South Dakota Politics

Christmas Traditions

From the Associated Press:

Tradition often trumps the trendy during the Christmas season. People send traditional Christmas cards through the mail far more than they send greeting cards by e-mail. Most people think it's OK to have Christmas decorations at public buildings, even though it occasionally draws protests and lawsuits.

And many people long for the days when businesses routinely told customers "Merry Christmas" rather than the more politically correct, "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings." But nearly half are not bothered by the broader greeting.

...

The poll found:

_People were four times as likely to send traditional Christmas cards, 64 percent, as opposed to send greeting cards by e-mail, 16 percent.

_They were twice as likely to call someone on the phone with holiday greetings, 64 percent, as to send an e-mail, 33 percent.

_People are divided on whether it's a good thing or bad thing that businesses often greet their customers by saying "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas. About half, 48 percent, said it is good and almost that many, 42 percent, said it is bad.

_Seven in 10 say they will use the Internet for Christmas shopping as much or more as in past years, while 25 percent will rely on it less.

_Nine in 10 people say it's appropriate for public buildings to have Christmas decorations.

Read the whole thing.

Sowell on the Courts

Thomas Sowell: "Impeach!  No, not him. . ."

GI Joe and JHorror for Christmas

I have been paying a lot of attention to Todd Epp's SDWatch Blog recently.  This is mostly due to the importance of the Tim Johnson story, about which he has been frequently and informatively commenting.  To be fair, it is also due to the fact that he has been very gracious in his comments about our blog.  It is nice to be "preened" by someone besides myself for a change. 

But Todd and I turn out to have a lot in common.  I mentioned yesterday our common interest in the Buddhadharma.  Today I see he has a post about GI Joe, and some pictures of the GI Joe space capsule. 

This not so accurate replica of a Mercury space ship was probably my very favorite Christmas present ever.  I loved GI Joe, and I loved space travel.  I would add that there was a low budget version of Joe made for a while called Captain Action.  Those dolls fell apart after a few weeks, but they came with an assortment of Superhero costumes, all of which would fit GI Joe.  I was eleven, and my ship had come in. 

If you want to cut all the Christmas sweetness with something bitter and disturbing, try a little Japanese horror film (JHorror) called Pulse (or Kairo).  An American made version, also called Pulse, is now available on DVD.  Like almost all Jhorror, Pulse is a story of an invasion of the waking world by malevolent and predatory ghosts.  The films are not bloody, but they are deeply disturbing.  The Japanese original, written and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation, I gather, to the more famous director) is by far the better film.  But the latter is interesting, if only for the comparisons.

In the J version, the invading ghosts are very explicitly the spirits of the dead.  They are incredibly lonely, but seem to be invading more out of envy of the living than out of any hope. That is a grim picture of the afterlife.   Meanwhile, the struggling protagonists are so dispirited to begin with, so depressed and hopeless before the first ghost shows up, that there is not much fight in them.  The A version is almost cheery by comparison.  The ghost elements are de-emphasized in favor of an invasion motif.  The characters want to live.  In both versions the malevolent spirits get at us through the Internet, but in the A version this comes as a surprise: an unexpected horror inherent in a new technology.  In the J version, no one is surprised.  The other side is always leaking into our world through dreams, writing, art, etc. 

Both versions are apocalyptic.  The ghosts gobble up nearly everyone, and both movies contain a scene of an airliner burning and crashing so as to emphasize the extent of the disaster.  But in the American version it is reasonably clear that some folks will survive and find a way to escape the ghosts.  In the J version the last remaining character fades into a black stain at the end.  If you know someone who is suffering from depression, and you want to push him the rest of the way over the edge, either film will do the trick.

It occurs to me that the J version of Pulse, unlike the A version, probably tells you something important about the society that produced it.  I have posted below about the coming demographic crash in Japan.  The eeriest effect in J Pulse is achieved simply by removing more people from each scene (libraries and classrooms and restaurants) until the last survivors are wandering about in empty buildings and subway terminals.  Sometimes, as Aristotle observed, poetry is truer than history. 

Landowner Privacy Act

State representative-elect Betty Olson of Rapid City has announced her intent to propose a bill requiring permission for game wardens to walk on to private property.  As the law stands now, wardens of the Game, Fish, and Parks have the right to enter anyone's land and check for illegal activity (i.e., poaching) without the consent of the land owner. Rapid City Journal excerpt:

A newly elected lawmaker said she will offer a bill in the 2007 South Dakota Legislature that would require game wardens to ask for permission before going on private land. Rep.-elect Betty Olson, R-Prairie City, said officers could still enter private property if they have a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing or get a tip about it.

But she says game wardens should not be allowed to simply drive onto someone’s land to look for hunters who may or may not be doing something illegal.

The right of game wardens to go onto private land comes from a policy called the open-fields doctrine. Legislators have tried to repeal it twice in recent years.

“I’m hoping that ... both houses will decide that Game, Fish & Parks (should) show the common courtesy of asking before they trespass,” Olson said.

Gov. Mike Rounds and administrators with GF&P strongly opposed limiting access to private property for law officers, which probably played a large role in the bill’s past failures, according to state House Majority Leader Larry Rhoden.

I believe in protecting private property and privacy, but the wardens have a job to do.  I have a feeling that Rep. Olson's bill won't gain any traction in the legislature.

Year in Review

Mudville Gazette provides a war retrospective for the end of the year.

London Braced for Terrorist Attack

According to ABC News, British law enforcement is saying it will be a "miracle" if the holidays pass without an al Qaeda attack:

British police have been quietly carrying out a series of key arrests as they continue to track at least six active "plots" tied to what they call "al Qaeda of England."

"It is not a matter of if there will be an attack, but how bad the attack will be," an intelligence official told ABCNews.com.

Authorities say they are seeking at least 18 suspected suicide bombers.

Subsidies and the Demise of the Small Farmer

From the Washington Post:

Today, most of the nation's food is produced by modern family farms that are large operations using state-of-the-art computers, marketing consultants and technologies that cut labor, time and costs. The owners are frequently college graduates who are as comfortable with a spreadsheet as with a tractor. They cover more acres and produce more crops with fewer workers than ever before.

The very policies touted by Congress as a way to save small family farms are instead helping to accelerate their demise, economists, analysts and farmers say. That's because owners of large farms receive the largest share of government subsidies. They often use the money to acquire more land, pushing aside small and medium-size farms as well as young farmers starting out.

"Historically, when you think of family farms, you think of mom and dad and three generations working a small or mid-sized farm. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling," said Alex White, a professor of agricultural economics at Virginia Tech. "In the real world, it might be a mid-sized farm. But it also might be a huge farm. It might be a corporation."

