up certain elevation to be House speaker because of a sexual affair, write about how Majority Leader Tom DeLay should now act under fire? In a subsequent conversation, it was made clear the Times wanted the prominent Republican to say DeLay should step aside for the good of the party.

Livingston in effect declined by responding that if he wrote anything for the Times, it would be pro-DeLay. But this remarkable case of that august newspaper fishing for an op-ed piece makes it appear part of a calculated campaign to bring down the single most powerful Republican in Congress. The Democratic establishment and left-wing activists have targeted DeLay as the way to end a decade of Republican control of the House.

Tax Freedom

From the Washington Times:

One of our favorite annual reports -- comparing the number of days Americans work to pay taxes to the number of days they work to support themselves -- reveals Tax Freedom Day this year falls on April 17.
    The Tax Foundation calculation shows tax freedom this year falls two days later than in 2004.
    "Despite all the tax cuts that the federal government has passed recently, Americans will still spend more on taxes than they spend on food, clothing and medical care combined," says foundation President Scott Hodge, explaining that as economic growth pushes people into higher tax brackets, tax collections grow faster than incomes.
    Americans this year will work 70 days to afford their federal taxes and 37 more days to afford state and local taxes.

"A sad masquerade"

The New York Times has reviewed the Tocquevillian project that's being written by Frenchman Bernard Henri Lévy.   It is interesting to note what he had to say about our very own Tom Daschle:

Visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., Mr. Lévy ponders the willful deceptions of an invented American past. In the stubborn autonomy of the Amish, he sees something of American exceptionalism. He watches with ironic dismay as Tom Daschle, then a senator, and his family dance with a Lakota Indian tribe in South Dakota, and sees a sad masquerade.

More Dem Hypocrisy

The Washington Times ran an article which contained phrases I found intriguing: 

The president also praised one of Mr. Clinton's domestic policies -- trying to reform Social Security. Both men have proposed personal savings accounts as part of the solution, an idea that is vociferously opposed by congressional Democrats.

    'I was telling President Clinton I remember watching one of his town hall meetings in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on this very subject,' Mr. Bush said just hours after bidding farewell to his predecessor at the Rome airport.

    'And I thought it was a very impressive presentation,' he added. 'By the way, a lot of the language happens to be pretty close to some of the town hall meetings we've had.'

Here are some comments made by former president Clinton condoning personal accounts to replace social security:

“[Investing] will earn a higher return and keep social security sound for 55 years.” (State Of The Union, 1/19/99)

 “[W]hat I believe we should do is to invest a modest amount of this in the private sector, the way every other retirement plan does. The Arizona state retirement plan does; every municipal retirement plan does; every private plan does.” (Remarks to the citizens of Tucson on Medicare and Social Security, Tucson, AZ, 2/25/99)

  “[E]ven after you take account of the stock market going down and maybe staying down for a few years shouldn’t we consider investing some of this money, because, otherwise, we’ll have to either cut benefits or raise taxes to cover them, if we can’t raise the rate of return.” (Remarks Via Satellite To The Regional Congressional Social Security Forums, Albuquerque, NM, 7/27/98)

After digging deeper, I found these remarks by other prominent Democrats from Social Security Choice:

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV): “Most of us have no problem with taking a small amount of Social Security proceeds and putting it into the private sector.” (Fox News Sunday, 2/14/99)

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): Press Release: “Durbin said due to the increasing number of ‘baby boomers’ reaching retirement age, social security will be unable to pay our full benefits...but the sooner Congress acts to avert this crisis the easier and less painful it will be.” (“Reforming Social Security,” Press Release, 9/15/98)

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND): “Fixing Social Security is an urgent priority. It ought to be at the top of both parties’ agendas.” (“Fixing Social Security must top both parties’ agendas,” Roll Call, 12/6/99)

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND):  “I was at the Social Security summit at the White House, along with 40 of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats. And there was virtual unanimity of opinion that we simply have to get a higher return from the social security investments.” (Fox News’ Special Report, 1/20/99)

Rep. Sander Levin (D-IL):  “People can see, I think, a [Social Security] crisis where there immediate family is affected even if not immediately...this is something that affects almost everybody’s immediate family.” (“Social Security Reform Stalls,” The Detroit News, 2/2/02)

