Undiscussable

Byron York has a piece in the print edition of National Review about how we have dealt with recent Senatorial health concerns.  For example:

Just hours after word got out that South Dakota Senator Time Johnson had fallen ill with a serious brain ailment, minority leader Mitch McConnell's office got in touch with Republicans around the Senate. The message: Do not--repeat, do not--talk about the political implications of Johnson's illness.  Besides being genuinely concerned about Johnson, Republicans worried about their image and didn't want even to hint that they were seeking any advantage from their Democratic colleague's misfortune. 

But, York points out, when the Senate came into session in 2001 split 50-50, with Republicans in nominal control because the President of the Senate was VPOTUS Dick Cheney, Senate Democrats started a "Strom Thurmond Death Watch," inserting unique language into the organizing rules about how committees should be restructured if partisan majority shifted during the session. There was open discussion about Thurmond's health and the chances of his death in the next two years.  Of course, this was all rendered moot by the party switch of Jim Jeffords. 

This year, Republicans pushed for no language about re-structuring the Senate should partisan control shift mid-session.  York does not doubt that should, for whatever reason, Democrats lose a Senator (say Johnson resigns or Joe Lieberman changes parties), that Republicans would take control, but unlike 2001 when the changing of the guards was seamless after Jeffords's party switch, York predicts a long and messy struggle over Senate re-organization.

Note: Make sure you see Jason's post about Senator Johnson's improving health.  We wish him the best. 

Rural Economies

Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette:  "Good yields, high grain prices and the ever-growing demand for ethanol are helping rural economies thrive, according to a January survey of nonurban bankers in a nine-state area that includes Iowa. . . .The nine states: Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming."

Johnson Improving

The New York Times:

Senator Tim Johnson is taking part in three hours of physical, occupational and speech therapy every day, and his tracheotomy tube has been removed, doctors at George Washington University Hospital said. Mr. Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, suffered a brain hemorrhage more than a month ago. He is doing strengthening exercises to gain mobility on his right side, said Dr. Philip Marion, head of rehabilitation at the hospital.

You Got A Light?

I find this "Barak Obama Smokes" story fascinating.  Peter Lawler discusses it here.  For your amusement, take a look at the comments.  The speed at which the discussion descends into the fever swamps of anti-smoking extremism serves as an education into the puritanical zeal of some anti-smoking activists.  For example, take New Orleans (please!).  In New Orleans you can walk down Bourbon Street and pass the establishments advertising live sex shows (Men and Women!), using rather graphic pictures (but with the naughty parts blurred or covered) as evidence of what you will observe.  But at the same time, due to a new law (state or local, I don't know), you cannot smoke a cigarette in any establishment that earns over 30% of its income from food, i.e., restaurants.  Live sex shows: OK.  Smoking: So awful we must use the power of the state to stamp it out. 

This story points out that in post-Katrina New Orleans the sex trade is suffering.  Tourism in the French Quarter is down considerably.  A stripper used to make $1200 a night, but now she has to resort to prostitution to keep up that standard of living.  Perhaps the Democrats can use this as yet another reason to raise the minimum wage.  Talk about the working poor!

100 Hours Energy Legislation

On Thursday, Democrats in the House passed legislation that will repeal taxes and increase certain fees for oil drillers, while reserving the money earned for alternative energy sources.  It is estimated that this bill will repeal $14 dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for oil drillers.  This initiative has a few problems.

The first problem seems to be a basic economics issue.  Increasing fees on the producer usually leads to increased costs for the consumer.  As recently as this summer, gasoline prices at the pump were reaching record highs.  Prices have declined since then, certainly helping others who rely on gasoline such as farmers, ranchers, and truck drivers.  Increasing the costs of production of American oil is a terrible idea that will likely lead to an increase in prices for the long term.

Next, these fees are applied to domestic oil drillers.  This means that the price of American produced oil will be more expensice.  This will likely lead to further dependence on foreign oil.  Since many in Congress have talked about the need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it seems to go against their own principles to support such legislation.  While there is some logic in focusing on alternative energy development, Congress should not increase the costs on consumers by taxing producers to develop new means of energy production.  Especially at this crucial time when our dependence on foreign oil is a significant threats to the American economy.

Note that Representative Herseth supports this legislation.  Here is the first paragraph of a press release from her website:

The House of Representatives today approved H.R. 6, the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007, which repeals $14 billion in giveaways and tax breaks for the oil industry in order to invest in homegrown, renewable biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth supported the bill as part of her strong commitment to renewable biofuels as a means to decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, enhancing our national security, protecting our environment and revitalizing rural American economies.

Link to the release.

I appreciate that Representative Herseth is focused on revitalizing rural American economies, and focusing on renewable biofeuls to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  However, this legislation seems to point towards an increase in energy prices which will hurt rural, agricultural economies (farm equipment doesn't power itself).  Further, increasing the prices for American producers and drillers will potentially lead to a further dependence on foreign oil.  I fully support researching renewable feuls.  It will likely lead to better energy prices and dependence on our own energy sources.  But I do not support increasing taxes and costs on our primary sources energy in the mean time.  I hope the Senate gives this bill more careful consideration.

How Old Is The Grand Canyon

Did you fall for the fake story that the Bush Administration, in the service of Creationism nuts, won't allow the National Park Service to give the geologic age of the Grand Canyon?  These guys did, but are correcting themselves.  This guy did, but isn't (yet).  More here.

Update: Chad corrects the story.

USS Arizona

Divester: "If you've been thinking of visiting the memorial at Pearl Harbor, consider booking the trip sooner than later."

One Last Sutton Post (For Now)

Recently, I called for Dan Sutton to resign from the South Dakota Senate.  Instead, he has chosen a legalistic defense strategy (i.e., "you have no right to investigate me," rather than "I didn't do it).  PP has a list of rather bombastic statements from Mr. Sutton's attorney.  Then today we get this:

Lawmakers could vote to censure or expel Sutton, who has maintained his innocence. His lawyers this week said they are prepared to aggressively defend him, even if it means a drawn-out succession of embarrassing testimony for those involved.

Does engaging in a strategy of "drawn-out" and "embarrassing" hearings sound like the act of a statesman?  Let me revise my statement: Dan Sutton should either resign or fire his lawyers, who seem more intent on intimidating all involved than actually producing evidence of their client's innocence.  .

European Fascists Have Learned to Love the Jews

The old joke about mixed feelings, when your mother in law drives your new sports car off a cliff, describes pretty well how a political scientist feels most of the time.  What is most interesting to him, qua political scientist, is what is most appalling to him, qua human being.  The chaos in Iraq is really interesting, for example, when looked at through the lens of international relations and the study of political factions.  Of course it also means children blown apart in the market place.

