South Dakota Politics

An Arkansas Methodist on John Paul II

I was raised in blissful ignorance of the great prejudices of modern America, so much so that when I learned in 5th grade social studies that the Clansmen hated Jews and Catholics, I had no idea who any of these people were.  This in spite of the fact that I went to school with children whose fathers were Jews, Catholics, and Clansmen.  It was only in Graduate school that I got a sense of how different Roman Catholicism was from the Church I attended as a boy.  I didn't know who any of the leaders of Methodist Church were, above the head of our own pastor.  Nor had I any conception at all of the history of the history of that same Church.  At Claremont Graduate School there was a small group (a conspiracy, as some of them liked to say) of Conservative Catholics.  They knew exactly who the head of their church was, and had a good grasp of how that institution had risen and changed over the last two millennia.  I could easily understand how my dear friend Doug Alexander had come to Catholicism because he had fallen in love with the Church.

I have to confess that, from the perspective of a political scientist nurtured on a watered down Wesleyism, its hard not to look at the Church of Rome the same way I look at the Roman Empire: as a great, foundational, but thoroughly human institution.  What that confession would cost me if I were Catholic, I can only guess.  But even judged from that perspective, what a figure it cuts!  George W. Bush is often referred to as Bush 43, to distinguish him from his father who was the 41st President of the United States.  John Paul II was the 265th bishop of Rome. 

Karol Wojtyla has been recently described as the first modern Pope.  This is to say he was the first Pope to effectively engage with modernity.  He had the head for it, in two senses.  He is the only Pope that most non-Catholics could recognize if they saw him dressed in flannel pajamas.  His head was the sort that should have been sculpted by Michelangelo, if the latter hadn't died a year short of Pope 225.  It was also the sort of head that recognized the political role that the Church as to play in our times.

We live in a thoroughly secular civilization.  Courts and Congresses tell Priests and Pontiffs where the boundaries are, rather than the other way around.  I'm all for this, but I do think that secular civilization needs an honorable opposition.  It was John Paul II's insistence on the idea of truth against the relativism of the age that made him such a powerful and indispensable person. I recall a fellow grad student from Africa who spoke of the various communist dictatorships in this way: "they say they are democracies, but we know what they are."  Distinguishing between lies and truth was the first essential step to resisting totalitarianism.   This was what the new Pope brought to his native land, and thus helped begin the process of liberation in central Europe. 

He was also a tireless and forceful adocate for the idea of a universal human dignity.  Modern liberalism has put a great deal of weight on that idea.  But it did not generate it.  It inherited it.  The idea of human dignity emerged in the history of Biblical Religion, and the late Pope was determined that it should not loose its connection to that source.  Whatever one thinks about the truth and value of religion, there are worse legacies than that.

How Predictable

Forgive the Catholic boy's attention to the Pope.  Here's more.  As noted by Powerline, the New York Times is finding it easy to criticize John Paul II, but has to search for someone to defend him. The Rapid City Journal picks up an AP report that can find little good to say about a holy man, but can reduce him, as I suggested below, to just another conservative politician. 

John Paul's Polish roots nourished a doctrinal conservatism -- opposition to contraception, abortion, women priests -- that rankled liberal Catholics in the United States and western Europe.

The 264th pope battled what he called a "culture of death" in modern society. It made him a hero to those who saw him as their rock in a degenerating world, and a foe to those who felt he was holding back social enlightenment.

"The church cannot be an association of freethinkers," John Paul said.

However, a sex abuse scandal among clergy plunged his church into moral crisis. He summoned U.S. cardinals to the Vatican and told them: "The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God." Critics accused the pope of not acting swiftly enough.

Other critics said that while the pope championed the world's poor, he was not consistent when he rebuked Latin American priests who sought to involve the church politically through the doctrine of "liberation theology."

Again, was the Pope a doctrinal conservative? Or was he a witness to truth? It would be easy to give into the spirit of the age, but that isn’t the Church’s role. Notice how the report has him battling a “culture of death,” rather than defending a culture of life. The Pope is portrayed as just another guy standing in the way of progress rather than someone with a positive alternative. And what to say about “liberation theology.” Yes, the Pope was opposed to theologies that borrow as much from Marx as from the Gospel and turn the Gospel and the Church into tools of political activism. Liberation theology tends to turn Jesus into a political activist, rather than a witness to conversion. 

Anyone interested in a more useful discussion of the Pope’s legacy might turn to this bit by George Weigel at NRO. I am glad to see NBC is using Weigel as one of their JP II experts. 

Here is the difference between the world and the Church. On one of the networks (I forget which one now), they were talking about what kind of man might be the next pope. One of the experts said things like the next pope should be charismatic like JP II, but maybe a better bureaucrat. They might also pick an older man so he won’t serve as long as JP II.  They might look to where the Church is growing (Latin America or Africa) rather than were it is stagnant (Europe). There was one characteristic the expert failed to mentionas he concerned himself with political questions. Maybe the primary consideration of the Cardinals should be picking a man who is holy and a witness for Christ? Just a thought. 

John Paul II Dead at 84

You can read the story here, and read the thoughts of philosopher Thomas Hibbs here. 

Just another conservative?

Watching and reading some of the coverage of the Pope’s failing health, one senses a profound respect, and perhaps a reverence (if modern man can sum up any reverence anymore), for a man selflessly committed to the causes of justice and evangelization. There is one thing, I think, that should be set straight, though. I noticed this last night when watching the News Hour on PBS and Margaret Warner interviewed Michael Novak and some religious studies fellow from Boston College. The Pope gets chastised from time to time, and was last night by Margaret Warner and the BC guy, for being out of step with the times. This is also the point of this piece by theologian Hans Kung. The upshot of the Kung argument is that the Pope is to be criticized for not being a liberal. The problem with the Pope, his critics say, is that he has not fully capitulated to modernity. For instance Kung takes John Paul II to task for not allowing the ordination of women or giving his approval to artificial contraception.  John Paul II does not accept the ideals of the liberal autonomous individual and radical egalitarianism that guides modernity.  To the extent he has not accepted these "enlightened" principles, he is criticized.