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY): “I am one Democrat that truly believes that Democrats will not benefit by doing nothing on Social Security.” (Press Conference, 1/21/99)

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA): “I am an advocate for investing a portion of the surplus in the private sector.” (Committee On Commerce, U.S. House Of Representatives, Testimony, 2/25/99)

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY): “It’s a way of getting more money—a higher return on the trust fund, and is a prudent and good thing to do.” (Press Conference, 1/21/99)

Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO): “Why should Social Security recipients be disadvantaged by not getting to be able to have higher returns out of the stock market?” (Press Conference, 1/21/99)

I find this hypocrisy inexcusable. All of these quotes, save one, come from under the Clinton administration, yet the same ideas presented by Bush results in ridicule by the Democrats (including our very own Harry Reid as, you all know, is leading the judicial filibuster...okay, so I'm a little indignant).  I just don't understand this constant flip-flopping by the Dems; again, they give up their principles to attack a political opponent.  I give up trying to understand modern liberalism...I'm going to bed.

The Politicized Campus

From Steven Roy Goodman in the Washington Post, tip of the hat to the Northern Valley Beacon. 

With faculty and administrations leading the way, political correctness and posturing -- from both the left and right -- is reaching dizzying heights in the land of the ivory tower. And rising right along with it is the frustration of middle-class parents, who are growing increasingly resentful of paying sky-high tuition for colleges they see offering their kids a menu of questionable courses and politically absurd campus climates that detract from the quality of a university education.

Colleges have long been hotbeds of political agitation, of course. But where it was once students who did the acting out, as they spread their intellectual and philosophical wings, now the professors and administrators are more likely to be playing politics -- and more and more Americans with college-age kids are getting fed up with it. In 18 years of in-the-trenches experience counseling kids on their college choices, I've never seen the unhappiness as widespread as it is today. If colleges don't tone down the politics, and figure out how to control ballooning costs, they run the risk of turning off enough American consumers that many campuses could marginalize themselves right out of existence.

That "both the left and the right" is deceptive.  The examples of campus politics irritating both their students and the larger community on whose support the universities depend are all examples of left-wing politics.  This is hardly surprising, for two reasons.  One is that almost all the more expensive American colleges have administrations and faculties that tilt far to the left of the general population.  Except for a few explicitly conservative institutions and religious colleges, there just aren't enough conservatives in academia to make a noticeable political splash. 

A second reason that the examples of political agitation by faculty and administrations all come from the left is that the left is simply much further away from the general population than the right is.  If conservatives took over, say, the University of Minnesota, what kind of courses would they introduce?  Probably more Plato, Aristotle, and Shakespeare, and yes, the Bible (King James version for its impact on modern English) and less Nick Hornby or Alice Walker.  No one would be much shocked by the change in curriculum.  What kind of courses does the left introduce, in the institutions where it has dominant influence?

The vast majority [of college students] are simply eager to find a school that will help them advance in their intellectual and professional lives. They're flabbergasted by courses with titles like "Pornography and Evolution," "The Beatles Era," or "Introduction to Material Culture," as well as educational values that appear only tangentially related to the reality of their lives.

Moreover, conservative and religious students have to realize that many campuses have created hostile environments.

As a consultant, I feel the need to advise my clients to cover all their political bases. Recently, I was advising an Eagle Scout who was justifiably proud of his accomplishment and wanted to highlight it on his college applications. But I worried that the national Boy Scouts' stand against homosexuals as scout leaders might somehow count against him in the admissions process at some schools. So I suggested that he get involved in an AIDS hotline to show his sensitivity to an issue often linked to the gay community.

I can think of worse things for an Eagle Scout than charitable work on AIDS, but the fact that membership in such an organization can be used against the Scout, and that he must prove himself not guilty by association, that is a sign of a powerful and pernicious bias.

Hillary Clinton in the Twin Cities

From the Star Tribune:

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attacked President Bush's administration Saturday night at an annual DFL fundraiser in Minneapolis, while nearly everyone else pondered her presidential chances. Clinton, who is seeking reelection in 2006 to the New York Senate seat she won in 2000, launched a broad critique of Republican policies, barely mentioning her own campaign.  The Democrat did, however, sound like a candidate for national office.