I felt that way when I read Sarah Wildman's piece, "Guess who's coming to seder", in the New Republic. 

Filip Dewinter, the 44-year-old leader of Vlaams Belang. Dewinter's party, like its far-right counterparts across Europe, has a long history of racism and xenophobia. But sitting in his office, filled with sleek Italian-style furniture and overseen by a massive Rubens painting of Nicholas Rockox, a mayor of Antwerp in the mid-seventeenth century, Dewinter's anger takes a surprising turn. "We should stand with the Jewish community, and we should do everything possible to protect them," he says. "Jewish values are European values!" Then he launches into an earnest plea for Jews to come home to his extreme-right--"right-wing," he gently corrects--party.

Dewinter is at the forefront of Europe's new philosemitic far right. Along with his French homologue, Marine Le Pen, daughter of Holocaust minimizer and Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Dewinter has spent the last few years proclaiming his support for Jews and championing their rights. No matter that Vlaams Belang's founders were Nazi collaborators or, simply, that the idea of the Jew as "European" is itself a novelty for his base constituency. Since 2003, Dewinter has loudly and consistently spoken out against attacks on Jews--calling Judaism a "pillar of European society" to Time magazine and condemning anti-Semitism and, very specifically, anti-Zionism, to Haaretz and New York Jewish Week. This fall, when elections fell on Sukkot and religious Jews would have missed going to the polls, it was Dewinter's party that helped collect their proxy ballots.

What is happening is this: "extreme right-wing" parties in Belgium and France have decided to embrace the Jews and Israel.  In American language, these parties would be described as "right-wing populist."  They have virtually nothing in common with American conservatives.  Their only real principle is anti-immigrant sentiment, but the immigrants de jour are Muslims, and the Muslims hate the Jews about as much as the European right used to hate them.  Acting on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the Eurofascists have decided that the Jews are a pillar of European civilization. 

Philosemitism is a very clever strategy on the part of Europe's neofascists.  There is only a small chance that they will attract enough Jewish voters to make a difference, though that may change if they keep with the program long enough.  But by "standing with the Jewish community" they are making a claim to respectability.  Hey, we don't hate Jews anymore, so voting for us doesn't make you a Nazi.  We just hate Blacks, and browns, and Muslims generally.

The rise of neofascist parties in Europe is a mere symptom of demographic decline.  The older nationalities of Europe are getting literally older, and they aren't making babies.  The Muslim immigrants are making lots of babies.  Right wing parties extending a hand to the Jews, this is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  All of this is appalling.  But it's damn sure interesting. 

Shocking News About Obama!

He smokes cigarettes.  I suppose that virtually disqualifies him, doesn't it?  Now cigars . . .   See the wierd article on this in Slate.

ps. Todd Epp has some pretty funny highschool shots of Obama. 

Montana Blog

From the mail bag:

You gentlemen have in part inspired this new Montana blog.  It is sincerely hoped that it will in some small way help call the Montana press to accountability, just as yours has done with the South Dakota press.  These are dark days for Republicans in Montana, but there is a palpable sense of determination to turn it around. 

 

http://montanaheadlines.blogspot.com/

 

--
Montana Headlines

We're flattered that we've inspired another to hold the media accountable.  Welcome to the blogosphere!

Lawyer: Sutton Will Not Resign

He fights based on technicalities, not on the merits of the accusations.  Now his lawyer says that he will not resign.  Why does his lawyer speak for him, rather than the man defending himself?  The Dan Sutton Saga continues. 

Sutton

SDWC:

In newspapers across the state this AM, Bob Mercer is reporting that Senator Dan Sutton has left the building (the Capitol building, that is). Possibly never to return.

Senator Dan Sutton left the State Capitol  with his wife, Mary Beth, and headed home to Flandreau Thursday evening.

He didn't plan to return today. The mystery is whether he ever will.

"We're just going to go back and look at all of our options," Mary Beth Sutton said.

Asked whether resignation was a possibility, she replied, "He hasn't ruled anything out right now."

Read this breaking story it in the dead tree editions of the Pierre, Spearfish, Watertown, Mitchell or Aberdeen Newspaper.

This is major, and alludes to what I've been predicting all along. Excepting the bluster and bravado of his attorneys, it seems the handwriting is on the wall, and just remains to be signed or not.

If that's the case, it would be extremely unfortunate that he's put the legislature through this circus, protesting his innocence, but maneuvering left and right in every attempt to delay the matter. He resigned once, labeling is a political matter by opponents and sullying the names of the legislators who were doing no more than their duty.

But once that was off of the table, the charges didn't evaporate. They didn't go away, and the Senate has been pressing ahead to get to the bottom of this matter.

In fact, if you read the article, it sounds as if resignation may not absolve the Senate of getting to the heart of the matter. Senator Ed Olson talks as if the proceedings may happen with or without him in an attempt to bring finality to the investigation.

Maybe - just maybe - those who were doing their jobs in the first place may have been right to do so all along?

SDP Jazz Note: Alice Coltrane 1937-2007

Alice Coltrane, wife of the late John Coltrane, passed away on Friday, January 12th.  Ms. Coltrane was a jazz pianist and composer in her own right.  I confess that I do not know her work.  You can find out a lot more at Jeffery Siegel's marvelous website, StraightNoChaser.  I leave you with this shot, from Siegel's blog. 

Uncurious Yellow About Cancer Research Funding

My friend Chad at CCK and I have been ignoring each other for too long now. I find this piece of jaundiced reasoning on his site today:

You've probably heard the good news about deaths from cancer taking a dip for the second straight year.

It's really too bad President Bush is cutting the research that is giving us the treatments and medications that are providing us with this good news.

Of course, the standard GOP response would be something like this ...

If you want research to help cure your cancer, go do it yourself you lazy bum!

Leaving aside, for a moment, the dubious emotional maturity expressed in the last two sentences, we have this: first, cancer rates have declined under President Bush.  This is somewhat understating the case.  Lung cancer declined among women for the first time ever, and total cancer deaths decreased for the first time since 1930, when data was first compiled.   Second, Bush "is cutting" spending on cancer research.  I was curious enough to follow the link, which is to a site called Think Progress.  Chad poo poos any talk of a liberal media, but maybe it's not out of line to point out that leftists, at least, are leftists, and, like conservatives, they have an agenda.  What I found was this:

The total budget for the National Cancer Institute has increased $1.2 billion since 2001. But as ABC News’s Medical Editor pointed out last night, “most of that occurred in those early years under a Clinton initiative. The budget was actually cut last year and the projected budget for this year is to be cut even further.”