Yet I see this as the Pope’s great strength. John Paul II is referred to at times as a “conservative” or a “traditionalist.” Look for this as he is eulogized.  Both of these are false. While clearly the Church gives great importance to the Tradition of teaching (yes, with a capital T), “traditionalism” suggests loving something merely because it is old, not because it is true. This is not the case with John Paul II or any believing Catholic. Is the Pope a conservative? Definitely not. Let me explain with a story. Some years ago while in graduate school at Loyola Chicago, I was lucky enough to attend a symposium sponsored by the liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal. The symposium was entitled “The Crisis of Liberal Catholicism,” and was chaired by E.J. Dionne, the liberal Catholic columnist for the Washington Post. We were blessed to be joined by Francis Cardinal George, the Archbishop of Chicago. Cardinal George said this. There is not “liberal Catholicism,” nor is there “conservative Catholicism.” There is simply Catholicism. Cardinal George criticized “liberalism” for being too in love with progress and “conservatism” for apologizing for existing unjust social structures. The Church has no political agenda as such. Its concern is with the propagation of the Truth. The Church will always be counter-cultural because the Gospel is counter-cultural. It will always be in opposition to the world, thus always being “out of step” and disparaged for not accepting the world’s standards of justice. Thus John Paul II can take “liberal” stands against capital punishment, against consumerism, and against war. He can take “conservative” stands against abortion, artificial contraception, and same-sex marriage. His standard is not the world, but the Gospel. The Gospel will always stand as a radical critique of worldly and materialistic standards of justice. Even within the Church, the Gospel, not the world, guides the Pope and the Church itself. There is no right to be a priest; it is a calling. Thus some are excluded. Christ called only men. From the point of view of the Church, this is a rule that cannot be changed because it was instituted by Christ (the single priesthood is another matter). So it isn’t as though John Paul II refuses to allow women’s ordination; he cannot allow it because it is not by his authority, but by Christ’s, that the clergy is all male. By the world’s standards this is a sin against one of the few gods we still worship: the god of equality. But the Church is not the world. It and the Gospel serve to counter the world.  No, John Paul II is niether liberal nor conservative, progressive or traditional. He is simply Catholic and has defended and preached the faith well. “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Curiouser and curiouser

The tragedy at Red Lake is beginning to look like a conspiracy.  One does wonder how clues were missed.  When I was in New Orleans last week the hotel distributed the New York Times to each room.  One morning the headline read something like, "Signs Of Danger Were Missed," while right below there was a picture of the Weise kid with his hair done up in devil horns.  Do you think a kid manipulating his appearance to imitate the devil might be a pretty obvious sign that something is a bit off? Or is that just a young person expressing his unique individuality?

The Pope and Communism

Here’s an article about how John Paul II hastened the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. The great Lech Walesa says:

"We know what the pope has achieved. Fifty percent of the collapse of communism is his doing," Walesa told The Associated Press on Friday. "More than one year after he spoke these words, we were able to organize 10 million people for strikes, protests and negotiations.”

Someone recently told me a story of when John Paul II was Archbishop Wojtyla of Kracow. The Communists were going to hold a massive rally at 11:00am on Sunday to show the Christians the strength of their numbers. Wojtyla cancelled mass at all Kracow churches except one, which would be held at 11:00am. So all Catholics in Kracow showed up at the same church at the same time, thereby dwarfing the number of Communists rallying to their god of materialism. That's a clever and brave bishop. 

Conference

The 36th Annual University of North Dakota Writers Conference is going on right now.  Via Dakotapundit.

Beef

From Beef magazine: "South Dakota makes history."

Pope John Paul

CQ:

When John Paul II took over the Papacy in 1978, the first non-Italian Pope in more than four centuries, he came from a land that had suffered under the domination of two different kinds of tyrannies for over 40 years. The Communist oppression under which the new Pope had lived created a love of liberty and justice in the amazingly vital John Paul. He survived an assassin's bullet in what seemed to be a season of miracles; Ronald Reagan had barely survived a similar attack just weeks earlier. Both men would emerge as strong as ever, and together they would apply the pressures needed to destroy the communist nightmare of Eastern Europe and free millions who lived behind the Iron Curtain.

Black Hills

Rapid City Journal: "A new federal study offers good news regarding Black Hills water supplies, in sharp contrast to the discouraging words this spring about the ongoing drought."

Sensational Headline Alert

When picking up this morning's Argus Leader you'll notice a 1A, top-of-the-fold searing headline in extra big font: "Munson will not resign."  Dave Munson is the mayor of Sioux Falls and apparently there's some dispute over city contracts and project costs exceeding appropriations.  Read the story for details.  Anyway, the headline would lead one to assume that some people are pressuring the mayor to resign.  Or at least one person is calling for his resignation.  If so, they aren't quoted in the story.  Based on the story linked above, a better headline would have been something like 'Munson will offer response today,' or something similar.  The current headline seems to elevate the situation beyond where it currently is, at least according to what's reported in the story.  In other cases, I've tried to figure who wrote a headline for a story and it's always a textbook case of buck-passing ('the night editor did it!').  Maybe there's more to this story, who knows.  But this headline seems a bit absurd based on the content of the article.

UPDATE: A reader says that the Argus website poll this morning asks whether Munson should resign.  They really seem to have it in for the mayor.

UPDATE:  Here's a lot more based on a news conference this afternoon.  Still not much in there about a resignation, but then I haven't been around City Hall following this story so who knows.