A Democratic candidate, to be sure:

"We are headed to a brave new world of extremism. We need to make clear we are not going there now or ever," she said, receiving one of many enthusiastic ovations from the room of nearly 2,000 partisans, who paid $100 each to raise money for the state party.

Clinton also raised money for herself at a $1,000-a-head party earlier in the day at the Wayzata home of Vance Opperman. Reports put that crowd at several dozen people, with Clinton deftly deflecting inquiries about her potential as a candidate in 2008.

Senator Clinton is probably the most effective fundraiser the Democrats now have. 

Losing My Religion

Considering the recent local kerfuffle over religion and politics, perhaps it is divine intervention that explains the appearance in today's LA Times of an article by one Kevin Starr, a Democrat, about how his party is abandoning religious values that were once important to the party, and thus leaving behind those people who hold those values.  I think I have noted in these pages (if not, I do now) that various political movements such as the temperance movement, abolition/anti-slavery movement, Progressivism, and the Civil Rights movement were largely inspired by a kind of religious fervor.  Excepting temperance, I would imagine your average Democrat would want to align him or herself behind these movements.  But now there is much hand wringing about those who seek to "impose their religious values" on the country (question: which other values would you prefer "imposed"?).  The "theocrats" want to hold us up to some divisive religious standard, it's said, and have us guided by some church law.  It seems to me that those of this attitude seek to throw out the baby with the bathwater.  Disagreeing with the agenda of religious conservatives, the left does not counter with a reciprocal religious interpretation of America, instead choosing to try to banish religion from public life.  Mr. Starr argues:

But now the Democratic Party elite — the activists, the pundits, the big-bucks donors — have succeeded in pitting social democracy against the very values (one is tempted to say the very people) that gave rise to social democracy in the first place.

Baffled by such rejection, an ostracized faith community shows every sign of realigning itself politically. Although a few astute politicians such as Hillary Clinton are trying to find a way out of this breach, there is no clear path. Democrats should be reading Jacques Maritain — a social democrat and cultural moderate — or even studying the progressive policies and programs of the Eisenhower and (yes!) the Nixon years. Instead, social democrats, once anchored in the deepest imperatives of religion and culture, substitute sloganeering and sound bites for thought — as when party Chairman Howard Dean describes Republican Americans as pure evil, no two ways about it.

Faith and traditional values get shred in the ideological crossfire, and the sustaining, healing power of American culture is lost.

No New Cries for Gun Control

...except from left wing reactionaries.

I've seen this issue discussed by various MSM outlets in recent weeks.  From the Star-Tribune:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The day after the Red Lake shootings, the latest of three mass killings in Minnesota and Wisconsin in recent months, a group of House Democrats fired off a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., demanding a fresh look at new gun legislation.

But gun control was not on the agenda when Congress returned last week from spring break. Top Republicans are loath to do anything that could restrict gun rights, and Democratic leaders -- still smarting from recent election reverses -- aren't eager to advertise themselves as the antigun party either.

Unlike the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, which prompted a spate of gun-control proposals, the Red Lake High shootings have caused little more than a muted gun debate.

Political observers cite several reasons, chief among them the unique circumstances of the Red Lake shootings: Teen suspect Jeff Weise armed himself with pistols and rifles that he took from his slain policeman grandfather.

As gun-rights supporters have been quick to note, the Red Lake scenario seemed to be beyond the reach of most recent gun-control proposals: child-safety locks, background checks for gun-show sales and a ban on assault weapons.

"Everything that kid did that day, practically from the moment he walked out of his bedroom, was a felony," said Joe Olson, a Hamline University law professor and president of the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance. "I don't think any gun-control laws would have made a difference."

As well, the tragedy in Atlanta was perpetrated using a deputy's gun.  These facts do not deter the anti-gun special interests, however:

Gun-control advocates aren't ready to concede, arguing that next-generation safety locks and futuristic gun technologies that identify users by their hand grip could have made a difference, had the gun industry embraced them.