Large family farms, defined as those with revenue of more than $250,000, account for nearly 60 percent of all agricultural production but just 7 percent of all farms. They receive more than 54 percent of government subsidies. And their share of federal payments is growing -- more than doubling over the past decade for the biggest farms.

Oddly enough, the government seems to reward large farms rather than struggling farmers.  The Post tells a story of an Illinois farmer who grossed $500,000 in soybean production and received $120,000 in subsidy checks from the government, which he called "embarrassing."  A small farmer in Iowa with one-third the land received a far lower subsidy check.  The decline in the number of family farms, when weighed against subsidy payments, is a result of large farms purchasing larger tracts of land as subsidies are reinvested.  Small farms simply cannot compete in the market because of government subsidies.

The farm subsidy programs have seriously hurt the agricultural and land markets and ends up undermining the very people it claims to help.  Perhaps we should reconsider the government's involvement in agriculture and allow the market to work on its own.

UPDATE:  South Dakota Magazine has more.

The Abolition of Nativity in Japan

The BBC has some dark news about the most productive nation in Asia. 

A dwindling birth rate is expected to cut Japan's population by 30% over the next 50 years, a survey by the government has said.  The report says the current population of about 127m is projected to sink below 90m by 2055.  By that date the proportion of the population aged above 65 is set to double to 40.5%

One thing that Japan is not producing is children.  What it is producing are retirees.  This has ominous implications for the future.  But never worry!

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said: "It's impossible for the pension system to collapse due to the declining birth rate because we will adjust the amount of money put into it."

Mr. Shiozaki is confused.  Money is merely a title to wealth; it is not wealth itself.  Wealth is produced by people, and people are produced only when people have babies. 

My Favorite Political Scientist in the American News

Todd Epp and Professor David Newquist both profess to have been part of the mainstream media at one time or another.  I can claim membership in that club only by virtue of my essays in the American News.  One appeared today on the topic of the minimum wage. 

Newquist and Epp; Bloggers and Buddhas

Professor David Newquist has attacked portions of regional blogosphere including, I think, this blog, and Todd Epp's S.D. Watch.  The issue is our reporting on Tim Johnson.  Todd vigorously responds.  I will do likewise, as I think some interesting issues are involved.  Here is Professor Newquist's charge:

The Three-Ds have infested South Dakota. They are Denial, Denigration, and Delusion. Along with flouride, the Three-Ds are additives to water, and the political portion of the South Dakota blogosphere, as they like to call themselves, are imbibing mightily.

They keep recycling news stories from the media about Sen. Johnson's health, and then crow and chortle over how superior they are performing compared with the media. I have checked the major news organizations for updates and found them timely, accurate, and, of course, free of the self-preening posturing. But the blogosquare keeps insisting that it is doing something the media is not.

Now for the life of me I cannot see what is being denied or who is being denigrated by SDP or by SDWatch.  Indeed, I have spent much of my blogging time defending the mainstream media and even the folks at the Daily KOS.  As for delusions, I suppose that has something to do with the "self-preening" charge. 

I do not think that blogs are superior to, or can be a replacement for, traditional journalism.  I do think that the better blogs add something to the MSM.  Good traditional journalism has far more resources than bloggers have, and it is kept honest in certain respects by valuable institutional restraints.  Bloggers are mostly on their own, and have almost no restraints other than self-imposed ones.  That is both their weakness and their strength.  Bloggers can freely speculate, and report any information from any source.  A blogger who tries to be responsible will caution his readers whenever he cannot be confident about a source; but unlike many a paid reporter, he can go ahead and report what the source is saying.  There is a demand for such reporting, and I see no reason why the demand should not be supplied.   

It is true, as Professor Newquist notes, that blog reporting is almost entirely the "recycling" of news stories available from traditional sources.  But the same thing is true of the traditional media outlets.  An original story gathered from witnesses and other sources will be picked up by other outlets and republished.  Readers will pick up what they are interested in, and sometimes talk about it over coffee or beer.  Blogging is really just another medium for that conversation, with some elements of publishing thrown in.  I think that conversation in a free and information rich republic is altogether a good thing, whatever excesses and errors it may involve.  Unlike the New York Times, bloggers have no institutional authority at all; the blogosphere is a very democratic business.

Professor Newquist had another complaint.

One blog [SDWatch] posted a speculation by a man on one of the national dingbat blogs who claimed to be a neurologist or something of the kind. He suggested that the positive prognoses about Sen. Johnson may be wishful thinking and he provided a more dire prognosis. In the name of truth and accuracy. And in violation of the ethical rule adhered to by most physicians that it is okay to provide general background information on a medical condition, but one never speculates and never provides an expert diagnosis without having seen the patient, seen the patient's charts, examined the imaging of the portion of the body in question, and without obtaining the family's permission. But some blogs, as they are wont to do, circulated the dire prognosis with the usual self-acclaim for outperforming the press.

I think this is flat wrong.  Jack Billion freely speculated about Senator Johnson's condition, optimistically, as did a specialist on brain injuries, both on NPR.  Many other experts have done the same on TV and online.  Most of us don't know very much about such things and are happy to learn more about the left-brain, right-side medical issues.  That is what we have experts for.

I also think that SDWatch did a valuable service by reporting the online comments of Doctor Yubero, the source Dr. Newquist refers to.  Most of the MSM reporting on Senator Johnson's condition has been very optimistic, and let us hope they are right.  But it might be a good idea to consider the harder part of this news, and the MSM is not giving us that.  I have a great deal of sympathy for the privacy issues involved, but Tim Johnson is a very public man and the public has a right to inquire into his health outlook.    I note also that Todd Epp went the extra mile in checking out this source, and bent over backwards to caution his readers regarding the source's authenticity.  That is what responsible blogging looks like.

Ps.  Todd has another blog devoted to Buddhism.  This is an interest he and I share, as I have been a practioner of zazen (seated meditation) for several years.  The Dharma of impermanance regarding Senator Johnson's condition, and mine, and yours, and every existing thing, is worth considering 

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Patrick Garrity has been blogging about sports over at No Left Tuns (for example, see his take on the recent brawling in the NBA).  The discussion of sports represents a nice break from the constant discussion of things political.  In that spirit, let me note that one of the highlights of this time of year is the college football bowl season.  Last night I watched a game between TCU and Northern Illinois.  The winner: boredom.  Over half of all Division I-A schools make it to bowl games, so there are bound to be some stinkers. 