Another Memo

Powerline has been following the story of the Washington Post's use of an alleged GOP "memo" about the Schiavo case in great detail.  While we haven't covered the details of the bloggers investigation of this matter, Powerline seems to offer the essence of what happened here.  They conclude: "Someone at the Post swallowed the fake memo hook, line, and sinker--Mike Allen, I assume. ... As it stands now, this story is a disgrace for the Washington Post, in much the same way that the 60 Minutes story on President Bush's National Guard service was a disgrace for CBS."  Powerline excerpt:

Earlier today, we noted that Michelle Malkin has identified a number of newspapers that ran the Washington Post's story on the memo, but in a version that (unlike the one that appeared in the Post itself) explicitly attributed the document to the party's leadership. The key line from these stories was, "The one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators by party leaders, called the debate over Schiavo legislation 'a great political issue' that would appeal to the party's base..." If you run a Google search on "memo distributed to Republican senators by party leaders," this is what you get: dozens of news sources, including Reuters, have reported, falsely, that the "talking points memo" was distributed by Republican party leaders. Each of these news outlets attributed the story to "Mike Allen and Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post." Michelle concluded that in all likelihood, the Post had published this version of the story on its wire service, but then revised the story to eliminate the claim that the memo was distributed by Republican leaders before the story ran in the Post the next morning (March 20).

This hypothesis seems pretty obviously correct. And it was apparently comfirmed when blogger Jack Risko found this archived version of the Post's article by Mike Allen and Manuel Roig-Franzia, dated 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 19. It includes the discredited language: "A one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators by party leaders, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters."

So it seems clear what happened. The Post originally wrote a story that explicitly claimed that the "talking points memo" was drafted and distributed by the Republican leadership. That version of the story went out over the Post's wire service and was picked up by dozens of news outlets. Before the paper went to press, however, someone at the Post apparently realized that the paper had no basis for attributing the memo to the Republicans, and the key language was deleted from the story that actually appeared in print.

Film Festival

Rapid City Journal:

Dahl Arts Center is bringing the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour to Rapid City at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at the Elks Theater in Rapid City.

Nine films, among the best at this year's festival, will be shown during the evening. ... The Banff Mountain Film Festival is an international film competition featuring the world's best footage on mountain subjects. The festival began in 1976 and is held annually on the first weekend in November in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Pharmacy and Faith 2

Ryne McClaren posts a thoughtful response to my earlier entry on this topic.  The question is whether pharmacists have the right to refuse to dispense abortiofacients and contraceptives.  His points are as follows:

1.) It's "discriminating" against a legal procedure, albeit a controversial one.  If the argument were about whether or not the "procedure" happened to be safe for the patient, then I'm all ears.

Yes, the procedure is legal.  People are often entitled to refused to participate in legal activities, as when they refuse to serve alcohol or allow gambling in their restaurants.  A pharmacists can refuse to stock Playboy in her drugstore, either out of religious scruples or because she is a feminist.  I think any libertarian would side with her. 

2.) The issue as I understand it is about contraception, in large part because "birth control" is one of the bugaboos cited by the Globe story I read, not just abortiofacients and "morning after" pills.

I think Ryne is right here and I was wrong.  I expect that some pharmacists probably refuse to stock any or some contraceptives.  Like Ryne, I am all for contraception being legal and available. I would insist that the distinction between contraception and abortiofacients is important, but the fact that I have sympathy with those who object to the latter doesn't affect the argument.

3.) A car dealer is most certainly not obligated to sell anything, as near as I can tell.  But a pharmacist is obligated to either fill a prescription for the patient or to refer them to someone who will.

I'm no expert in the professional ethics of pharmacists.  But I know that doctors may refuse to perform abortions or dispense contraceptives out of religious scruples, as is the case with my Doctor.  I see no reason why pharmacists should not enjoy the same liberty.

4.) Ultimately, I really don't have a problem with pharmacists refusing to sell abortiofacients, just so long as they make it known to their community and the doctors they serve that they have a keen desire to sit this one out. Likewise, doctors should be able to steer their patients away from activist pharmacists. But if following a doctor's orders happens to be a little too much to stomach... well, we're back to that "new line of work" thing again.

I agree that it is both fair and I think consistent with professional ethics that the pharmacist like the doctor make his position clear.  That is all that can be asked of him.

More Censorship

The Duluth News Tribune was forced to eat its own copy after publishing an editorial cartoon that some found offensive.

Duluth publisher apologizes for editorial cartoon on Red Lake

Associated Press

DULUTH, Minn. - The publisher of the Duluth News Tribune issued an apology to readers today after some said they were offended by an editorial cartoon about the Red Lake shootings.  . . .

In the cartoon, drawn by Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News, a man with a headband and ponytail holds an 'Indian Tracking Guide' as he walks along a path littered with guns, skulls, swastikas and a picture of Hitler. The man says: 'I'm not recognizing these signs.'

After the cartoon ran in Wednesday's News Tribune, Publisher Marti Buscaglia posted a note to readers:

'Some of our readers have indicated they were offended by the racially derogatory nature of Wednesday's political cartoon commenting on the Red Lake incident. Frankly, I agree with those viewpoints and want to extend my apologies to those who were offended during a sensitive time in our region.'

This is the censorship of sensitivity.  The offensive cartoon is shown here:

I fully acknowledge that cultural barriers may prevent one person from understanding how another will react to an image.  I suppose that the hair and head band of the figure had something to do with its reception.  But the idea that the cartoon is racist is ludicrous. 

Its obvious point is frustration and amazement that the worst artifacts of one culture should make such mischief in another. This is a perfectly reasonable subject for a political cartoon, and the editors of the Duluth News Tribune should have defended the cartoonist.

Free Speech

The Northern Valley Beacon, also known as "where reason goes to die," chides me for suggesting there is a  "huge left wing conspiracy to deny rightwingnut conservatives like Ann Coulter their free speech rights by heckling them." As usual, I will have to speak more slowly so the NVB can understand.  I don't recall ever positing a "huge left wing conspiracy."  Unlike the NVB, I don't see bogeymen around every corner. I don't think there are any "left-wing conspiracies."  In my original post on this matter, I suggested I was no fan of Ann Coulter.  Why?  Because for Ann Coulter, there is no reasonable liberal.  They are all traitors; malicious fiends who lie about caring about America while they secretly sell us out to our enemies or to the French. She isn't really interested in seriously critiquing the left.  What makes NVB so insipid is that it is the exact same as Ann Coulter, but on the left.  Like so many on the left, like the MoveOn.org crowd that is so popular in the Democratic party these days, NVB does not really bother to argue with its opponents because it doesn't really take its opposition seriously.  Thus all the asinine Hitler and Stalin references from the Brown Country Democrats at NVB.  In their minds, no thinking person could support George Bush, or the war in Iraq, or have voted for John Thune.  Such a person must be stupid or malicious, or perhaps a little of both.  In education, once you have contempt for your students you are unable to teach.  In politics, once you have contempt for your opponents you are unable to persuade.  Ann Coulter/Northern Valley Beacon.  Peas in a pod. 