So the budget for the National Cancer Institute has in fact increase by one billion, two hundred million dollars, since the first year of Bush's Presidency.  That's a lot of dollars.  And it may be true that this was "under a Clinton initiative."  But it was a Republican Congress that continued to fund that initiative, wasn't it?  And it would have been Bush who signed that legislation, wouldn't it?

As for cutting the budget, Think Progress has this:

Bush’s 2007 budget proposed cutting funding for the National Cancer Institute by $40 million.

The link provided leads to a Senate Democratic website, which, I humbly suggest, also has an agenda.  None of the sources mentioned what the total budget of the NCI is, or whether this cut represents an actual cut in funding or merely a cut in projected funding, i.e., what the NCI thought it was going to get.  It looks like an actual cut.  Here is what the NCI says:

The fiscal year FY 2007 budget includes $4,753,609,000, a decrease of $39,747,000 below the FY 2006 enacted level of $4,793,356,000 comparable for transfers proposed in the President's request.

So: the NCI budget in 2006 was, using the Think Progress estimate, about a third larger, under President Bush, than under Bill Clinton.  That is a big increase.  The 2007 budget is 39.7 million less, a decline of less than one percent.  That is a very small decrease in a big increase.  I do not know whether such a decrease is warranted or not.  To know that, I would have to consider the budget as a whole, and ask where the 40 million was going to come from.  I would have to know also whether current research programs are being adequately funded.  To judge that, I would have to be able to compare private research investments with publicly funded research.  That would be a long night. 

What one can say after a half hour of searching is that the Bush Administration, and the Republican Congress, have been very generous when it comes to cancer research.  That is what you find out when you are genuinely curious.  To say something this: "Of course, the standard GOP response would be something like this ...If you want research to help cure your cancer, go do it yourself you lazy bum!", that demonstrates only a lack of curiosity and a jaundiced eye.    

Registering Bloggers?

Instapundit:

HARRY REID INTRODUCES BILL TO REGISTER BLOGGERS?  Hmm.

Put this together with a move toward the reintroduction of the inaptly named "fairness doctrine" and it's starting to look like a rather heavyhanded effort to silence critics.

UPDATE:  Much more here, including the revelation that -- surprise, surprise -- Trent Lott is on board.

UPDATE:  Professor Bainbridge doesn't buy it.

The Media Monopoly Issue

From the National Journal's Technology Daily:

Democratic Gains Alter Media Ownership Debate

By David Hatch

(Tuesday, January 16) For television, radio and newspaper outlets seeking regulatory relief from the FCC, the timing of the agency's comprehensive review of ownership limits could not be worse.

When FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a deregulatory-minded Republican, initiated the review last year, the business-friendly GOP controlled both chambers of Congress. But now the Democrats are in charge, and some are flexing their muscle on the issue.

"I think the election [result] is going to add additional challenges" for stations seeking relief, National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton conceded.

"If Martin had known the Democrats were going to take over Congress, certainly he would have moved things along faster," quipped Andrew Schwartzman, president and chief executive officer of the public-interest law firm Media Access Project, which opposes easing the rules. Schwartzman predicted that the agency, which will issue new reports on media ownership this spring, will not conclude its review until the third quarter of 2007.

Learning From The Past

In 2003, then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, pushed through revised restrictions on a 3-2 party-line vote. The changes would have allowed one entity to own up to three TV stations, eight radio stations, the daily newspaper and cable system in a single market. But Powell prompted a backlash from lawmakers in both parties, watchdogs and citizens worried that the new thresholds would trigger consolidation and lead to more homogenized content.

In 2004, responding to a challenge spearheaded by low-power radio operators, a federal appeals court sent most of the changes back to the agency for reconsideration. The court said the FCC had failed to provide sufficient analysis to justify altering the rules.

Martin is now overseeing a review of those items, but having learned from Powell's problems, he is taking a fresh approach that includes seeking input from all sides. The FCC plans six nationwide hearings, with two already having been held in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tenn.

"The goal of these hearings is to more fully and directly involve the American people in the process," Martin said in Tennessee. "I have said many times before, but it bears repeating: Public input is critical to our process."

As a commissioner, Martin supported Powell's initiative. But at his September re-nomination hearing -- under questioning from Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat and staunch critic of media consolidation -- he said he was no longer comfortable with his 2003 vote.

While the media-ownership review has just begun, Martin already has altered it in response to Democratic-led demands. In December, Dorgan spearheaded a request from senators in both parties for the FCC to complete a pending inquiry into how TV broadcasters can best serve their local communities before tackling media ownership. Martin pledged to heed the request.

Late last month, the FCC posted internal studies on media ownership to its Web site. The move followed a September flap in which Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., accused the FCC of having spiked a 2004 report on the benefits of locally produced television news to communities. Martin, who claimed to be unaware of the report, immediately posted it to the site.

The new Democratic heads of the Senate and House commerce committees, which oversee the agency, and other lawmakers are expected to keep a watchful eye on the FCC's approach to media-ownership revisions. Adding to the pressure, Martin's Democratic colleagues, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, have been strengthened by their party's takeover of Congress, though the GOP still has a 3-2 majority at the agency.

The Stakes In The Debate

During an impromptu Jan. 10 interview, Copps told Technology Daily that as part of the review he will press for more public-interest obligations for broadcasters, which will be capable of offering multiple stations when they switch to digital signals in early 2009. During a speech the same day, Copps suggested that increased consolidation may be fueling more gratuitous violence and sex on television as media conglomerates appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Religious groups, meanwhile, raised concerns at a Jan. 8 press briefing in New York about the impact that loosening the rules could have on religious programs and stations, which increasingly worry about being squeezed off the TV dial.

Among the items up for review, the most controversial is the ban on one entity controlling a TV or radio outlet and newspaper in the same market. Combinations that pre-date 1975 have been grandfathered, and the FCC has issued permanent and temporary waivers to aid struggling papers and stations.

"I have various problems about how allowing more cross-ownership serves the public interest," Copps said. "When that happens, you're investing one player with just really excessive power in a specific media market, and you further encroach upon localism and diversity in that market."

"The irony is, what you're hampering is the only free media," countered Shaun Sheehan, a vice president at Tribune Company, which has been lobbying for years to end the cross-ownership ban so it can permanently absorb TV stations it inherited through its purchase of Times Mirror.

The FCC also is re-evaluating whether to extend its duopoly rules, which allow common ownership of two TV stations in large cities, to small- and medium-sized markets. NAB argues that when a successful TV station purchases a struggling one in the same market, program quality improves. Many stations face tremendous costs as they transition to digital, the group said. But critics accuse NAB of exaggerating the degree to which local stations are hurting financially.