The other perennial of this time of year is arguments over whether Division I-A should have a playoff for football, just like all the other divisions do.  I have long been opposed to a playoff.  Part of the fun of college football is arguing over who could beat whom and who got robbed by the system each year.  I fail to see why everything in life must be decided with scientific certainty.  I long for the days when bowl games had conference tie-ins and had names like Liberty Bowl, and Cotton Bowl, and Blue Bonnet Bowl.  Now it is "Harry's Tire and Lube Bowl."  And all the big games were on New Year's Day, adding to the specialness of that day.  Now the big games are stretched out over the week after New Years and the championship game is one week after January 1st.  Why?  Ratings and advertising revenue.  Don't get me wrong, maybe corporate sponsorship is what keeps these games profitable and on the air, but I still get wistful about Pittsburgh playing Georgia on New Year's night in the Sugar Bowl (not the Nokia Sugar Bowl).   

But the ship has sailed.  Anything is preferable to the silly BCS where computers decide who plays for the national championship.  Let's go back to the old way when no one knew who was best, or, since that is never going to happen, let's just get it over with and have a playoff, with the championship game on January 1st. 

Senator Johnson Health Watch

Todd Epp continues to do the best reporting on Senator Johnson's condition.  In a current post he shows the advantage that bloggers have over the traditional media, while being very careful about the shortcomings of the new media.  Todd rounds up some comments from a "Francis X. Yubero, MD."  He reproduces these comments because they are more informative than what we are getting from the Argus Leader or Keloland, but he is very careful about the question of authentication.  Here is a sample of Doctor Yubero's comments, in Epptype:

In my 25 years of experience of treating Brain Injury dealing, the the ~120+ hours since surgery and the clues about the severity of Senator Johnson’s neurological deficits including lethargy, lead me to think that the Prognosis is poor for complete recovery.  One very good sign is the report that he has had the normal Intracranial Pressure which is a big positive as high Pressure can cause Brain damage. 

However, the weakness on the right side and lethargy are not good signs of a full recovery. Right sided weakness is indicative of a left side brain injury. Usually the left of the brain is responsible for language expression and reception(in ~ one-third of left handed people the speech center in located on the right side of the brain). Thus Senator Johnson may suffer from Aphasia or the inability to express himself.

This seems to dampen the cheery news that keeps coming out of the local media.  To be sure, Doctor Yubero, regardless of the authenticity of his qualifications, is not an attending physician, and so can only speculate. 

I can make no claims to any medical expertise beyond band-aids and tweezers, but I can listen to what the experts say and put two and two together.  I heard Jack Billion, doctor and recent candidate for governor, comment on Senator Johnson's illness.  Later on the same NPR station I heard another expert say much the same thing.  As I understand their comments, the consequences of AVM (Senator Johnson's original problem) are least severe when it occurs in a "quiet part of the brain."  What worries me is that the first sign of the problem came when Senator Johnson lost the ability to speak coherently.  Now I don't know if that necessarily indicates that the location of the tangled blood vessels was near the speech center of the brain, but if it was, that can't be good.  The comments above about "right side weakness" support this view of the matter. 

I know more than enough about the brain to get dangerously confused, so readers should take anything I say with a grain of salt.  We human beings suppose we have one mind, but in fact we have at least two: the left and right hemispheres, connected by a thick neural cable called the corpus callosum.  The left hemisphere receives information from the right eye and controls the right side of the body.  It also controls speech and reason.  Damage to the left brain will therefore show on the right side of the body.  All this suggests that it may be a very long time before Senator Johnson can return to work.

I hope I am wrong.  God bless Senator Johnson and his family. 

Bigotry on the Left.

My old friend Chad at CCK has attacked Professor Schaff in language that is rather notable. 

Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of funny that a guy who remains single and hangs out with conservative Catholic priests, believes that "family structure" (of course, only in the way that he defines it) is the solution to all of our problems?

Wow.  A single man who "hangs out" with conservative Catholics.  Come to think of it, that does make him seem a bit odd, doesn't it?  People like that, well, they have a lot of nerve expressing opinions on certain subjects. 

Since I am an enrolled Methodist, and married with children, I suppose there is nothing funny in the fact that I largely agree with Professor Schaff's post.  Having taught logic, I would note that Chad's polemic is a classic case of an ad hominem argument.  There is something funny about Professor Schaff's propositions, but not because of the arguments or evidence he presents.  His propositions are funny because of the kind of person he is, and the religious views of the folks he hangs out with.  Any student can see that this amounts to a fallacy, and involves both religious and personal bigotry.

And consider the logical implications of this: is there something "funny" going on when a gay person, without children, expresses opinions about marriage and child-rearing?  I don't think so.  But that is because I don't think about these things the way Chad apparently does. 

Ad hominem arguments are nothing new at CCK.  Consider this polemic:

If you're thinking about supporting 75-year-old John McCain for President of the United States, I think it's pretty important to realize what an idiot he is when it comes to the situation in Iraq.

Now a reasonable person might well believe that John McCain is too old to be president.  But such a person would make that argument explicitly and carefully.  He or she would acknowledge the risks involved if old age is to be a disqualifying factor in seeking office.  Simply attaching McCain's age to his name is just another noxious ad hominem, more left-wing Archie Bunkerism from the website that specializes in it.  Let us fondly hope and fervently pray that Chad is indeed the only one who thinks this way.   

Top SD Political Stories of 2006

SDWC has come up with the Top South Dakota Political Stories of 2006.  Stop by and give it a read, it's an excellent recap.  Plus, you have to love this honorable mention:

The Argus still hates Governor Rounds.
Never in state history has a newspaper carried out such a sustained vindictive agenda against an elected official, and continued to pat themselves on the back for it. It was one of my top stories in 2005, and in 2006 it’s notable because it continues.

Hardly a month went by without Randall Beck taking some sort of swipe at the head of South Dakota’s executive branch, and it has no signs of letting up, as they pat themselves on the back for supposedly losing revenue because of it. (or maybe it was because they're losing value as an advertising venue).

Indeed.

Corporate Farming

Last week a federal appeals court lifted the voter-approved corporate farming ban in Nebraska on the grounds that it interfered with interstate commerce.  Nebraska has decided to challenge the ruling at take its case to the Supreme Court.  From the Sioux City Journal:

he state will take its chances with the U.S. Supreme Court in its effort to keep a voter-approved ban on corporate farming alive.

Last week a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the nearly 25-year-old ban on corporate farms, upholding an earlier federal district court decision. The appeals court said the ban violates the federal commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution and unfairly burdens out-of-state economic interests.

Attorney General Jon Bruning had considered asking the entire 8th Circuit Court to rehear the case, but instead chose to appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which he described as "our best option at this point."

"Nebraskans voted to add Initiative 300 to our state constitution because family farms are an important part of our heritage," Bruning said Monday in a news release. "It's our job to defend the amendment, and that's what we'll do."