The NVB complains that some people were prevented from entering Bush's town hall meeting in Fargo.  I wish the Bush administration had not done so.  But let's be sane about this, unlike the NVB which makes another characteristically foolish Hitler reference (heil to the chief?).  Not letting someone into a building is not the same as silencing them. Also, town hall meetings are often choreographed to make the politician look good.  I wonder why Tim Johnson's Social Security Town Hall meetings require you to fill out your question beforehand so it can be read to the Senator?  Could it be that they are screening out any questions that might prove embarrassing or difficult to answer? Perish the thought.

A question for NVB.  If Bush is Hitler, what is left to describe real Hitlers? 

Separation of Church and State Forum

I apologize for the short notice, but there will be a forum discussing the separation of church and state sponsored by The USD Lawschool Federalist Society today at 5:00.  The forum will be held in the USD Lawschool Courtroom and a reception will follow. 

Many of the Participants from the Wigg v. Sioux Falls School District case will be present.  That case dealt with the Sioux Falls school teacher who wanted to lead a prayer group after hours at her school.  The school district said no, so Wigg sued.  The 8th Circuit ultimately said there were no establishment clause violations created by Wigg's participation in an after school prayer group where all the participants had to sign waivers in order to participate. 

I'm going to try to take notes during the presentation and post the details tomorrow.  If your in the Vermillion area I encourage you to stop in though. 

Liberal Accuses Liberals of Churlishness

Martin Peretz, editor of the New Republic, steals a joke I've been using for the last 5 years.  My version, which I often used in class goes like this: If George Bush personally discovered a cure for cancer, the New York Times would accuse him of  callously ignoring victims of other diseases.  Which it would.  Here's Peretz' version:

If George W. Bush were to discover a cure for cancer, his critics would denounce him for having done it unilaterally, without adequate consultation, with a crude disregard for the sensibilities of others. He pursued his goal obstinately, they would say, without filtering his thoughts through the medical research establishment. And he didn't share his research with competing labs and thus caused resentment among other scientists who didn't have the resources or the bold--perhaps even somewhat reckless--instincts to pursue the task as he did. And he completely ignored the World Health Organization, showing his contempt for international institutions. Anyway, a cure for cancer is all fine and nice, but what about aids?

Read it all.

The Longest Execution in American History

Terri Schiavo is dead.  Nat Hentoff, on of the most independent minded liberals in the business, has this to say in the Village Voice:

For all the world to see, a 41-year-old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history.

Among many other violations of her due process rights, Terri Schiavo has never been allowed by the primary judge in her case—Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, whose conclusions have been robotically upheld by all the courts above him—to have her own lawyer represent her.

I have been much more ambivalent about this case than some of my colleagues.  See Art Marmostein's delightful use of a Biblical story to indicate his clarity, in the Aberdeen American News. 

But it does seem to me that the deliberate starvation of a living human being is more than adequate proof of an impoverished policy. 

 

What's the Matter with Kansas?

I realize I've been talking about this for a while, but not getting you what I promised.  But I was working on a review of Thomas Frank's new book this weekend for an academic journal and put some thoughts together.  Your comments are welcome.  Maybe I can even find my picture with me and Frank (a very nice guy, but a very nice guy who, I think, is also very wrong).  Review of Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas?  How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004) can be read here in Word: Download reviewFRANKkansasBLOG.doc  Excerpt from review (sorry about the font jumbling, another downside to typepad):

While an entertaining read and a genuine attempt to account for liberalism’s troubles, Frank’s book suffers because he assumes too much.  He believes the various complaints at the core of the conservative revival since the 1960s, what Frank dubs the “great backlash,” are misguided.  Frank questions the notion “that the haughty hedonists of Hollywood are largely Democratic,” (119) doubts the claim of “liberal bias in the news,” (123) and wonders if there really are “commissars of political correctness” stifling open exchange. (125)  Frank questions the narrative of Vietnam veterans “being victimized by betrayal, first by liberals in government and then by the antiwar movement, as symbolized by the clueless [Jane] Fonda” and is skeptical of the impact of the “Vietnam syndrome.” (229-30)  Frank also makes sport of conservatives in the middle of the country for worrying about “plans for depopulating the Great Plains so that it can be turned into a gigantic national park.” (125)  The problem for Frank’s argument, however, is that for each of these claims—the Hollywood-Democratic Party axis, the tendency of liberals to dominate political reporting (fears of which were validated for many by the Dan Rather/“60 Minutes” fracas), the continuing ability of Vietnam experience to paralyze liberal foreign policy makers—there is deep well of supporting evidence.  Despite his dismissal, it is also true that liberal professors (urban planners, no less) have advanced a plan to return the Plains to the buffalo to great acclaim (which he does not mention).  Frank does not provide evidence that the assorted claims of the “great backlash” are untrue.  He assumes they are. 

According to the Argus this morning, Tim Johnson has a plan for Social Security: Do nothing.

Johnson addressed a number of those questions and said citizens' opinions will be used to shape a congressional bill to improve Social Security while preserving the program's integrity.

He said Social Security will need to be improved, but privatization isn't the solution.

"There's no need to go down that road," he said.

No indications what those “improvements” will be. We get this from an AARP shill:

Richtman, making his 53rd town-meeting appearance with a member of Congress, took several shots at Bush and his proposal, then stressed two main points:

· Social Security is not in a crisis. The system has sufficient funding until 2041, then will face a 25 percent shortfall. That's what needs to be addressed, and there's time to do that.

· Social Security is an insurance program. It's not an investment program and never was intended to be.

