South Dakota Politics

The Tour de France, altogether without Lance

I would be interested to see how many people are keeping up with the Tour now that it is no longer the Tour de Lance.  In some ways Lance was supposed to have made the tour boring.  Barring a bad collision, or injury, or meteor strike, it was a safe bet he'd be wearing yellow at the end.  But waiting to see just how many victories he could string together had a lot of people watching who have no idea what "peloton" means. 

Most kinds of racing can be difficult to watch, but the bicycle is an almost perfect device for translating certain virtues of body and soul (those having to do chiefly with endurance) into a sustained brilliance of motion.  The Greek word for virtue, arete, or perfect excellence, describes what is on display.

It does look as though another American is going to keep the yellow jersey.  From Molly Moore at the Washington Post:

PARIS, July 22 -- American Floyd Landis has given the Tour de France its greatest roller coaster ride in years.

In Saturday's final time trial through the Burgundy countryside, the 30-year-old Landis reclaimed the top overall position for the fourth time in 19 days of racing.

Though Landis is poised to become the third American to win the Tour de France Sunday in Paris, his 59-second lead over Spain's Oscar Pereiro, the potential for errors and the unexpected twists of this year's race leave just enough suspense to make the final stage a true test of skills and perseverance rather than a largely celebratory victory lap down the Champs-Elysees.

Hotline

From Friday's edition of The Hotline:

PRIMARY CALENDAR: Arizona Is The Surprise, Is It Not? More testament to Napolitano....

     According to Dem sources, four states -- SC, AL, NV and AZ -- remain in contention for a Jan. primary or caucus in 2008.
     NV and AZ are the caucus finalists; the caucus will be scheduled between IA and NH. AL and SC are the primary finalists; the primary will be scheduled right after NH (Hotline sources, 7/21).
     The party's rules and bylaws Committee meets Saturday in DC. Critical Dem constituencies "such as blacks and Hispanics" have "clamored" for a major role in "early primary voting," arguing that IA and NH "are hardly reflective of a diverse electorate." DNC RBC member Harold Ickes: "I was surprised by how deeply blacks and Hispanics feel they are not part of the process. I think it's a done deal." Hispanics make up more than 20 percent of the population in AZ and NV, and blacks comprise nearly 30 percent in AL and SC (Lester, AP, 7/21).

AZ: Smart To Reel In A Big Fish -- And Announce It The Day Before The Vote

     If AZ gets its caucus, "veteran political operative" Steve Hildebrand will "help organize" the contest. The signing "illustrates to what lengths states are willing to go demonstrate" how serious they are about being selected "for this early position" in the Dem pres. nominating calendar. AZ Gov. Janet Naplitano has personally lobbied members of the DNC's rules and bylaws committee, too ( ("Grind," CNN, 7/21).

Correspondance on Stem Cells

Interested reader S.U. sends us this kind and thoughtful note.

Ken,

First off, I enjoy your reading your site to stay abreast of issues in SD and 
the nation.  I just read your post about the Stem Cell Veto and wanted to 
provide some facts that I heard on a Focus on the Family broadcast 
(www.family.org)that had a few informed experts discussing this issue.

First off the media has been spouting the 400,000 embryo's, but what they 
aren't saying is that only 2% of them would be donated at this time.  

The other, more important fact, is that there is a use for these embryo's that 
aren't used.  When Bush signed the veto, he had surrounding him many children.  
These children were the result of a special adoption process.  This process 
connects parents that want the embryos with parents that don't have a use for 
the embryos (2% of 400,000).  So, there is a way to contine their "lives" 
without destroying them. 

It just so happens that on hearing this, my wife and I are thinking of this 
option, as our firstborn suffers from a severe genetic illness.  Also, I don't 
agree that if they couldn't be used, that we should use them for science.  
There is a line that the human race shouldn't cross.  While we can't control 
the world, we can stop this in our states and nations.

They also talked about how embrionic stem cells haven't been used ever to try 
and treat anything, but that's getting out of the scope of my objections.