In addition, the agency must re-examine its limits on co-owning TV and radio outlets in one market and review whether "triopolies," ownership of three stations in the largest markets, should be permissible.

Congress removed a key item from reconsideration. The FCC had voted in 2003 to increase the cap on the national audience reach of network-TV-owned stations from 35 percent of TV households to 45 percent. But lawmakers subsequently set it at 39 percent, meaning it is not under FCC review.

The Fight For Reform

Both sides are prepping for an all-out fight. Last month, nearly a dozen advocacy and academic groups released a book, "The Case Against Media Consolidation: Evidence On Concentration, Localism And Diversity," that details their opposition to further relaxation of the rules.

The watchdog Free Press also hosted a media reform conference in Memphis, Tenn., to sound the alarm about concentration. At the event, advocacy groups released six studies that seek to rebut industry claims that broadcast outlets are struggling to compete in today's Internet-driven world.

"The FCC must study the impact of consolidation on the diversity of media ownership and implement a plan to increase minority and female ownership of broadcast stations," Consumers Union, Free Press, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Founder Jesse Jackson and other concerned parties demanded in a Jan. 12 letter to the FCC.

Proponents of easing the rules argue that with the growth of subscription television, the Web and emerging technologies, such as high-definition and satellite radio, the media universe is more diversified. "Many of these rules have been in place for 30 to 40 years," lamented NAB's Wharton, adding that "the program choice has exploded, but the rules have remained the same."

Democracies are best practiced when citizens have access to multiple and varying sources of information.  Debates in recent years have centered on the perils of media concentration and bias, and thus so has the issue of access to reliable political information.  This was the issue in 2004 in the Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune and the Argus Leader's political coverage and monopoly status.  Placing too much power into the hands of a single media outlet gives them immense power over editorial decisions and effectively limits the information available to citizens.

CRP

Rapid City Journal:

U.S. Sen. John Thune has joined other farm state senators in opposing a proposal by the Internal Revenue Service that would impose self-employment taxes on payments for acres enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.

The South Dakota Republican joined other senators in signing a letter of opposition to the proposal Thursday that will be sent to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., and IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. The letter said IRS officials had for years "waged an aggressive campaign" to require farmers to pay the self-employment tax on CRP payments.

A ruling by the U.S. Tax Court disagreed with that position, but the IRS challenged it in federal court and won on appeal. Bolstered by the appeal ruling, IRS officials now assert that the self-employment tax could even be applied to CRP payments for those not materially participating in farming operations.

That would include retired farmers, the letter signed by Thune said.

McGovern Library

Rapid City Journal:

MITCHELL - Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton have donated $25,000 to the McGovern Library and Center for Leadership and Public Service here.

The former president was speaker at the October dedication of the library that honors former U.S. Sen. George McGovern and wife Eleanor.

"(We) commend your efforts to build strong and vital programs," according to a Clinton Family Foundation letter.

Sutton Update

Argus Leader:

With Sen. Dan Sutton's fate in the hands of the state Supreme Court, both sides agreed to postpone a Moody County court hearing to give the high court more time to rule.

But the Supreme Court ruling could come as early as today, some predict.

"They act with extreme dispatch on important cases," South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long said Wednesday.

After a telephone conference call Wednesday, it was decided that the circuit judge's hearing in Flandreau - which had been set for Friday - will be delayed until Jan. 26.

At issue in the court battle is whether the state Senate may hold disciplinary hearings for Sutton, a Flandreau Democrat. Sutton has denied an allegation of sexual misconduct with a teen Senate page last year.

Hunting Age

KSFY reports:

Representative Mike Buckingham is sponsoring legislation that would lower the age you can receive a big game hunting license from twelve to ten. He says this is an effort to get kids away from the TV and distractions of everyday life to spend quality time with family. Ken Dalnilson is a high school student in Webster and says he started hunting at an early age. "It's a pretty fun sport. It's a nice activity to get out and do. You get out in the fresh air and see the scenery and stuff like that and it's fun to get out hunting some animals too."

Opponents of the legislation argue that age ten is too young to put a firearm in the hands of a child. They cite safety and maturity as major concerns.

Representative Buckingham plans to introduce the bill to the legislature next week. If the bill passes, it would go into effect in July of next year.

Related thoughts from Greg Belfrage.  The Aberdeen American News says to keep the hunting age as it is.

SD State Basketball

New York Times:

The Women's Basketball Officiating Consortium ruled Wednesday that the game officials made a series of mistakes that led to them to count the game-winning basket in South Dakota State's victory over Minnesota on Sunday.

The consortium acknowledged that the officiating crew misapplied the ruling concerning when a game has ended and also mishandled the video replay.

Maria Boever made a layup with no time on the clock that gave South Dakota State a 59-58 win. After watching a video replay for a few minutes the officials changed their ruling to say the shot didn't count. South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston protested and the officials watched the tape one more time and finally decided to count the basket.

''They didn't procedurely handle the review of the video properly,'' said Patty Broderick, the coordinator of officials for the WBOC. ''Obviously coaches aren't supposed to be around. It was one mistake after another. They got caught up in the emotion of it.''

Blogs and Openness in the Middle East

The Columbia Journalism Review:

In the American blogosphere, opinions and life tales blossom a millionfold every day. But against the background of a largely party-line mainstream local Arab media, and the absence of avenues for national conversation, these Arab bloggers, most of whom are anonymous for their own safety, commit small acts of bravery simply by speaking their minds. It should be said that most of the people maintaining blogs do come out of the highest strata of society, economically and educationally, so their opinions can seem at times to represent no wider a circle than the upper crust of any given country. But, as Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian blogger who was forced into exile in September 2005 for his democracy activism, which included blogging about his eight-month interrogation by Syrian security services, put it: “There is nothing wrong with admitting that we represent a certain elite. It’s not exclusively an economic elite, though economics surely plays a large factor. These are people who are comfortable, who have more time to blog. But in itself this is not the problem. The importance of this technology at this stage is to connect the elites better, to network the elites, to make them able to share more ideas and organize.” The power of the medium, Abdulhamid says, will come when those bloggers find a way to “cross the bridge between the elite and the grass roots” — a process that is already beginning, through a few organized demonstrations coordinated by bloggers, online campaigns, and the posting of information about police brutality or sexual harassment.

HT to Jay Reding.

A Note on Minimum Wage

Dustin Adams posted a couple weeks ago about the possible problems with raising the minimum wage.  We should seriously consider these issues which may cause future strains on the nation’s already overstretched budget. 

Consider basic Macroeconomic principles associated with raising the minimum wage.  Raising the wage limits the amount of labor firms can afford to employ.  As a result unemployment rises and Uncle Sam’s pocket is the one that pays in forms of social welfare programs. 