I would say a potential shortfall of 25% is a major problem. What’s the AARPs solution? Worry about it later. For all their talk about worrying about leaving debt to future generations, the AARP and Democratic plan for the coming disaster in Social Security (and even worse in Medicare) is to do nothing but pander to senior citizens. That’s leadership for ya. The question is not whether Social Security will cause us to take on debt. The question, it seems to me, is whether we want to take on a relatively small amount of debt now or a huge amount of debt in the future as Social Security goes into insolvency. I vote for the smaller debt today rather than the massive debt tomorrow. If I interpret this Social Security Administration website correctly, in 2004 the SSA paid out $421 billion in Old-Age and Survivors Insurance. Twenty-five percent of that would be about $105 billion. Obviously by 2041 that number will be much larger and will be annual.

More Tim Johnson:

Also, by diverting payroll taxes from the program, privatization would lead to substantial benefit cuts, Johnson said. Benefits would be cut most sharply for younger people, and they would be the ones left to repay the national debt.

The point of the private investment plan is that younger people like me will more than make up for the decline in our Social Security benefits by the greater return private investment gets.  I suspect most of us will come out better off under the personal account system than under Social Security. I know I’d much rather have my FICA tax go into my retirement account than into Social Security.

More Johnson:

Johnson said a crucial step Congress and the president can take is to balance the budget.

"We are going to be in trouble if we don't get the budget in equilibrium," he said.

Johnson pointed to the administration's tax cuts and said if those were rolled back among the richest Americans, that would cover a Social Security shortfall.

First of all, as I have noted before, Tim Johnson, like seemingly all Democrats, can’t think of a single way to help reduce the deficit outside of raising taxes. Also, I hate to give simple instruction on the workings of the federal government to a US Senator, but supposedly Social Security is self-financing through the FICA tax. Income tax dollars are not supposed to go into the Social Security Trust Fund. Senator Johnson can raise income taxes all he wants, but it won’t help Social Security.

Terri Schiavo Has Passed Away

May she rest in peace. 

Laugh of the day

Howard Dean will visit Australia next month.  Tim Blair predicts what Dean might say.

Bush to cross paths with Kim Jong-il?

Thought this was interesting.  From Reuters, via India's Telegraph:

Moscow, March 30 (Reuters): North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il could attend Russian World War II victory celebrations in May, raising the prospect of an unprecedented encounter with President George W. Bush.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted Konstantin Pulikovsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, as saying Kim had been invited to the celebrations to mark 60 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany.

“It is possible to expect Kim Jong-il’s arrival in Moscow for this event,” said Pulikovsky, Putin’s envoy in Russia’s Far Eastern region.

Both Bush — whose administration has called North Korea an “outpost of tyranny” — and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun have said they will attend the Moscow ceremony on May 9.

The presence of Roh also suggests there could be an inter-Korean summit —  only the second in five years.

May 9...could be an interesting day.

The Left Strikes Another Blow For Reasoned Debate

As linked to on Drudge, the tolerant and open-minded left has again moved to quash dissent. They shoved a pie in the face of Bill Kristol while he gave a university lecture, and then they mercilessly heckled Ann Coulter at Kansas University. Interesting that both acts of intolerance occurred on those bastions of freethinking and liberal mindedness: college campuses. The best quote has to come from the Coulter story:

Some of the protesters, such as Robert Richardson, said they were members of the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics.

"We're just not open-minded enough to like Ann Coulter," Richardson, 28, of Lawrence, said.

It’s easy to be open minded around a bunch of people who agree with you. That’s why it’s no mistake, given the news out today about the liberal monolith of “higher” education, that supposedly liberal and critically thinking college professors tend to be the most narrow minded and vicious people out there. At least this is my experience.  As Prof. Blanchard once noted to me, the nice thing about being a conservative in academia is we are actually called on the think. The lefties might go through a whole career and never meet someone with a substantially different worldview. Thus they get lazy and intellectually atrophied. One of the things I have noticed in academia is the willingness of academics, say at a political science conference, to let loose with the most irresponsible and uncharitable view of conservatives in the calm assurance that everyone in the room agrees with them. They just assume that everyone is a leftist.  And normally they’d be right. Conservative academics, on the other hand, are constantly having their entire world view challenged and are required to give their ideals constant analysis. We few; we happy few! 

By the way, here’s a picture of Ann Coulter (who I can’t stand by the way) drawn by some peace loving tolerant individuals in Lawrence. I guess they are comparing her to Charlie Chaplin.

Pharmacy and Faith

 

S.D.Watch/Thune watch is offended by pharmacy chains that refuse to sell abortiofacients. This, says Lance Moran, standing in for Todd Epp, is discriminating against women.

It's truly outrageous. When a woman and her doctor decide that a
prescription for contraception is in the woman's best interest,
a third party has no right to override that decision.

I respectively disagree, on several counts:

1. This is not discriminating against women, its discriminating against a controversial procedure. 
2. The issue isn't contraception, its abortion.  They are mutually exclusive.
3. A car dealer who refused to sell SUVs out of a concern for the environment is entitled to make that choice, my right to buy and drive one not withstanding.  Likewise with RU486.
4. If a Seventh Day Adventist can refuse to work on Saturdays and still is entitled to unemployment payments (she can), a pharmacist should be able to refused to sell abortiofacients out of similar scruples. 

Cougar 1-Terrier 0

Here's another mountain lion story out of the Rapid City Journal/Kevin Woster, this time from Johnson Siding, in Pennington County.

Mountain lion kills beloved terrier
By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer

   

JOHNSON SIDING -- With eyes full of tears, Andrea Johnson stood on her back deck Tuesday morning and pointed at the rocky hillside where she last saw her dog, Abby, clamped tight in the jaws of a mountain lion.

"I was in shock. I was screaming, ‘No! No! No!'" Johnson said in a rising voice. "And the lion just looked at me. It still had my dog in its mouth. It wasn't a bit scared. It just looked at me. Then, it turned and walked up the hill."

   

The mountain lion disappeared up the dark slope behind Johnson's rural home, taking with it her 7½-pound Jack Russell terrier and a sense of security that might never completely return.