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by ranchers who argued that the ban prevented them from setting up corporations to keep their operations within their family or from combining resources with neighbors to control costs, among other things.

Passed by voters in 1982, the constitutional amendment generally prohibits corporations and certain other business entities from owning farmland or engaging in agricultural activity, although there are numerous exceptions.

Previous appeals have faced difficulties. In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a decision declaring South Dakota's ban on corporate farming unconstitutional. That ruling, also from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said South Dakota's Amendment E was unconstitutional because it interfered with interstate commerce.

Kloucek Voted Off Farmers Union Board

Due to recent remarks in an email by state Senator Frank Kloucek, the Farmers Union has kicked him off the board of directors:

State Sen. Frank Kloucek has been voted off the South Dakota Farmers Union Board of Directors for remarks he made in two e-mails last week, one of which was meant to be private but was inadvertently sent to the media.

Wednesday, Kloucek sent an e-mail to incoming Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem, D-Sioux Falls, to tell Heidepriem about an upcoming event Kloucek would like to see promoted. But along with the plug about Czech Days, Kloucek also discussed his seating preferences in the upcoming session, made unflattering comments about several members of the Legislature and discussed the Farmers Union’s role in an attempt to bring an ag-related project to eastern South Dakota.

The message was meant for Heidepriem only, but was sent to dozens of other people, including many members of the media.

On Human Life

Upon Prof. Blanchard's recommendation I watched the Patrick Stewart version of "A Christmas Carol" last night.  It is indeed a fine version.  I was struck by one particular scene that is straight from the book.  It involves one of my favorite Christmas Carol moments.  You might recall towards the beginning of the story two men ask Scrooge to contribute to a charitable organization.  He turns them down with disdain.  Can the poor not go to prisons or work houses?  One of the man answers that some would rather die then go there.  Scrooge says, "If they are going to die then they'd better do it, and decrease the surplus population."  Later on, the Ghost of Christmas Present throws these words back in Scrooge's face:

     "Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before,"tell me if Tiny Tim will live."

     "I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die."

     "No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit. Say he will be spared."

     "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

     Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.

     "Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! To hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust."

Another Unsolvable Problem?

Speaking of problems that defy solution, consider this report from the Heritage Foundation (HT Julie Ponzi).  Proving the obvious once again, Heritage reports that on ten indicies of social well-being children from intact religious families are better off.  Of course Barbara Defoe Whitehead  reported the same thing (leaving out the religious angle) over a decade ago in the Atlantic in her famous piece, "Dan Quayle Was Right."  Add to that the argument of Kay Hymowitz that the difference between children raised by married parents and those who aren't will create a new caste system in America.  If libertarians and liberals wonder why conservatives fret so much over family structure, this is why.  We all know people who defy the odds in either direction, but the general truth still holds: it is better for children, and better for society, for children to grow up with two biological parents. 

One wonders, then, what Mark Gerson is thinking chiding his fellow conservatives for their doctrinaire anti-government stance, to the detriment of the social fabric in Mr. Gerson's opinion.  It just so happens that I share Mr. Gerson's uneasiness with mindless anti-government rhetoric, but on the national level, what is the government not doing that it should be doing, from a conservative perspective?  I know liberals have an answer to that question (and one foolishly dismisses their arguments), but if one is a conservative it is hard to see our government as too parsimonious.  And one wonders, given the effect of family structure on social well-being, what public policy will encourage people to get married and/or not have kids when they are not? 

I have argued on this page that the State of South Dakota (as opposed to the United States) is too parsimonious.  Recently we have been arguing in our state whether we should spend out of our reserves to increase funding for education.  I oppose this.  If we want more money for education, and I do, let's do it honestly and raise our taxes.  But let's not be fooled.  The quality of education of South Dakota's young people is only marginally effected by spending.  And certainly the relatively small sums being argued over will have no discernible impact.  South Dakota kids actually do pretty well on national tests.  Why is that?  Why is it that South Dakota does better than, say, Washington, DC, even though DC spends more per pupil than any "state" in the nation, about 2.5x what South Dakota spends?  And DC perennially ranks 51st in educational attainment?  Answer: South Dakota has intact families, Washington DC does not.  The recent New Republic contains a cover article (subscription only) on Sam Brownback, conservative Senator from Kansas considering a presidential run.  Brownback had a conversion from abortion moderate to pro-life activist (mirrored by a religious awakening).  The article notes that Brownback's attention to abortion was piqued when he found out that in DC the number of abortions and the number of live births are roughly equal and that "only one in every six pregnancies ended with a married woman bringing a child to term."  I recall coaching baseball for three years in Chicago, and maybe five out of about thirty players (one in six) over those years actually lived with two married parents.  A culture in which abortion is normal, marriage is rare, and marriage with children is even rarer presents a cultural obstacle that perhaps no public policy can overcome.

Headlines Worth Noting

Wow.  She must be really old.

Aberdeen woman remembers first deer. 

What office is the lawsuit running for?

Beef Plant Lawsuit Seeks Public Vote

Now, can they clone mittens?

World's first cloned cat has kittens.

Exactly what time of the year do you plant your pigs?

Major swine operation seeking fertile ground. 

It almost kilt me to report this one:

Scottish troops must share scarce kilts. 

Another battlefield report from the War Against Christmas

Swedish Christmas Goat Survives Attack.

And they didn't just walk.  They ran, ran, ran, as fast as they can.

Nazi gingerbread men moved to new town. 

Global Warming and Reality

With all the love sloshing around the regional blogosphere of late (see this, and this), I am grateful to my friend Chad at CCK for continuing to supply a little of the righteous indignation and false attribution that is his stock-in-trade.  Recently Chad quoted a Times of London article warning that the Arctic would be ice-free by 2030.  I earned honorable mention at the end of his post.

I can see Blanchard with his eyes closed, hands over ears, shouting loud noises so he doesn't have to hear from those wacky environmentalist liberals at NASA.

I suppose I should consider it progress that in this case Chad did not actually fabricate quotations and attribute them to me.  But one would get the idea from that sentence that I have written or believe that global warming is a myth.  So far as one can tell, Chad retains only the vaguest impression from anything he reads, at least when filtered through the muddy lens of his righteousness, and his impressions are frequently wrong. 