For this reason I have a hard time understanding the left wing complaints about the deficit, for raising the minimum wage will most likely raise the deficit further.  Maybe we should take a step back from social programs for the time being and focus on limiting government spending in areas that are not of great importance.

Sen. DeMint makes a great point about standard of living throughout different states.  One should also think about the variance of jobs throughout each state.  It seems to me that the minimum wage debate may be better off handled at a regional level.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Max Mayer and I am new to the site.  I have been given a great opportunity to share some of my humble opinions with you.  Hopefully I am able to stimulate a conversation or two!

Well here is a little about myself.  I grew up in Canistota South Dakota and graduated high school from there in 2004.  Currently, I am an undergraduate at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland.  I am a Quantitative Economics Major and hope to serve in the Marines when I graduate.  I wish I had some more interesting stories to share with you.  However, the life I live here at the academy is not exactly what they call the “average” college experience. 

That’s about it from my end.  If you would like to know anything else, feel free to contact me.  Thanks again, and have a great rest of the week! 

Baucus Fundraising for Johnson

From today's edition of Roll Call:

Baucus Fundraising for Johnson
January 17, 2007
By Erin P. Billings,
Roll Call Staff

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who is up for re-election this cycle, has formed a special fundraising account to help Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) raise money for a prospective 2008 bid while recovering from emergency brain surgery.

Baucus, the newly minted chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, on Tuesday finalized the creation of the Baucus-Johnson Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that allows Baucus to simultaneously raise money for his re-election as well as Johnson's.

All funds collected through the committee would be divided equally between the Western state Senators, Baucus' office said.

"Max believes Tim Johnson is a national leader," said Baucus' chief of staff, Jim Messina. "Max wants to make sure that the last thing Tim is thinking about is raising money.

"Max will do anything he can to help Tim Johnson and believes this is one way he can be helpful."

Johnson remains at George Washington University Hospital, where he is recovering following a brain hemorrhage in December. The South Dakota Senator continues to improve, but his office said he has yet to make any decisions about seeking a third Senate term.

Drey Samuelson, Johnson's chief of staff, said Tuesday that the office is "very touched" by Baucus' move and remains confident that Johnson will make a full recovery and ultimately run in 2008. Samuelson added that while Baucus and Johnson are good friends, the Montana Democrat's overture "came out of the blue."

"We didn't ask for it," Samuelson said. "It's particularly generous. It says a lot about Sen. Baucus. It's going to help us put the campaign in the position we wanted to be in, so that's definitely a weight off of us."

Baucus and Johnson both represent states where Democrats have had to wage some difficult electoral battles in recent years. And both Senators' re-elections are critical to a Democratic majority in the 111th Congress.

Johnson's recovery has been atop Senators' minds since Dec. 13 when he suddenly fell ill during a phone interview with reporters at the Capitol. Johnson has remained at the hospital since then, but he has been transferred out of the intensive care unit and continues to improve in rehabilitation. His office said Tuesday he is awake, responsive and eating.

Following his collapse, speculation mounted over whether Johnson would be able to return to the Senate. If unable to serve, the balance of the chamber could have shifted from a 51-49 Democratic majority to a 50-50 split with Vice President Cheney breaking any tie.

The governor of South Dakota, Mike Rounds, is a Republican and likely would have tapped another Republican to fulfill the remainder of Johnson's term.

Prior to his illness, Johnson was on a path to run again in a state that almost certainly would have brought a competitive race.

Johnson successfully, but narrowly, staved off a challenge from now Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) in his re-election bid in 2002. A leading Democrat to succeed Johnson if he were to retire would be Rep. Stephanie Herseth, while the top GOP candidate likely would be Rounds.

Baucus also represents a swing state for Democrats and is on track to win a sixth term. The five-term Senator, known as a prolific fundraiser, had $1.4 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 30.

Samuelson said as Johnson focuses on getting better, his aides are hoping to "put him in a position to run for re-election should he choose to do so." As of Sept. 30, Johnson had $651,000 in the bank.

"Frankly, I think he will," Samuelson said. "I can't say that with certainty, but certainly that is what he wanted to do [before he got ill], that's what I believe he will want to do, and believe that's what he will do."

UPDATE:  Couple that story with the Argus Leader's story today that Johnson is adding to his campaign staff.  Of course, it's too early to know for sure what Johnson plans to do until we hear it straight from him.  Nevertheless, hiring Steve Jarding (campaign manger for James Webb in Virginia) was probably a wise choice.

Keep Diggin' Jimmy

Things just keep getting worse for Jimmy Carter.  And they gave this guy the Nobel Peace Prize.  Of course they also gave it to Carter's buddy, Yasser Arafat, so that isn't surprising.  For a classic take on Carter, see Jay Nordlinger's Carterpalooza. 

Iraq

Foreign Policy's Donald Stoker:  "Vietnam taught many Americans the wrong lesson: that determined guerrilla fighters are invincible. But history shows that insurgents rarely win, and Iraq should be no different. Now that it finally has a winning strategy, the Bush administration is in a race against time to beat the insurgency before the public’s patience finally wears out." Read the whole story.

Meanwhile, Bryan Preston writes: "Michelle [Malkin] and I spent four days patrolling the environs around Forward Operating Base Justice in north and west Baghdad last week. . . . This post is mostly about mistakes. The troops didn’t sit down with us and tick off all the mistakes that they think we have made in Iraq to date, so what follows isn’t their gripe list being published under my name. They did answer our questions forthrightly and we learned much from interviewing them and just talking with them over chow and listening to their crosstalk in the Humvees. So this post is made up of my observations after seeing the war up close and following it from afar, including mistakes, fumbles and ways forward to win–and what victory actually looks like." He concludes: "Having said all of this, Iraq is still very winnable."  Michael Yon is saying the same thing.

Wadhams

Denver Post columnist Diane Carman writing about the "pit bull" Dick Wadhams and his position for the Colorado GOP:

Wadhams is revered by Republicans and Democrats alike as the most brilliant, ruthless, effective political strategist since Karl Rove.

Allard took the opportunity Monday to endorse Wadhams for state Republican Party chairman, a position that's his for the asking, even though it seems wimpy for a guy known for ripping reporters' faces off before he's even finished his first cup of coffee - and liking it.

Anybody who watches politics even casually can recite the highlights of Wadhams' career by heart. He managed Hank Brown's campaign for the Senate in 1990, Bill Owens' campaign for governor in 1998 and Allard's two campaigns for the Senate. He took over the ailing campaign to get Montana Sen. Conrad Burns re-elected in 2000, ran the campaign of South Dakota Sen. John Thune that buried former minority leader Tom Daschle's Senate career in 2004, and was widely believed to be the glorious heir apparent to the savage legacy of the late Lee Atwater and his successor, Rove.