I've been reading this book about this guy in California that spent years trying to see a cougar in the wild.  I'm sorry about the Ladies poor Jack Russell, but to see a mountain lion like that!  Wow.  Its likely to work out badly for the cat as for the dog. 

Johnson ran into the house and dialed 911. Sheriff's deputies and a state trooper responded, as did state Game, Fish & Parks Department officers, including regional supervisor Mike Kintigh of Rapid City. Kintigh said Tuesday that after an interview with Johnson, he knew the lion needed to be found and killed.

"We considered that a very close encounter," Kintigh said. "Killing a pet that close to people justified that lion being removed."

GF&P policy is to remove lions that frequent residential areas, threaten humans or kill pets or livestock. The agency also is working on a lion management plan, a process that will include discussion of whether South Dakota should have a limited lion season of some kind.

"Removal" is what we call a euphemism. 

Talking Points Memo Story Evaporates

Powerline, as usual, provides excellent coverage of this story.  Howard Kurtz has noticed, and gives credit to Hinderaker and others.

Fresh from declaring victory over CBS News and its discredited National Guard memos about President Bush, some of the same bloggers are raising questions about a strategy memo, first reported by ABC News and The Washington Post, that cast the Schiavo right-to-die case as a partisan opportunity for Republicans to stick it to Democrats.

    

"Fake but Accurate Again?" says the Weekly Standard headline on an article by John Hinderaker, an attorney and conservative blogger who had challenged the CBS documents.

    

While there is no hard evidence that the memo is fake, there are several strange things about it, including the basic fact that no one seems to know who wrote it and that the noncontroversial part of it is lifted from a Republican senator's press release.

This all has a very familiar feel to it.  ABC refuses to acknowledge that its reporting was misleading, but can't quite come up with anything to support it. 

Laurent Blogging

A few weeks back SDP mentioned Laurent a proposed town for the deaf near Salem which would operate totally in sign language. South Dakota Magazine's blog mentioned today that Marvin Miller one of Laurents organizers has a blog.  You can access it here.  The plans for the layout of the town are also available online here. 

Dog Bites Man

Turns out American university faculty are predominantly liberal.  You don't say.

Thune and Reimportation

From The Hill:

GOP conservatives strategize with Dorgan on reimportation By Geoff Earle

A group of conservative Republicans has opened talks with the leading Democratic proponent of a bill to allow for the reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. The talks raise the possibility that GOP leaders will have to hold back a united front of supporters of the controversial legislation. Keri Rassmussen Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) has been meeting with two freshman GOP senators about reimportation of prescription drugs. Republican freshman Sens. David Vitter (La.) and John Thune (S.D.) are backing a reimportation bill that is identical to a House bill by Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.). The senators have been meeting with Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who last year tried to force consideration of the issue by holding up the nomination of Mark McClellan to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. If the Republican and Democratic senators can reach agreement on a compromise bill — or rally around one of the two existing proposals — they would likely have the political strength to prevail over the objections of leadership and pass a bill through the Senate. In an interview, Thune warned, “We’re all going to vote for whatever gets to the floor. That’s why the leadership would be wise to bring Vitter’s bill to the floor. Something’s going to pass.”

Recall?

Rapid City Journal: "Petitions are being circulated in Aberdeen in an attempt to let voters decide whether Mike Levsen, the city's first full-time mayor, should remain on the job."

CBA

The Sioux Falls Skyforce has taken a 2-0 lead in the national finals of the Continental Basketball Association.

Home Schooling

Argus Leader:

University of Sioux Falls associate professor William Lugo thought home-schoolers might not be well-prepared for college. That is, until he met Daniel Haggar.  "Daniel changed my perception about home-schooled students," Lugo said.

At age 21, Daniel Haggar said most stereotypes people hold about home-schooling aren't true. Carrying a 3.7 GPA, the criminal justice and political science major attributes his study skills and motivation to the 12 years he spent studying at home.

And Lugo has seen the results of a healthy home-schooling experience.  "Before I met him, I had the perception that they would be a little stand-offish and not as prepared when they hit college. In Daniel's case, the opposite is true," Lugo said. "Daniel is more prepared. He always does his reading, always has his assignments done, is always at class and has a real passion for learning that you do not see in a lot of students."

Haggar said he learned at home how to be responsible for his own research and learning.  "When I was home-schooled, I was allowed to pursue what I wanted to learn ... I had to go to the Internet or library for sources to learn about it," he said.

According to a 2003 National Household Education Surveys Program, more than 1.1 million students in the United States are home-schooled.

Home Runs

Ryne:

I know where North Dakota state Senator Joel Heitkamp is coming from:

A North Dakota legislator is trying to muscle Roger Maris' 61-homer season back into baseball's record books because of allegations that the three players who have surpassed him did so with the help of steroids.

"If these folks are on the juice, and I believe they're on the juice, then Roger should get his record back," Sen. Joel Heitkamp said.

He's sponsoring a resolution that asks baseball commissioner Bud Selig to reinstate Maris' record of 61 home runs in 1961. A spokesman for baseball did not respond to a request for comment.

The North Dakota Senate's Education Committee, which reviewed the resolution Monday, took less than 20 minutes to recommend that the full Senate approve it.

I'm no fan of government intervention in baseball's affairs -- be it on the federal or state level -- but any sort of pressure that will force baseball to examine its juiced-up records is helpful.

McGovern in the Nation

George McGovern raises a familiar complaint on the left, in "Patriotism is Nonpartisan."

There is a notion abroad in American politics, carefully crafted by its proponents, that is both disturbing and false. It is especially disturbing to me personally because it is frequently associated with my campaign for the presidency in 1972. The notion is that my party, and especially its standard-bearer of '72, are not interested in the defense and security of America. . . .  Perhaps my views are outdated, but I have always assumed that every American cares about these values; consequently, they are not issues for partisan exploitation.

He rebutts this by hauling out all his war pictures.  Now I have never had reason to question McGovern's patriotism.  When he speaks of flying bombing missions I am impressed, and when he says he would have sacrificed his life for his country at any time, I'm prepared to believe him.  Nor do I believe for a moment that his opposition to the Vietnam War, or criticisms of Pentagon budgets discredit his patriotism. 