I have stated my view clearly in past exchanges with Chad.  I think that global warming is happening, and that human activity is very probably accelerating it.  I also believe that, in the short run, nothing much can be done about it.  I base that opinion on the following points: one, nothing is in fact being done about it.  Greenhouse emissions are increasing globally; the nations that pretend to care are not meeting their reduction targets; and the largest developing nations do not even pretend to care.  Two, doing something about it in the short term would be enormously expensive, even to achieve the smallest of gains.  The Kyoto Protocol would cost billions just to slow down global warming by six years.  Pigs are not going to fly.  Serious reductions in greenhouse emissions in the next several decades are not going to be achieved.  I would like to believe I am wrong about those two points, but I'm not. 

For readers interested in a thoughtful and informative piece on what might be done might consult Ronald Bailey's recent article in Reason.  Here is one solution:

One "solution" might be recognizing, at least, that there is nothing to be done about it. One might argue that for the sake of lifting billions of poor people out of abject poverty humanity must continue to burn cheap oil and coal to fuel economic growth in this century. One unavoidable side effect is that this will increase the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and thus boost global average temperatures by between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. People three generations hence will just have to adapt to this increase. Fortunately because of the wealth produced by burning fossil fuels, average incomes will have increased about sevenfold and so they will have the resources to do so. In addition, wealth may enable them to develop new low pollution energy technologies.

Now in fact, that is the only solution to the human part of the equation that has a chance of being implemented.  Suppose the world economy continues to grow at present rates, along with a similar increase in technological power; then, in a few decades, and surely by the end of this new century, we will have the power to control the atmosphere and we will be able to afford to do so.  Unlike most conservatives, but like most libertarians, I am optimistic about this. 

Bailey considers a few other, more immediate solutions.  None of them is likely to have more than a marginal effect.  It's not that I like the conclusions I am stating here.  The disappearance of arctic ice would be a major ecological disaster.  I like polar bears, at a distance.  It is also possible that we will run out of cheap energy, and/or some other ecological disaster will wreck the train track of economic and technological progress.  But demanding that we do what we obviously are not able or willing to do doesn't help.  I am reminded of the economist stuck in a hole who begins his escape plan with the words: "let us assume a ladder." 

Fascism Watch

Joy Behar, the same one who had the audacity to claim Senator Johnson's illness could be "man-made," has now compared Donald Rumsfeld to Adolf Hitler.

Kranz on Daschle

Today, Dave Kranz says that Tom Daschle will "enjoy a lobbying career":

Former Sen. Tom Daschle's announcement that he will not run for president didn't surprise many people.

Now that the small mystery about his presidential aspirations is settled, there still is the matter of Daschle's future role in politics.

Daschle loyalists still would like to see him stay pictured in the national scene, even if it is accepting a vice presidential slot on the 2008 Democratic Party ticket.

Whether that is appealing to him is doubtful. He can enjoy a lobbying career and still keep tabs on the national political scene. Or he could assume the role of ambassador in a Democrat-run administration.

Meatpacking Raids in the Midwest

New York Times:

When federal immigration officials raided six plants owned by Swift & Company, the world’s second largest beef and pork processor, last Tuesday, they brought Spanish translators. They knew exactly what kind of worker is found in low-paying, strenuous jobs in this country: recent Latino arrivals with limited skills and, in many cases, no legal papers. Nearly 1,300 people — almost 10 percent of Swift’s work force — were taken away in what the government said was the largest but not the last assault on the underground immigrant economy.

The raids have led some people to heap scorn on Swift and, of course, on the illegal immigrants, particularly the dozens of detainees who have been charged with identity theft and other crimes. But doing so misses the bigger picture. Swift and its workers are merely Exhibit A in an immigration system that is failing in all of its parts.

It is a system that rewards illegality and pays lip service to lawfulness and order.

Read the rest.

Newquist, Lincoln, and Me 3

As another example of free love in the regional blogosphere, Professor Emeritus David Newquist has a third post on Lincoln.  Again, I recommend it to our readers.  He gives the reader the flavor of the crowds at the Lincoln-Douglas debates, one that certainly added to my appreciation of that historical event.  Consider this finely crafted passage:

The early settlers in Illinois were not a particularly savory lot. Society was held in a state of fear by a group that observers of the time called "butcher knife boys." They wore sharpened butcher knives in their belts and were quick to brandish and use them on anyone to whom they took offense. An early governor of Illinois noted that any politician who wanted to be elected had to have the endorsement of these men. They were part of the rough river men and migrants from the South who engaged in face-ripping fights for the sport.

At the time Lincoln was starting his political career, the voting was done orally in large meetings. One observer of that political climate stated that the butcher knife crowd voted loudly and "not infrequently."

Professor Newquist is also gracious in his comments about Professor Schaff's posts on Lincoln, and my own.  I have suggested that David is a bit hard on the blogosphere, to be sure a political climate where "reductive quips" are made loudly and not infrequently.  But I agree with him that the blogs can be more than that, and I think our exchanges on Jazz and Abraham Lincoln are proof.

ps.  David adds this comment:

I must say, I appreciate the exchanges on Abraham Lincoln. Just as one can't have too many trumpet players, one can't study him enough.

I would only add that one cannot have too many tenor sax players, just to get a plug in for Wayne Shorter.  I sent my children a Christmas list peppered with Wayne Shorter CDs. 

Free Love in the Regional Blogosphere

Todd Epp pays SDP a compliment.  I take the liberty of reproducing it here. 

As you know, I have at times had running battles with the folks at South Dakota Politics.  Their politics is way too far to the Right for my tastes and then there’s that whole NSU Hardy Boys thing.

But their coverage and commentary about Sen. Tim Johnson’s illness has been gracious, positive, and informative.

Jason, Jon, and Ken have shown real class these past several days with their good wishes for Sen. Johnson and his family.  They have also been complimentary of my coverage.

While I think we South Dakotans like to over blow how much better and more special we are than the rest of the USA, I think in this regard we are: when one of our own goes down like Sen. Johnson, we all care, regardless of party affiliation.

I, for one, appreciate this.  I enjoy arguing about politics, in case you hadn't noticed.  I do not enjoy being mad at people, or having them be mad at me.  I continue to believe that all of us on the regional blogosphere agree about a lot more than we disagree about, and we agree on the things that are most important.  I am grateful to Todd for pointing this out.

Media Vultures and Tim Johnson

Mr. Heppler posted Jason Folkerts's cartoon depicting the "National Media and Politics" as a couple of vultures, ready to pick at the story of Tim Johnson's illness.  I do not share this view of the reporting on this issue.  The pastor of my Church said a word for Senator Johnson during this morning's service, though he is not to my knowledge a Methodist.  My guess is that Tim got mentioned in a lot of churches in South Dakota and elsewhere, and was included in the prayers of many, both in and out of the sanctuary.   This is altogether proper, but it is more mention than the average citizen usually gets when he or she is in the hospital.  This son of South Dakota sought and occupies a position of public honor, and along with that goes public love and attention. 