"The gun lobby has successfully fought advances in this technology," said Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "If they hadn't, we'd have the technology by now."

The Brady Campaign also took issue with incoming National Rifle Association (NRA) President Sandra Froman, who said the incident should prompt a discussion of new ways to keep children safe, including arming teachers.

(emphasis mine)

When I see a demonstration gun that identifies my hand grip that does not violate my 2nd and 14th Amendment rights by making firearm ownership cost prohibited to low-to-moderate income citizens, or students such as I, then I will consider their argument to have some merit.  I won't hold my breath.  Besides, the goal of the anti-gun lobby is not safer guns, its the elimination of private firearm ownership. 

Thune in SC

John Thune was in South Carolina last night for the GOP's annual Silver Elephant Dinner:

The purpose of the event is to honor grass-roots political activists, said Luke Byars, the state GOP’s executive director.

The event raised more than $200,000 for the state GOP.

The keynote speaker was U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who gained national notoriety for defeating U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, the GOP’s No. 1 target in last year’s elections. ...

“I give the president credit for being willing to spend capital on addressing problems. He could have put it on autopilot in his second term and coast. But he realizes we have an opportunity here to address something long term like Social Security. It’s in our interest to deal with it now rather than later,” Thune said.

Hillary in Minneapolis

Even though Hillary is running toward the center with Presidential amibitions, she is still quite capable of irrational leftist shrill.  This from the Star-Tribune:

Saturday night it was all about the DFLers, and Clinton called on them to stand against the "radical reactionary right-wing agenda." The Republicans are attempting to concentrate power and are "tearing down the building blocks of democracy one by one" by "controlling" and "flaunting power" and adhering to "a rigid ideology well outside the mainstream" that is dismantling the checks and balances of government, Clinton said.

Compare to Sen. Reid's comments as noted by Jason below:

And those ten had views that were totally out-of-touch with the mainstream values Americans share.

When it comes down to it, stripping away these important checks and balances is about the arrogance of those in power who want to rewrite the rules so that they can get their way.

I sense a theme.  Because Republicans won the election and because we are the majority party in the Senate and the House, not to mention having a Republican in the White House, we are flaunting our power.  As for what is "mainstream," perhaps it is time for the leftists to begin some self examination and ponder what is "mainstream."  We, the GOP, are winning elections after all.  And its not about getting their message out.  The message is out.  Liberals run away from their real message when it comes to elections.  Look no further than our own former Sen. Daschle.  Last week, he revealed his true colors, calling for universal health care, among other things.  After one and half years of television campaign commercials, a person would think he could have spent a few of his nearly $20 million dollar campaign war chest on a commercial outlining his vision for universal health care.

At least they still have the judiciary.  "Flaunting power" and "dismantling checks and balances" indeed. 

Update: 

Our very own Senator Tim Johnson used similar language in February.  From the R.C. Journal:

SIOUX FALLS — Using filibusters to block appellate court nominees is appropriate when those judges are controversial or out of the mainstream, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said Wednesday.

Still no clarification from the Dems on what is "mainstream." 

Reading NVB

So far one email on the NVB post about Christianity. 

I read the entire NVB article about Christianity.  If they did not want it to seemingly reflect their own ideology, then they should have stated so at the beginning.  Basically, I think they liked the article.

But no, I don't think most Brown County Democrats would agree with the article, because it basically ridicules most professing Christians. Even though Christ is about all-encompassing love and forgiveness, he is also about adhering to certain moral standards.  And it seems that this article has forgotten this in favor of a Woodstock-like, flower-people-like belief system.

More Thoughts on Saul Bellow

The New York Times:

ANY, if not most, of the major American Realist novelists in the first half of the 20th century were, by birth or breeding, Midwesterners: Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the second half, a large number of the nation's important writers - literary critics, journalists and sociologists, as well as novelists - were Jews. It was Saul Bellow's good fortune - and the source, perhaps, of a portion of his greatness - to have been both Midwestern (bred if not born, that happened in Canada) and Jewish.