But McGovern doesn't seem to notice that his words are appearing in The Nation.  How many of the folks who run this journal are proud of their military service, or would gladly lay down their lives for their country?  Consider Katha Politt, writing shortly after 9/11:

My daughter, who goes to Stuyvesant High School only blocks from the World Trade Center, thinks we should fly an American flag out our window. Definitely not, I say: The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance and war. She tells me I'm wrong--the flag means standing together and honoring the dead and saying no to terrorism. In a way we're both right: The Stars and Stripes is the only available symbol right now. In New York City, it decorates taxicabs driven by Indians and Pakistanis, the impromptu memorials of candles and flowers that have sprung up in front of every firehouse, the chi-chi art galleries and boutiques of SoHo. It has to bear a wide range of meanings, form simple, dignified sorrow to the violent anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry that has already resulted in murder, vandalism and arson around the country and harassment on New York City streets and campuses. It seems impossible to explain to a 13-year-old, for whom the war in Vietnam might as well be the War of Jenkins's Ear, the connection between waving the flag and bombing ordinary people half a world away back to the proverbial stone age. I tell her she can buy a flag with her own money and fly it out her bedroom window, because that's hers, but the living room is off-limits.   . . .

Bombing Afghanistan to "fight terrorism" is to punish not the Taliban but the victims of the Taliban, the people we should be supporting. At the same time, war would reinforce the worst elements in our own society--the flag-wavers and bigots and militarists. It's heartening that there have been peace vigils and rallies in many cities, and antiwar actions are planned in Washington, DC, for September 29-30, but look what even the threat of war has already done to Congress, where only a single representative, Barbara Lee, Democrat from California, voted against giving the President virtual carte blanche.

Someone who refuses to fly a flag thirty years after Vietnam, and who believes we cannot fight back against a nation that has launched an attack against us, well that's someone whose patriotism is hard to sort out.  These folk voted for McGovern.  The American people responded by flattening his presidential ambitions like a pancake.  I suspect both sides knew what they were doing.

Average Income Up 6.9% in South Dakota; 3rd Highest In Nation

Fargo Forum:

North Dakota led the nation last year in average income growth, new figures show.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported North Dakota's per-capita income reached $31,398 in 2004, an 8.6 percent increase from the previous year and well above the national average increase of 4.7 percent. Twenty-seven other states saw growth above the U.S. average.

State Budget Director Pam Sharp said the increase is a reflection of a strong North Dakota economy. Income and sales taxes both are strong, and North Dakota has seen growth in both wages and employment, she said.  ...

Average income percentage increases in surrounding states included 6.9 in South Dakota, 5.7 in Montana and 5.4 in Minnesota. South Dakota ranked third among the 50 states and District of Columbia, Montana 10th and Minnesota 15th.

The report said the top three states - North Dakota, Iowa, and South Dakota - benefited from record or nearrecord production of corn, soybeans and other crops, together with good market prices.

Zabel v. Herseth?

Today's Dave Kranz column mentions Matt Zabel, John Thune's chief of staff, as a potential challenger for Rep. Stephanie Herseth. 

South Dakota Republicans are floating Matt Zabel's name as a possible challenger to Democrat U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth.

There is an urgency to finding a candidate, especially if the person requires a name-identification boost to raise enough money to be a viable candidate against the popular incumbent Herseth.

That would be the case with Zabow, who now earns his living as Sen. John Thune's chief of staff in Washington, D.C.

Zabel's name rose to the top of a list in recent weeks, and he has a solid booster when it comes to future political aspirations.

"I have encouraged him to run for office. He is a personable, intelligent guy who would do well, but so far he hasn't said he is interest," Thune said.

Even some state Democrats praised Thune's choice.

Zabel says he's  not likely to run because he's happy working for Thune.

Thune says Zabel would like to return to South Dakota someday.

I had the privilege of meeting Zabel a couple of years ago.  If he decides running for office is something he wants to do I'm all for it.  One conversation with Zabel and you walk away impressed.  In many ways he reminds me me a lot of Thune. 

Arrrests in Red Lake Case

From the Grand Forks Herald:

The teenage son of Red Lake Nation tribal chairman Floyd Jourdain has been arrested on federal charges stemming from last week's deadly school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Louis Jourdain, 15, a student at Red Lake Senior High School where Jeff Weise fatally shot five students, a teacher and a security guard before killing himself March 21, was taken into custody Sunday evening, according to sources with knowledge of the arrest.

One of the sources, who spoke on the condition his name not be used, said Jourdain and Weise exchanged e-mails that discussed Weise's intent to go on a shooting rampage at the school. Three other teenagers who were in e-mail contact with Weise also could face charges in the coming days.

And this from today's Star Tribune:

Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd ''Buck'' Jourdain today came to the defense of his teenage son, who was charged Monday with conspiracy in connection with the shootings at Red Lake on March 21 that killed 10 people.

Jourdain's statement was handed out at tribal headquarters late this morning.

''Last week I spoke on behalf of the Red Lake Nation as its leader and a saddened member of this community. Today, I speak as a father," Jourdain said in his statement. "As many of you are aware, my son, Louis, has been charged in association with the shootings that occurred here last week.

''My heart is heavy as a result of the tragic events that unfolded here at our nation. But it is with optimism that I state my son, Louis', innocence.

''He is a good boy wth a good heart who never harmed anyone in his entire life. I know my son, and he is incapable of committing such an act.''

New Reporter

Celeste Calvitto is the new political reporter at the Rapid City Journal.  After getting her start in newspapers in Florida, she's been many places:

Since then, I've worked as everything from production editor to executive editor at newspapers in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Atlanta, Ga.; Sarasota, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C. and for a group of weekly newspapers just north of New York City. (I should clarify Denise's description of me in her column. I'm not exactly a New Yorker — it just happened to be the last place I lived before coming to South Dakota. When people ask where I'm from, I never know what to say, since I was born in Florida to parents who were from Rhode Island and Philadelphia, grew up in Ohio and spent the last six months of high school in Maryland, where my dad still lives.)