For accidental reasons, Senator Johnson's life and health represent the balance of power in the United States Senate, one of the most powerful representative bodies in the history of representative bodies.  It would be unrealistic not to expect the news media to focus on that fact.  Nor would a lack of such focus be something that we should want.  Political journalists (and political scientists) are always complaining that Americans don't take enough interest in politics.  But when they do, we just as frequently complain that they are not taking interest for the right reasons. 

People have every right to want to know what is happening and how it will affect policy making in Washington.  The news media exists to service that sort of desire.  With the exception of the tin-foil hat crowd that I posted on recently, I think the public attention to Senator Johnson's hospitalization has been reasonable and civil, and no one has anything to be ashamed about. 

Some decorum is of course in order.  The New York Times reports that Governor Rounds is "mum on replacement talk." 

In the tornado of talk about Senator Tim Johnson’s political future after his surgery to stem bleeding in the brain, one man has stayed mostly out of sight and mostly silent but for conveying his prayers through spokesmen.

Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican whose duty it would be to appoint a replacement for Mr. Johnson, a Democrat, if that becomes necessary, finds himself in his most unlikely political role yet: the single person, potentially, to decide the partisan split of the United States Senate.

Besieged with questions about whom he might select, Mr. Rounds has declined to address the topic, his aides denouncing the inquiries as premature and beyond impolite and a subject that Mr. Rounds would not have given the first thought to.

That is exactly the right thing for Governor Round's aides to say.   Anything else would be beyond the bounds of propriety.  On the other hand, giving thought to that question, right now, is exactly what Governor gets paid for.  I am sure he is giving it lots of thought. 

Vultures

From Jason Folkerts:

Yes, it was appalling that the first thing the national media worried about was the balance in Congress.  Meanwhile, Senator Johnson's health thankfully continues to improve:

Sen. Tim Johnson continues to make slow improvements as he recovers from emergency brain surgery, and staff and family remain optimistic about his recovery, his spokeswoman said minutes ago.

The senator’s condition is expected to remain classified as critical but stable throughout the weekend, said Julianne Fisher, spokesperson for Johnson.

He was able to move more limbs last night than he had previously, Fisher said.

Herseth Engaged

Rapid City Journal:

Stephanie Herseth is engaged. The Democratic U.S. Representative made the announcement at her birthday party at Prairie Edge in Rapid City on Friday, according to Herseth’s friend and former South Dakota Democratic chairwoman, Judy Olson Duhamel.

“She was real excited. It was real fun. It was an added feature to the birthday celebration,” Olson Duhamel said.

Herseth, 36, is engaged to Max Sandlin, a former congressman from Texas whom she met in July of 2002.

She became engaged last weekend and waited until Friday night to make the announcement, Olson Duhamel said. She said the couple has not set a date but will be married in South Dakota.

“It’s good news,” she said.

Congratulations!

National Brawl Association

Just in case you were wondering why I don't watch NBA basketball anymore.

Thune Gets Seat on Ag & Commerce Committees

From the Yankton Press & Dakotan:

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., will sit on the Senate Agriculture and Commerce committees when Congress reconvenes in January.

Thune moves to the agriculture panel in time to help craft comprehensive farm legislation next year. South Dakota has not had a member on the committee since Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., lost re-election to Thune in 2004.

The commerce panel is also a plum assignment. That committee oversees aviation, railroads, telecommunications, science, space and consumer affairs, among other issues.

While gaining those seats, Thune will leave the Environment and Public Works and Veterans Affairs Committees. He will keep his seats on the Armed Services and Small Business panels.

"Sen. Thune is pleased to have secured seats on these powerful committees that are important to South Dakota farmers, families, small businesses and military personnel," said Thune spokesman Kyle Downey.

Thune is currently traveling in Iraq and the Middle East.

Farm bill negotiations are expected to take up much of next year, as the last six-year farm bill is scheduled to expire. Downey said Thune's new seat "will allow him to have a voice for South Dakota farmers and ranchers during the upcoming farm bill."

Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa will take over the panel when Democrats become the Senate majority in January.

Page Execution Timetable Set

Argus Leader:

A judge set a new execution timetable for South Dakota death row inmate Elijah Page, the convicted murderer whose planned execution earlier this year was delayed by Gov. Mike Rounds within hours of being carried out.

In an order directed to the sheriff of Lawrence County and the warden of the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls, Circuit Judge Warren Johnson on Friday set the execution for the week of July 9, 2007.

The South Dakota State Penitentiary warden has leeway to choose the day and time of the execution that week, according to law.

Rounds' stay expires July 1. The appointment of a new execution week is essentially an automatic action after that, Lawrence County state's attorney John Fitzgerald said.

The Reason for Concern about Stem Cell Research

The following story does not indicate that we should not use stem cells in medical research.  It does indicate that there are reasons for concern, and that regulations are necessary.  From the BBC:

Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests.

Disturbing video footage of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies raises serious questions about what happened to them.

Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world.

There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases.

But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies.

I have thought that the Bush policy on Federal funding for stem cell research was too restrictive.  But critics of the Administration often act as if anyone who wants any limits is some kind of fanatic. The BBC story, if true, is about an atrocity.  Anything that can reasonably be done to stop that traffic should be done. 

Jiminy Cricket On Palestine

This from the Boston Globe on Jimmy Carter's latest madcap escapades. 

HARRY TRUMAN famously said that if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. By refusing Brandeis's invitation to take part in a debate about his new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," former president Jimmy Carter is saying that he can't take the heat -- after giving his book a controversial title and boasting of a desire to be provocative.

WaPo on SD Political Turbulence

Chris Cillizza and Charles Babington of the Washington Post have an interesting piece today entitled "In S. Dakota, a History of Political Turbulence."  Be sure to give it a read.

Karl Mundt

The Wall Street Journal today talks about former Senator Karl Mundt, who suffered similar circumstances that Senator Johnson is facing:

Senate history is peppered with examples of senators staying away for months because of illness or surgery. Republican Sen. Karl Mundt, also of South Dakota, stopped appearing in the Senate after being disabled by a stroke in 1969, but he remained in office until his term expired in 1972.

Mr. Mundt's chief of staff, Robert McCaughey, ran the office, and recalled in an interview yesterday that he couldn't vote or speak for Mr. Mundt at committee meetings. But he briefed Mr. Mundt nearly every day as the senator sat in an easy chair in his home two blocks from the office. Mr. Mundt could speak haltingly and followed Senate business, but didn't always understand conversation, Mr. McCaughey said.