More on Senator Thune's First 100 Days

John Thune's First 100 Days

In contrast to what some leftist South Dakota bloggers are saying, Senator Thune has had a productive first 100 days:

"Because of the gridlock and acrimony that have existed here, it (Congress) has been hamstrung in terms of getting things done," he said, reviving a familiar theme that South Dakota voters heard throughout his 2004 campaign with Daschle, then Senate minority leader. "As a consequence, there have been issues that have been left on the cutting room floor that never got through the process. But in the first 60 days of the session, we've already taken a couple and moved them and gotten them off the books."

Among them:

* Class-Action Fairness Act. "It's a litigation reform measure that has been around for years," Thune said. It was signed into law in February.

* Bankruptcy legislation. "I first voted on that in 1998 when I was in the House," Thune said. "You might look at it and say it's not an issue on the top of a lot of people's minds, but it is a piece of legislation that needed to be done because a lot of folks figured out a way to abuse the current system." It has passed the Senate.

* Oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It has some hurdles to clear, but inclusion in a budget resolution was a first step. "I voted on that in 1999," Thune said.

* Ethanol. Thune's bill establishing a renewable fuels mandate requiring refineries to blend 6 billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline by 2012 and phasing out the use of MTBE was passed in mid-March by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

"I think we are off to a good start," Thune said. "There's a lot of heavy lifting ahead n- I don't have any delusions about that. I just feel like that's what my whole campaign was about - that there are things we need to get done, things that have been stalled out for a variety of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with the substance or merits of the issues but with the politics of Washington. I think we are now in a position to get some things passed and done."

That list omits committee passage of a bill that would increase South Dakota's highway dollars by $60 million from the House version secured by Rep. Herseth. 

Sen. Thune also discussed balancing South Dakota interests with his national notoriety:

The national recognition "has added a dimension we didn't have to deal with so much before, and that's the scheduling requests we get to go to different places," Thune acknowledged in an interview with the Rapid City Journal in his Washington office last month. "But my priority, particularly early on, is to work on legislation and to keep the South Dakota focus first and foremost. To the degree that I have the time and energy, I am doing some of those requests, but very selectively," he said.

Sen. Thune has already moved into a leadership position as Deputy Whip:

Thune has also been named a deputy whip, part of the group that supports McConnell.

"The whips in the Senate are different from the House," Thune said. "The House is a more disciplined place and has more of a command structure. In the Senate, it's more like herding cats or nailing Jell-O to a tree," he said, chuckling. "The House leadership has more influence in terms of being able to hold your feet to the fire because they have more control through that gatekeeper called the Rules Committee. In the Senate, in my view, individual members have a higher level of leverage when it comes to votes. There isn't as much what I would call heavy pressure. It's more finding the right person to talk to the person who might be wavering on an issue."

Senator Thune's position is distinguishable from that of Daschle, to our benefit.  Senator Thune is free to be a conservative, whether he's in South Dakota, Washington, or elsewhere.  South Dakota is a conservative state and Senator Thune does not have to pretend to be likewise.  The leftists criticize Sen. Thune's support of the President's agenda, apparently forgetting that Bush carried South Dakota with 60% of the vote.  However, Sen. Thune is realistic about political life:

"This time, I was very pointed in the campaign about things I wanted to accomplish. I am going to do everything I can to follow through on that, and sometimes, it is not going to make everybody happy."

In contrast, Tom Daschle, as the liberal leader of the party of Kennedy, Kerry, Boxer, and Dean, only hoped that enough pork and ridiculous campaign commercials would be enough to fleece South Dakota voters into yet another term.  Sen. Thune does not have to applaud Micheal Moore and hug President Bush.  We now have a Senator with clout but without the baggage.

Dole History

The New York Times is reporting this morning that former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas almost passed last winter.  He talks about it in a new book.  Also, it appears we will hear more about Dole's life based upon a recent find:

While the story of Mr. Dole's war wounds and recovery has been written elsewhere, he was prompted to write this memoir after one of his sisters found nearly 300 letters between him and his family from World War II.

I was at the annual meeting of the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre for the last few days and one of the presenters talked at length about a wonderful collection of World War I letters he found from a young Wentworth man (Lake County) to and from his loved ones back on the farm.  As these examples should prove, it's important to save such things, if only to give us historians something to rummage through in 30 years.