Read the rest.

Obama and Team Daschle

Chris Cillizza's Washington Post blog notes the "key players" in Barack Obama's possible presidential campaign, many of which are former Daschle people:

Here's the early look at Obama's inner circle:

David Plouffe: A partner in AKP Media (the consulting firm that handled Obama's media in the 2004 Senate race), Plouffe is widely expected to serve as national campaign manager for the presidential race. In the last presidential election, Plouffe served as a senior adviser to Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.). Prior to that he served as executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2000 cycle and as deputy chief of staff to Gephardt.

David Axelrod: Axelrod, who is based in Chicago, is a well-known name in Democratic consulting circles and along with Plouffe handled the television advertising for Obama in 2004 and is expected to do the same in the presidential race. Axelrod previously worked with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack -- two rivals for the 2008 nomination.

Robert Gibbs: Gibbs, a longtime communications operative with a special focus on the Senate, has been with Obama since shortly after his 2004 primary victory. Prior to that Gibbs served as a spokesman for Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) presidential bid. Gibbs, like Plouffe, has experience in the nitty-gritty of Democratic politics, having served as the communications director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and as campaign spokesman for Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) in 1998. He will be the campaign's communications director.

Paul Harstad: Obama's pollster in 2004, Harstad is back on board for 2008. Based in Colorado, Harstad has had a remarkable run of success in the past few elections -- handling survey research for Obama, along with Sens. Ken Salazar (Colo.) and Clair McCaskill (Mo.).

Cornell Belcher: Belcher is one of the rising stars in the Democratic polling community, serving as the de facto in-house pollster for Howard Dean at the Democratic National Committee over the last few years. He will share polling duties with Harstad.

Julianna Smoot: Smoot is one of a series of top Obama aides who has strong ties to former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Smoot was finance director for Daschle during his time in the Senate, and she held the same role for John Edwards in his 1998 Senate race. Last cycle she was finance director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and will hold the same position for Obama.

Steve Hildebrand: No one has stronger Daschle ties in Obama's new political world than Hildebrand. A South Dakota native, Hildebrand managed Sen. Tim Johnson's (D-S.D.) successful 2002 reelection race and two years later led Daschle's unsuccessful bid for a fourth term. Hildebrand also has considerable expertise in presidential politics; he ran Al Gore's 2000 Iowa caucus campaign. He will be an early state adviser to Obama.

Cassandra Butts: Butts will be charged with overseeing policy development for Obama. She, too, is an alumni of Gephardt's office and currently works at the Center for American Progress -- a progressive think tank. Butts was also a law school classmate of Obama's at Harvard.

Paul Tewes: Tewes was Hildebrand's deputy in Iowa in 2000, directing Gore's field operation in the caucuses. He went on to serve as political director at the DSCC during the 2004 cycle and then formed a consulting company with Hildebrand in 2005. Tewes will be Obama's Iowa state director.

Bill Burton: Burton will be the national press secretary for Obama's bid. He served as communications director at the DCCC for the 2006 cycle. Burton worked as a spokesman for Gephardt and then Kerry during the 2004 presidential race.

Dan Pfeiffer: Another holdover from Team Daschle, Pfeiffer will be the traveling press secretary for Obama. Pfeiffer was communications director for Tim Johnson in 2002 and then deputy campaign manager for Daschle in 2004. Following that race, Pfeiffer signed on as communications director for Sen. Evan Bayh's (D-Ind.) presidential campaign-in-waiting. When Bayh dropped from the race late last year, Pfeiffer became a free agent.

Devorah Adler: Adler was the research director at the Democratic National Committee in the 2006 cycle where she gathered information about Republicans eyeing the presidency in 2008. She'll now turn her attention to the records of Obama's Democratic rivals as the research director for the Illinois senator's national campaign.

Alyssa Mastromonaco: Mastromonaco, the political director at Obama's Hopefund PAC, will oversee scheduling and advance work for the presidential campaign.

Read the whole story.  All the Daschle people who wanted to run a presidential race will now get to.

Hands Off the Gay Sheep?

File under "News You Can Ewes."

Science told: hands off gay sheep

That's the London Times headline, I kid you not.  How exactly was "science" handling the gay sheep, you ask?  Well:

SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.

The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.

Actually I can think of certain rural counties in Arkansas, my home state, where this stuff should be sprayed like agent orange.  Or at least that what the sign comming in from Memphis once implied: Welcome to Arkansas, it read, where men are men and sheep are nervous. 

But apparently one expert spokeswoman thinks the Oregon project is a really baaaad idea. 

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay. She said: “How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?” She said gay men and lesbians would be “deeply offended” by the social implications of the tests.

It turns out that, to the herders dismay,  a lot of his rams have been listening to Abba. 

Approximately one ram in 10 prefers to mount other rams rather than mate with ewes, reducing its value to a farmer. Initially, the publicly funded project aimed to improve the productivity of herds.

I'm sorry, but this isn't a story; it's a farm joke.  It seems a bit odd to me to be worrying about the sexual freedom of a species that is frequently bred for slaughter.  We probably ought to consider the ethical implications of such a therapy for human beings well before Larry King starts pushing it on radio adds, but whatever they are, they surely don't apply to lamb chops. 

Holding On For Dear Life

Dan Sutton's lawyers argue that only conviction for an "infamous" crime allows the legislature to expel a member.  I have previously argued against such a notion.  If the Supreme Court knows what is good for it (and follows the law) it will leave a political question to the politicians in the legislature.

Free Speech

Ed Morrissey:  "Why would Kucinich want to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine and kill off the AM band and talk radio? Because his allies have proven less successful than conservatives at building a market for their broadcasts. Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, and a slew of conservative thinkers carved out an industry out of the AM wilderness, and the Al Frankens and Wendy Wildes can't keep up without government intervention."

Baghdad

Is the surge working before anyone even arrives?

Al Qaeda terrorists are fleeing Baghdad in advance of President Bush’s 21,500-man troop surge, a senior military intelligence officer told Pajamas Media today. Under orders from the al Qaeda commander in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, fighters are streaming toward the Diyala region of Iraq.

This confirms reports posted on Iraq the Model, which cited al-Sabah, a well-known mouthpiece for al Qaeda in Iraq.

In speaking with Pajamas Media the military intelligence officer supplied several new details of the al Qaeda retreat.

The apparent evacuation of Baghdad by al Qaeda forces comes from direct orders issued by al-Masri, the former soldier who took control of the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda following the June 2006 bombing death of Zarqawi.