The Virginia Senate Race and South Dakota

In case you missed it, Dave Kranz has a piece on South Dakota connections to the Senate race in Virginia.  From the Argus Leader:

One of the hottest U.S. Senate races is going on in Virginia, and wouldn’t you know? A South Dakota native and a political operative with ties to the state are right in the middle of it.

The race is between Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger James Webb Jr., former secretary of the Navy.  . . .

Allen and Webb are examples of a very marketable type of candidate: handsome rugged males who can appeal to the sentiments of the other side.  Here are the South Dakota connections:

Leading the spin for Allen is Dick Wadhams, a top GOP strategist who managed Sen. John Thune’s 2004 victory. He is said to be the next Karl Rove in D.C.

Steve Jarding, a Mitchell native who now teaches at Harvard, is Webb’s consultant. Jarding’s credentials include masterminding a gubernatorial victory for Democrat Mark Warner in Republican-dominated Virginia.  Warner also is exploring a bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

This is surprising reach for a small state. 

Governor Declares Emergency

Rounds is on the job:

A statewide emergency will be declared to help move firefighters and their equipment around South Dakota to fight the growing number of wildfires caused by the drought, Gov. Mike Rounds said Thursday.

Rounds said his emergency declaration will make it easier to move volunteer firefighters and other emergency personnel to help tired and beleaguered firefighters in other areas. He said he also has authorized the state Wildland Fire Division to contract with another two airplane tankers and an additional firefighting crew to help stop prairie fires before they can grow to huge blazes.

Clinton To Campaign For Lieberman

From the "I know you are but what am I" files, if the South Dakota GOP tent should be big enough to include different opinions on abortion (and it should be), should the Connecticut Democratic Party be big enough to include those who support war in Iraq?  Bill Clinton thinks so.

By the way, writing this post reminds me of a funny Woody Allen line from the movie Small Time Crooks.  His wife is asking an erudite New York socialite to teach them about music, art and food and Woody Allen chimes in, "I'd be happy if you'd just teach me how to spell Connecticut." 

A Bleg Is Answered

The intrepid R.M. answers my plea by, well, going to the Game, Fish, and Parks site.

   

How many SD residents, or what percentage of SD residents, hunt?  

Based on 2002 data: 118,001 unique resident hunters hunt. Based on 2002     estimated population of 629,883 residents 12 and older: 18.7% hunt   
   

How many SD residents, or what percentage of SD residents, fish?  

Based on 2002 data: 128,182 unique resident anglers fish (this count does     not include the number of anglers under the age of 16). Based on 2002 estimated population of 581,374     residents 16 and older: 22.0% fish

It looks like Montana has us beat, folks. 

Georgia Elections

Ralph Reed was defeated in his bid to become the Republican nominee for  Lieutenant Governor, 56-44%.  Cynthia McKinney faces a run-off, which she may well lose.  I am content with both results. 

Reed was a political player, and he played himself right out of the running for office.  As the man who was about to be hanged solemly declared, "this'll be a lesson to me."   

McKinney is an embarrassment to her party, her state, and the U.S. Congress.  When she is not assaulting Capital Hill police, she pedals conspiracy theories about 9/11.  District 4 will get a Democrat.  It deserves a sane adult. 

Stem Cell Bill Veto Sustained

The President vetoed his first bill this week, and as expected, the House failed to muster the 2/3rds majority necessary to override that veto.  Only if both houses of Congress had voted by 2/3rds (members present with a quorum) would the bill have been saved.

It is often said and written that the President wants to ban stem cell research.  This is false.  Bush is in fact the first President to sign a bill funding stem cell research.  What Bush wants to prevent is the creation of embryos for the purpose of harvesting their cells.  I think he is right to want to prevent this.  Leaving aside the question of moral and legal person-hood, the embryo is, biological speaking, a human being.  It exists; it has its own complete genetic code; and under the right circumstances would develop into someone who deserves a social security number.  To begin the biological process of individual genesis for the sole purpose of harvesting cells and organs would be heinous.