My connection to politics doesn't end with my work 30 years ago. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that in 1994 and 1996, I took a hiatus from journalism to manage a couple of campaigns for the New York State Legislature. Both candidates were friends of mine. And the incumbent we ran against (and lost to) later became a close friend. She was among a number of politicians — both Democrats and Republicans — who said some nice things at the farewell party my friends threw for me when I left New York three years ago. Those same politicians also made good-natured jokes about South Dakota, and when it was my turn to take the microphone, I said, "All that stuff you've just heard about South Dakota — well, that's why I'm going there."

Charlie Cook

From Charlie Cook's "Off to the Races":

In only 59 districts (or 13 percent of House seats) did voters split their tickets between the presidential candidate of one party and the congressional candidate of the other.

For Democrats, there is even more bad news in these numbers. Forty-one (almost 70 percent) of these 59 "ticket-splitting" districts were won by President Bush and are currently held by Democrats; Kerry won just 18 districts held by a Republican incumbent. Not surprisingly, half (21) of the Bush districts held by Democratic House incumbents are in the South, while a little more than half (10) of the Kerry districts held by Republican House incumbents are located in the Northeast.

The 10 Democrats sitting in the most Republican districts by Bush percentage are: Chet Edwards, Texas-17, Gene Taylor, Miss.-04, Jim Matheson, Utah-02, Ike Skelton, Mo.-04, Earl Pomeroy, N.D.-01, Bud Cramer, Ala.-05, Stephanie Herseth, S.D.-01, Bart Gordon, Tenn.-06, Rick Boucher, Va.-09, and Dan Boren, Okla.-02.

BIA Funding

A reader writes in to say that the BIA cuts are real cuts, not just reductions in the rate of increase.  This can be gleaned from this committee testimony by Interior Dept officials. 

Judicial Filibusters

The editors of The New York Times have changed their minds.  They once wanted to limit filibusters (under President Clinton) but they now defend their use against judges (one nominated by President Bush:

Since George W. Bush first became president, Democratic senators have used the filibuster 10 times to block the confirmation of nominees for federal court judgeships. ... While the filibuster has not traditionally been used to stop judicial confirmations, it seems to us this is a matter in which it's most important that a large minority of senators has a limited right of veto. ...

A decade ago, this page expressed support for tactics that would have gone even further than the "nuclear option" in eliminating the power of the filibuster. At the time, we had vivid memories of the difficulty that Senate Republicans had given much of Bill Clinton's early agenda. But we were still wrong. To see the filibuster fully, it's obviously a good idea to have to live on both sides of it. We hope acknowledging our own error may remind some wavering Republican senators that someday they, too, will be on the other side and in need of all the protections the Senate rules can provide.

Who are you to judge?

I promised no more posts on the Schiavo case, so I link to this and this without comment. 

Monk Blogging

It has been a while since we checked in with SoDak Monk, who blogs from Blue Cloud Abbey in the Northeastern corner of the state.  He is following a story of a grizzly bear attack (warning: if legit, the pics are rather brutal). 

SD Senators Cut Scholarship Fund in order to Save it

This by Terry Wooster/Argus Leader:

Republicans in the South Dakota Senate feel much abused. . . . Senate Republicans did lead an ultimately unsuccessful move to cut $1,000 from the four-year value of the program. That captured public attention.

But at the same time, Senate Republican leader Eric Bogue and the rest of his caucus say they tried to stabilize the scholarship by writing into law a $5 million annual commitment to the program and by repealing a law that requires individual payments to students be reduced if the state doesn't have enough money to pay each student a full share.  When Gov. Mike Rounds vetoed a bill carrying those changes, the scholarship remained at $5,000, but the prorating provision remained, too.

Our readers will know that we here at SDPolitics were enthusiastically in favor of full funding for the scholarships.  Keeping students in South Dakota is a vital interest for the state if we don't want the ghost town to be our most common form of civic life. 

Pols with Blogs

Christian Science Monitor:

Yet politicians are beginning to see blogs are more than forums for snoops. To some, they are the ultimate cyberspace soapbox. United States Rep. Ray Cox of Minnesota was the first major politician to start a blog, according to the Pew Project, and the prime minister of Japan has one. "It enriches the conversation and provides a forum for an exchange of ideas that - for a public official - is very useful," says Oakland's Mayor [Jerry] Brown [the former Governor of California and Presidential candidate].

His blogs can range from the practical to the existential - touching on a local curfew for probationers or the imprisonment of a blogger in Iran, where he muses: "Schopenhauer said that extracting truth from oneself required putting one's mind on a rack and subjecting it to relentless interrogation - so prone are we to delusion and denial."

Via Wes Roth.

M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A!

It's a good time to be a fan of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey, both women's and men's.  Congrats to the Lady Gophers for a second consecutive national championship.  The men Gophers face the Fighting Sioux in an all WCHA Frozen Four.  Go Go Gophers! 

South Dakotans in Iraq

Rapid City Journal:

Despite challenges, Helmann, a member of South Dakota Army National Guard, manages to broadcast 24 hours of Christian music from his living quarters at Balad Air Base, the largest base in Iraq, 42 miles north of Baghdad.

Helmann rebroadcasts 88.3 The Point, a Christian radio station in Rapid City affiliated with KSLT, in addition to some of his own programming.

Helmann, an avionics technician, leads a 12-person team that repairs and inspects aircraft, including the UH-60 Blackhawk and the CH-47 Chinook helicopters. He receives 88.3 The Point through internet streaming audio and rebroadcasts it using slightly more than 1 watt of power at 91.1 FM.

Internet access was one of the challenges Helmann faced when he began the project.

Senate Races in Nebraska, North Dakota, and Minnesota in '06?

Polipundit:

2006 Senate Races

As of today, Democratic seats are highly vulnerable or potentially vulnerable, depending on recruitment, in the following states: New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Washington.

Republican seats are vulnerable in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Of course Rhode Island, which I thought was a likely GOP loss, now has a slight GOP lean thanks to the fact that Kennedy, not Langevin, will be the Democratic nominee.