Initially, the intelligence officer informed Pajamas, the Baghdad-based AQ fighters did not want to leave. Al-Masri had to send unequivocal orders for their retreat, adding that one of the lessons from the Fallujah campaign was that Americans have learned how to prevail in house-to-house fighting. Masri said that remaining in Baghdad was a ‘no-win situation’ for the terrorists.

“In more than ten years of reading al Qaeda intercepts, I’ve never seen language like this,” the intelligence officer said. Usually, al Qaeda communications are full of bravado and false confidence, he added.

Al-Masri’s evacuation order – assuming that it is authentic – reveals that al Qaeda in Iraq leader has a good grasp of a tactical situation. “He is far more formidable than Zarqawi was,” the intelligence officer said, because of his training at Soviet special warfare schools.

More Criticism of the Argus

Corey Vilhauer: "I’m tired of the Argus. I’m tired of opinion pages that are filled with pretentious, self-righteous ramblings by people who seem to be on the defensive more than anything. I’m tired of the writing, which is getting worse and worse."  Indeed.

The Reality of Evil

Theodore Dalrymple has a review of a book on the Rwandan Genocide.  Dalrymple (a pen name, you will be relieved to know) is a prison physician who has made a reputation for himself as a rather pessimistic commentator on human nature. 

I have seen so much, both at home and abroad, that I am not easily taken aback. When you have heard of baby-sitters who impale babies on railings in order to quieten them during a televised football match, or of men who suspend their girlfriends by their ankles from the fifteenth floor balcony, and this kind of thing daily for many years, you develop a kind of emotional carapace. One almost begins to take a pride in one’s own unsociability, which one takes to be a kind of sophistication. It is a form of spiritual pride, I suppose. Still, I nevertheless read a book that shocked me. It was about the Rwandan genocide, called A Time for Machetes, by a French journalist called Jean Hatzfeld. He interviewed several men who had taken part in the genocide, probably the most murderous in human history, at least in terms of numbers of deaths per day while it lasted, and were now imprisoned. One of them was under sentence of death.

The whole thing is well worth reading.  Whereas the Nazi Holocaust has produced a whole industry devoted to its interpretation and history, the Rwandan genocide has barely made a ripple on the world mind.  This is probably a mistake.  The former event, as existentially terrible as it was, was carried out by a very highly organized state, under the influence of an unusual ideology, during a time of total war.  The latter was carried out by ordinary people against their neighbors, under the influence of rather ordinary propaganda, in a more or less ordinary political situation. 

For three months, the men would get up, have a hearty breakfast, gather together, and then go on hunting expeditions of their former neighbours, who had fled to the nearby marshes. They would hack anyone they found to death; and then, when the whistle blew in the evening for them to stop their ‘work’ (they regarded it as such), they returned home, had a quick wash, had dinner and socialised in a jolly way over a few beers. Their wives would be - for the most part, though not universally - content, because Tutsi property was thoroughly looted, and distributed according to the individual efficiency and ruthlessness of the killers.

The Rwandan Genocide shows how easy it is for a human society to be transformed into something monstrous.  This is something that we maybe ought to know. 

 

South Dakota Last In Wages

We are going to have a graduation rate of 95%, but then they are going to leave to they can make some real money.

AP

Glenn Reynolds: "Once again, a webpage by unpaid amateurs is more accurate and nuanced than an effort by the Associated Press."

Michael Krebs as Abraham Lincoln

Michael Krebs kindly sent me this close up of him as Abraham Lincoln.  I had discussed his work in the series of exchanges on Lincoln. 

He also sent me this schedule information:

We do our show all over Illinois. We are at Chicago History Museum on Feb. 19 and New Salem Historic Site on Aug. 3 & 4. We're in Lincoln, Nebraska on Feb. 11.

The Demise of the Argus Leader

Todd Epp:

Corey Vilhauer at Black Marks on Wood Pulp as an extremely thoughtful post on the joys of reading a good newspaper and how the Sioux Falls Argus Leader is, in his opinion, not a good newspaper.

An excerpt:

First of all, instead of improving the quality of the writing, the Argus hasdumbed it down. Instead of writing about things that a newspaper readerwould care about, the topics are geared towards the average American.An American that gets his or her news from the Internet or from themorning news. Not from a newspaper. In other words, the Argus is searching for an audience that is tuned out to words on paper.

The newspaper isn’t dying. There will always be people who will longfor the touch and smell of the actual, physical product. But it isdwindling. And no amount of change can help that. It’s part of a shiftin culture. Films and theatre didn’t die when the television showed up.But it did dwindle, and a higher level of production was needed to makethem seem more important than their new rival – more prestigious. Moreexclusive. A place for high quality articles and a Sunday morning ritual.

There was a time, not so long ago, when I could not possibly conceive of not getting a morning daily newspaper.  I didn't know how an intelligent person could otherwise start the day.

Absolutely.  As a fellow news junkie, it's hard to imagine not starting the day with a good dose of current events.  More:

But a few years ago, that all stopped.  I could get the news I wanted online--for free.  The papers are clutter, something that needs to be recycled--a waste of resources.  Now, with RSS feeds, I read more news from more sources than ever before.  Just not on paper. [Edit: Indeed]

I adapted.

But reading the Argus is no longer a pleasure, as Corey so nicely describes.  Reading a major daily still is--the Strib, the Houston Chronicle, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the KC Star come to mind. [Edit:  I agree, all fine papers]  Even some midmajor dailes like the Austin American Statesman are enjoyable.

I believe my Boomer generation is the last to be avid newspaper readers.  As I've written before, most of the kids I've worked with in political campaigns do not read a physical newspaper.

I'm glad I'm not a newspaper publisher.  I don't know what the solution is to bring back readers like me and bring in the kids. 

But times have changed, along with the means to obtain information. And perhaps, as Corey suggests, newspapers have changed TOO much for those who truly love them.

Yes.  It's all a very scary time for the newspaper industry.  The Argus Leader has failed to understand where the future is taking them, and has adopted useless policies to counteract its demise.  Even I'm starting to give up on newspapers, which I thought would never happen.  I'm a paper clipper / pack rat / historian and prefer hard copies, but I can find news articles in an instant and print them right off from where I sit.  Of course there are other forces at work that are forcing the Argus down a path it's not prepared for, but it's also a new digital age, and it's something the Argus has failed to come to terms with.

Can We Just See The Dang Game!

I saw some wonderful commercials yesterday on television.  In between them there was a pretty good football game.  Wow, can't wait to see that new David Spade series!  Please, do more stumping for it next week, CBS! 