He said he wanted Mr. Mundt, a longtime friend and employer, to resign his seat, but faced opposition from Mrs. Mundt. "He wasn't able to carry out his duties," said Mr. McCaughey. "I felt he was taking a voice from the people of South Dakota." At one point, South Dakota's Republican governor -- fearing a loss of the governorship to a Democrat in 1970 -- pleaded personally with Mr. Mundt to resign. "He didn't seem to understand that he should resign," Mr. McCaughey said.

If Mr. Johnson is succeeded by a Republican, the Senate would be split 50-50, much as it was after the 2000 elections when the two parties had to work out a historic power-sharing relationship. With Vice President Dick Cheney available to break any tie, Republicans retained the majority and chairmanships. But many of the committees were split evenly and special deference was given to the Democratic leadership to make a motion to call up legislation.

Again, it is far to early to start speculating about the politics until we know what Senator Johnson decides to do.  It is my sincere hope that he can resume his seat in the Senate and continue his political career for as long as he wishes.  Also, please keep an eye on Todd Epp's website, who has been exhaustively covering the situation.

A Nice Photo of South Dakota's Senatorial Delegation

From the New York Times:

Paranoia on the Left?

Well a little bit, but not so much.  Chuck Raasch, political editor for Gannett News Service, notes that some Kossacks seem to seriously suspect that Senator Johnson was poisoned (hat tip to Todd Epp).  Here is a typical sample:

Remember how somebody sent Daschle anthrax? Some other whack-o joked about sending it to Olbermann?

I just don't like the sounds of this. It seems all to plausible that some nut-job just couldn't tolerate the thought of the dems controlling both houses of Congress for the next two years (at least) and decided that SD needed to sacrifice its senator for the cause.

Get well soon, Senator Johnson. Hopefully it isn't another homegrown "terrorist" who happens to support Bush's agenda.

And this:

Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy were attempted murder victims as standing senators.  The perpetrators walk freely to this day.  That ain't no Vince Foster bullshit.  Dangerous times require cynical imaginations.  Show me the facts on Sen. Johnson's illness, and I'll be satisfied.  Until then...

The latter suggests a principle: Republicans (but only Republicans) are guilty of high crimes until proven innocent, which of course will never happen.  Some of these folks also think that Paul Welstone was murdered.

But all this proves is that there are a lot of lunatics on the left as well as on the right.  And in fact these posts hardly characterize the consensus at the Daily Kos.  The full mooners were met with more than their share of replies like this one:

it must've been earwigs.  [rolls eyes]  Cigar=Cigar, that's all.

And this:

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Don't try and cover your claim up using a question mark.
These comments make us all look stupid; if you want to blindly speculate, there's plenty of 9/11 conspiracy forums out there.

On the whole, the Kossachs seem to consist of a lot of more or less reasonable folks struggling with a significant but still small minority of wing nuts.  That is about as good and bad as things tend to be in American politics, and better than politics goes in most places.

A kind note on Senator Johnson

SDP received this note from a woman who obviously still considers South Dakota her home.

I am a native South Dakotan who sadly does not now reside in my home state.  I apologize that I am probably on the wrong site, but do want to express my hopes and prayers for Senator Johnson and his family .

Being a brain anurysem surviver (please excuse my spelling) I and my family know some of what Senator Johnson and his family are going  through now and want to let them know that they will remain in our hopes and prayers. 

There is a long road ahead of the senator and his family, but faith and prayer will see them through as it did and does my family. 

I am proud to be a South Dakotan and wish the senator and his family a speedy recovery and Blessed Holiday Season.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mrs Robert (Sherry)Breckenridge and family

 

from Rapid City, South Dakota   presently residing in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Our site will do just fine, Mrs. Breckenridge.  God bless you and your family. 

Another SD Scandal

SDWC:  New Scandal Brewing

Looks like Scott Heiderpriem will have another big mess on his hands.  And again, the story was broken by one of the best political bloggers in South Dakota.  The Democrats aren't off to a great start with Sutton/Engels/Kloucek.

The Only "Weekend At Bernie's" Reference I Will Ever Make Here

I see Jason's reference to the idiot Joy Behar, and raise him a Michael Medved.  Medved comes on after Dennis Prager on KRLA out of Los Angeles.  Being a semi-faithful Prager listener on KRLA's web site, I sometimes catch the beginning of Medved.  I then remember he is a screaming hack and listen to something on Live 365. Today Medved started by talking about "the biggest threat to America."  It was a lead in to some story about Barney Frank.  Medved said "You might think the biggest threat to America is the Democratic Congress."  He then referenced the Johnson situation, pontificating that the Democrats might keep him around like in "Weekend at Bernie's" just to keep their majority.  Class.  Total class.  The only thing dumber than Michael Medved is "Weekend at Bernie's."

Talk About Death By Chocolate!

From Fox News (hat tip, NRO):

Abdel-Rahman's alleged last will, read at an Al Qaeda news conference eight years ago, called for reprisals should he die in an American jail.

 

"My Brothers ... if [the Americans] kill me, which they will certainly do — hold my funeral and send my corpse to my family, but do not let my blood be shed in vain," the will read. "Rather, extract the most violent revenge, and remember your brother who spoke the truth and died for the will of God ... the Mujahid Sheikh Omar Abdel al Rahman. In the name of God the kind and merciful."

 

Abdel-Rahman was convicted of plotting to blow up the United Nations Headquarters, a federal building, two tunnels and a bridge in Manhattan.

 

In 2004, Abdel-Rahman tried to sabotage his health, consuming M&Ms to exacerbate his diabetes.

Behar: Was Johnson's Stroke "Man-Made"?

Speaking of The View, Joy Behar wonders if Tim Johnson's stroke was "man-made."  I was mad that the media instantly politicized his illness by worrying about the balance in Congress before worrying about his health, but this is stepping well over the line.

Behar - "Is there such a thing as a man-made stroke? In other words, did someone do this to him?"  [Audience laughter]

It's Still 2006

I have been reading various items on the 2008 presidential race, such as whether McCain is more popular than Giuliani or Obama more than Clinton.  I recall the wise words of Harry Jaffa: The campaign will be determined by events which have yet to occur.  This just means that campaigns matter.  It is a bit foolish to argue over the 2008 election when we are 21 months away from the election and no one has yet to do any campaigning. 

Hitchens Is Right About Rosie

The problem with Rosie O'Donnell is not that she's a racist.  She just isn't that funny. (See Christopher Hitchens for opinions, right or wrong, about female sense of humor). 

Ready Or Not...

Here they come.  A national group may be targeting South Dakota, among other states, for the "Civil Rights Initiative" that removes all racial preferences from state government. 

