Hillary Clinton returned her Abramoff money, as did Tim Johnson, but it appears that Tom Daschle and Steve Hildebrand insist on keeping theirs.
SD War College, who outed "Blog Watch Man," has now identified "Sophia" from the Rapid City Journal's Mt. Blogmore.
George Will has an article in the Washington Post entitled "Chief Among the Silliness." Excerpt:
The University of Illinois must soon decide whether, and if so how, to fight an exceedingly silly edict from the NCAA. That organization's primary function is to require college athletics to be no more crassly exploitative and commercial than is absolutely necessary. But now the NCAA is going to police cultural sensitivity, as it understands that. Hence the decision to declare Chief Illiniwek "hostile and abusive" to Native Americans.
Censorship -- e.g., campus speech codes -- often is academic liberalism's preferred instrument of social improvement, and now the NCAA's censors say: The Chief must go, as must the university's logo of a Native American in feathered headdress. Otherwise the NCAA will not allow the university to host any postseason tournaments or events.
...The University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux may have to find another nickname because the various Sioux tribes cannot agree about whether they are insulted. But the only remnant of the Illini confederation, the Peoria tribe, is now in Oklahoma. Under its chief, John Froman, the tribe is too busy running a casino and golf course to care about Chief Illiniwek. The NCAA ethicists probably reason that the Chief must go because no portion of the Illini confederation remains to defend him.
Or to be offended by him, but never mind that, or this: In 1995 the Office of Civil Rights in President Bill Clinton's Education Department, a nest of sensitivity-mongers, rejected the claim that the Chief and the name Fighting Illini created for anyone a "hostile environment" on campus.
In 2002 Sports Illustrated published a poll of 351 Native Americans, 217 living on reservations, 134 living off. Eighty-one percent said high school and college teams should not stop using Indian nicknames.
Lastly, in today's New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg has an article entitled "Lobbyist's Downfall Leads to Charities' Windfall," which mentions South Dakota. Excerpt:
The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, a shelter for battered women in tiny Mission, S.D., is far removed from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal that rocked Washington this week. But the society, along with many other charities large and small, is among the latest beneficiaries of Mr. Abramoff's legendary largess.
As panicked lawmakers rush to distance themselves from Mr. Abramoff, the disgraced Republican lobbyist, after his guilty pleas in federal and Florida state courts, tens of thousands of dollars in political donations from him and his Indian tribe clients are being returned or redirected to charities in a vast Robin Hood-like reordering of campaign funds.
Many of these charitable groups - including the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, which will receive $2,000 from Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota - have Native American ties, creating a certain symmetry, albeit an imperfect one, given that Mr. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to bilking the tribes of millions.
Some tribes like the Saginaw Chippewa and the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians are getting campaign contributions back. But the refunds are not entirely welcome; tribal officials complain of being branded as pariahs and worry that their clout in Washington will be diminished if lawmakers refuse to accept their money.
Yet the Abramoff plea bargain has been a boon to organizations as varied as the Boy Scouts and the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund. President Bush is giving $6,000 to the American Heart Association. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, is giving $18,500 to a Christian mission in his home state. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, is giving $2,000 to New York charities that have not been publicly identified.
UPDATE: A few more things. Daschle is "hoping to save incumbent Democrats from his own fate" by donating "$230,000 in campaign cash to vulnerable members of his party."
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