South Dakota and Campaign Finance

Some members of the legislature get it:

Politics in South Dakota has "become serious business, with serious money for candidates and ballot issues," says Rep. Clayton Halverson, D-Veblen. "But I don't care how much money people give if we know about it, and I think that means pre-election filing.""I'm more interested in transparency," said Rep. Joel Dykstra, R-Canton. "If you report and disclose, people can see who gives what and make a judgment for themselves."

Campaign finance shenanigans often occur precisely because it is hard to raise money, so people do end runs around the law.  The wise policy is to make it easy for candidates or issue advocates to raise the funds they desire to run their campaigns and then have total transparency so we the voters can judge for ourselves whether their sources of funding deserve attention, positive or (more likely) negative.

Update: The Eppster agrees. 

Thoughts On Public Opinion

When President Bush and the war an Iraq were popular, some on the anti-war side chastised members of Congress for voting for the war out of political expediency.  Now that the President and the war are unpopular, we are told from the same anti-war quarters that politicians who defy public opinion are fools at best and malicious at worst.  This, of course, is democratic politics and all sides play the game.  When public opinion against us, there is no one we champion more than the brave statesmen who stands by his convictions in the wake of criticism.  When public opinion is with us, there is no one we loathe more than the foolish politician who has the undemocratic temerity to defy the American people.  There are people on both (or all) sides who are political operators, and it is their job to make whatever arguments best suit the political fortunes of their side.  It is the job of other people to point this out. (Irony alert) This website, of course, always argues from purest principle and never makes the merely expedient argument. 

Andrew Busch On MLK

Andrew Busch has an intriguing piece on what conservatives have in common with Martin Luther King.  Busch is sober enough to point out that many (if not most) conservatives were opposed to King in the 1950s and 1960s, nor does Busch attempt to argue that if King were alive today he'd be voting Republican.  But Busch notes three items with which conservatives are in harmony with King.
1. Like the early King, conservatives are against racial "bean counting," preferring the standard of color-blindness.
2. Like King, conservatives argue for a standard of justice above public opinion or what is useful.
3. Like King, conservatives are comfortable shrouding some of their causes in religious language.
Here's a Busch:

Second, King based his struggle on a moral and religious view that eschewed relativism. Indeed, his use of civil disobedience was predicated on his belief that one could distinguish between just human laws and unjust human laws, the latter consisting of those human contrivances which violated the “moral law,” the “natural law,” “God’s law,” or the “eternal law,” as King alternately put it. Yet the social thrust of liberalism today has as its foundation the dismissal of notions of absolute truth or the notion that human law must strive to meet some transcendent moral standard. In this respect, liberalism now has more in common with famed post-modern philosopher Stanley Fish than with King.

Finally, in a related vein, King, like the abolitionists and the Congregationalist clergy of the 1770s, had no qualms about bringing religious language and arguments to bear on the issue at  hand. To the contrary, it was perfectly natural to him. It is rather difficult for liberals today to embrace King while attacking conservatives for moral absolutism and for daring to mix religion and politics.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the most influential men in American history.  The son of a reverend born in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began the campaign for civil rights in 1953 by helping to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  He later brought his nonviolent campaign against segregation to Bull Connor's Birmingham in 1963.  The trip landed King in jail on Good Friday, where he composed "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," a truly remarkable document that explained the religious and philosophical underpinnings of nonviolent civil disobedience.

Change didn't come easily.  Bombings at homes and churches, police brutality, and murder at the hands of white supremacists all continued.  However, a month after the Birmingham protest, President John Kennedy sent a civil-rights bill to Congress, prompting a sea of marchers to descent on Washington to build support for the bill's passage.  The marchers assembled at the Lincoln Memorial and listened to performances by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Odetta and Mahilia Jackson.  Veteran activist A. Philip Randolph urged the passage of the civil-rights bill.  Then, the master orator King took the podium: "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. . . . Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. . . . We are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like the waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."  He concluded, in his now-famous lines:

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.  It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

...

When we let freedom ring, whem we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

History Carnival

The latest History Carnival can be found at Investigations of a Dog.

SDP Jazz Note: Alice Coltrane

Jazz pianist Alice Coltrane, widow of legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, passed away on Friday:

Alice Coltrane, a jazz performer and composer and wife of the late saxophone legend John Coltrane, has died. She was 69.

Coltrane died Friday of respiratory failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, said her sister, Marilyn McLeod.

...

Born Alice McLeod in Detroit on August 27, 1937, she began learning classical piano at age 7. She studied jazz piano briefly in Paris before moving to New York, where she met her future husband in 1963.

At that time, she was playing with bandleader Terry Gibbs, who has often taken credit for introducing the two.

John Coltrane "saw something in her that was beautiful," Gibbs told the Los Angeles Times.

She left Gibbs' band to marry Coltrane and began performing with his band in the mid-1960s. She played tour dates with Coltrane's group in San Francisco, New York and Tokyo.

"John not only taught me how to explore but to play thoroughly and completely," Alice Coltrane said in comments published in "The Black Giants."

After his death, she devoted herself to raising their children but continued to play.

Early albums under her name, including "A Monastic Trio" and "Ptah, the El Daoud," received critical praise.

Her last recording, "Translinear Light," came in 2004. Her last performances came in an abbreviated tour last fall with her saxophonist son, Ravi.

Gov. Pawlenty Helping Sen. McCain

Power Line:

Seth Leibsohn emails us the news:

Today, on Bill Bennett's nationally syndicated radio show, "Bill Bennett's Morning in America," Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said "I've agreed to be the national co-chair of John McCain's campaign for president."

Tim Pawlenty also had great things to say about other things MN, like Power Line. Saying, "We've gone from Mary Tyler Moore to Power Line." Bennett said, "That's called progress."

Audio from Bill Bennett's show can be found at Bill Bennett's Morning in America.

Congratulation to Bill and his colleagues on their scoop. We appreciate the kind words, and allowing us to be among the first news outlets reporting word of Governor Pawlenty's endorsement.

Money in Politics

Argus Leader:

South Dakota voters need to know who is paying for candidates and campaign issues, and they need to know it before elections, said Secretary of State Chris Nelson.

Complete and timely information guided his staff and the attorney general's office when they wrote a bill that repeals existing campaign finance laws and proposes a new set of statutes, he said.

"We want to make it clear exactly who needs to report campaign finances and what needs to be reported," Nelson said. "That needs to be available in a timely fashion."

That's essential to citizen involvement in the campaign and election process, said a South Dakota State University journalism professor.

"Disclosure is essential, because nothing is wrong with giving money to politicians or campaigns, but people need to know who is getting the money and who is giving it," said Matt Cecil.

The 12-page bill will receive considerable attention during the 2007 Legislature. Nelson said he didn't write it in response to questions raised about money and finance reports during last fall's campaign, but publicity surrounding those issues raised awareness of reporting laws.