Ward Connerly plans to sponsor anti-preference ballot initiatives in two to five states in 2008, out of a field of nine possible states, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.  The candidates are Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.  Connerly says his goal is to stage the equivalent of a “Super Tuesday” on affirmative action, “to demonstrate beyond doubt that race preferences are antithetical to the popular will of the American people.”   You can help Connerly build up his warchest for these battles by donating to the American Civil Rights Coalition or the American Civil Rights Institute.

Reservation Economy

South Dakota Magazine:

Elsie Meeks has tried to establish an independent, entrepreneurial spirit on the Indian reservations of America for 20 years — and she’s had more success than most Indian leaders but even her patience seems to have limits, judging from a “no holds barred” commentary in Indian Country Today.

Elsie believes the answer to many of the problems on the rez is more opportunity through small business development. But, frustrated by the lack of progress, she declares, “I don’t think we really want to change …. and those who do want change aren’t in the least equipped to do it … not many people are.”

She said the “blame game” hasn’t worked, so it’s time for everybody to quit pointing fingers at the feds, the state and tribal leaders. She says the goal must be self-sufficiency and an end to dependency – not an insistence that treaties be honored. Treaties should be honored, she said, but waiting for that to happen is not enough.

Obviously, Elsie Meeks has always ranked high in our estimation. She’s a rare leader. She’d much rather be at home on a horse on the ranch she and her husband, Jim, run by Interior. Instead she jets around the nation, trying to establish capitalism in some of America’s poorest communities.

These are the words of a very smart woman who has devoted 20 years to a quite thankless task. If you have any interest in improving life on the reservations I hope you’ll read them because I’m sure they were hard for Elsie Meeks to write. She prefers rowing to making waves, but she can do either.

Here is the link.

Self-sufficiency is something I've thought the reservations needed to work on, and it's my hope for the residents of reservations that people like Elsie Meeks will succeed.  Blame it on my conservative sympathies, but I think government dependency is a bad idea.  I realize the issues on the reservation are probably far deeper and more complex than the story lets on, but I think Mrs. Meeks is going in the right direction. 

Johnson Update Thursday Afternoon

The New York Times has this information about Senator Johnson's hospitalization:

According to statements from his office, Mr. Johnson, who will turn 60 on Dec. 28, became disoriented during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday morning. He stuttered, then seemed to recover before asking if there were more questions and ending the call.

He then walked back to his office, where he collapsed.

That last bit was not released yesterday.  I assume that the Senator's family controls the release of information at this point, which is as it should be.  I don't envy them the decisions they have to make. 

Almost all the news stories mention the 51/49 balance in the Senate.  Time.Com has the best follow up.

The incapacitation of South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson has put all eyes in Washington on what is normally a little-noticed Senate vote now scheduled for Jan. 4. It is called the "organizing resolution," and is the bit of internal housekeeping that determines how committee memberships will be allotted between the two parties, as well as who will get to serve as chairman and ranking members of each of the panels. These resolutions traditionally stand until the next Congress, even if the makeup of the chamber shifts to put the other party in the majority, which is why precedent would seem to dictate that the Chamber would stay in Democratic hands, even if Johnson is replaced by a Republican.

If there is still any real question about Senator Johnson returning to work, it will have an impact on the January 4th meeting. 

It now looks highly unlikely that [Senator Johnson] will healthy by Jan. 4. With Johnson unable to vote, Democrats still have enough to prevail, with 50 votes (including the two independent Senators, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont) to 49 for the Republicans.

But Democrats now fear the real possibility that Republicans will filibuster that resolution. They could insist — just as the Democrats did after the 2000 election that left the chamber evenly split, with Vice President Dick Cheney as the tie-breaker — on an "out clause" that stipulates that control of the chamber goes to them if they somehow manage to achieve a majority during the course of the session. As both sides remember, that clause came in handy for the Democrats a few months later, when Vermont's Jim Jeffords abruptly declared himself an independent and gave the Democrats a one-vote majority.

Johnson's family says that the next 24 hours will be critical.  Both parties in South Dakota have expressed their best wishes for the Senator and his family. 

Regents Approve USD D-1 Move

From the USD student newspaper Volante:

The South Dakota Board of Regents unanimously supported the University of South Dakota's planned move to Divison IAA in football and IA in all other sports Thursday.

USD will compete in the North Central Conference through the 2007-2008 season, although it will be an exploratory year as the university searches for a conference and extra funds to support the expected $2 million increase in the Athletic Department's budget annually.

The regents' 9-0 vote carried the same stipulations put on South Dakota State University four years ago when it made the same switch from Division II to Division I.

Those requirements apply to things like scholarships, joining an athletic conference and finding the money for the estimated $2 million more it will cost at the DI level.

Support for intercollegiate athletics from the student general activity fee may only increase at the annual rate of inflation set by the regents, and state general fund dollars for salaries, benefits, or operational expenses may only increase at rates equivalent to what is otherwise appropriated for the universities' base budgets, the regents said in a statement.

"This provision limits increases in student fees and state funding to the regular, ongoing costs of operating the institutions, regardless of athletic classification," said Regents President Harvey Jewett.

No one spoke out against the move when the regents held a public hearing on it Monday.

Johnson Update

This from Keloland:

Democratic US Senator Tim Johnson is in critical condition this morning after brain surgery.

The senator was taken to George Washington University Hospital in Washington Wednesday after suffering bleeding in the brain.

A person familiar with Johnson's medical history says he has an underlying condition that caused those symptoms and doctors will be watching him closely for the next day or two.

The attending physician at the US Capitol says Johnson had intra-cerebral bleeding and the surgery was successful.

Johnson is reported to be recovering without complications. He was taken to the hospital after suffering stroke-like symptoms.

A statement from Admiral John Eisold, attending physician of the United States Capitol, about the condition of Senator Tim Johnson:

"Subsequent to his admission to George Washington University Hospital yesterday, Senator Tim Johnson was found to have had an intracerebral bleed caused by a congenital arteriovenous malformation. He underwent successful surgery to evacuate the blood and stabilize the malformation. The Senator is recovering without complication in the critical care unit at George Washington University Hospital. It is premature to determine whether further surgery will be required or to assess any long term prognosis."

The senator's wife, Barbara, says the family "is encouraged  and optimistic" that he will recover.

Todd Epp is running constant updates from lots of sources on Senator Johnson's condition.  If you are following this closely, check there. 

 

The Return of Eason Jordon

Captain's Quarters:  "Jordan's return proves that anyone shameless enough can push his way back into the national spotlight after destroying his credibility. E&P made itself an unwitting pawn in this manipulative stunt, and it abandoned any sense of journalistic ethics in running this puff piece on a discredited partisan."