However, the bill just vetoed apparently concerned only existing embryos, created for the purpose of having children but no longer likely to be used for that purpose.  If there is no realistic chance that these embryos, wouldn't it be better to use their cells for promising research than to destroy them? 

That is the argument for the bill, and I confess that I am largely (though uncomfortably) persuaded.  No one did anything wrong in the process of bringing the embryos about, unless one supposes that the procedures for in vitro fertilization are suspect, and I do not.  Moreover, there are about 400,000 of such embryos stored, and this would provide a lot of stem cell lines for research (the cells can be reproduced in the laboratory more or less indefinitely, and each individual genome would constitute a distinct "line" of cells).  If there is really promise in the use of stem cells, it may one day be possible to harvest some such cells from each person at an early stage, for the use of curing various diseases later on.  Of course, no one knows yet whether this will pan out, but I would like to know.

I would probably have voted for the bill, though I would like to have seen legislation prohibiting the creation of embryos for the purpose of harvesting, and prohibiting any payment for such embryos.  That, together with the apparently large supply of existing embryos would cut off the emergence of a black market. 

That said, the President's position is a nuanced one, and he has certainly made an honest attempt to draw a line between acceptable and unacceptable procedures.  It is also important to note that the President's policy does not prohibit any research at all.  It concerns only the issue of federal funding.  Privately funded research is currently subject to no such restrictions, so far as I know. 

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Haggard News has a prayer request. 

Hot Potato

John Thune says that GOP candidates should distance themselves from President Bush:

Thune, a conservative who rarely breaks with the GOP or Bush, said Wednesday that if he were up for re-election this year, he'd adopt a different strategy.

"If I were running in the state this year, you obviously don't embrace the president and his agenda," Thune told reporters at the National Press Club. He said the Iraq war is Bush's biggest problem.

"The first thing I'd do is acknowledge that there have been mistakes made," he said. "Our candidates have to draw and point out differences in how they would approach and win the war in Iraq and how their opponents would. The biggest thing we have going for us on that issue is that the Democrats are very divided."

This makes good sense.  Thune wisely points out that Republicans, while facing a stiff head wind, are not running against poll numbers but actual candidates.  The one thing that may save the GOP this year is that the Democratic Party is divided on Iraq and certain limbs of the party are infected with a Bush hatred that is even more unattractive than George Bush.  Still, I predict a Democratic takeover of Congress. 

D-I

USD announces its task force to study the possibility of a jump to Division I athletics. 

Janklow

Letter to the editior in the Aberdeen American News:

To the editor - Bill Janklow has sunk to a new low. Yes, I am talking about the same Bill Janklow who for years preached tough penalties for petty criminals, then killed a man due to his own reckless driving actions and had the gall to try to escape serving any jail time at all for it.

I am also talking about the same Bill Janklow who forced Moody County to file a lien against him for refusing to pay medical bills resulting from the above incident. And this is, of course, the same Bill Janklow who for years said he was in favor of the DME railroad expansion project, yet at the same time passed legislation which made it nearly impossible and had to be later overturned for the project to proceed.

This railroad project is the premier expansion of any railroad in the U.S. in the past 50 years. We are extremely lucky to have the line running the length of our state. The expansion will bring jobs to economically depressed communities such as Huron while easing our national energy crisis and adding competition in the transportation of agricultural products.

Janklow has now quietly taken a job to assist interests in Minnesota to fight against the railroad expansion. After representing the people of South Dakota for over 20 years, what would motivate one to fight against such an important economic opportunity for South Dakota? I'll give you a clue: it's green.

Jacob Lakhany

Aberdeen

Ouch.

The New Media

This Star Tribune story notes how bloggers contributed to Daschle's defeat:

Political campaigns have traditionally been won and lost on the turf of grass-roots voter turnout, fueled by attacks on television and radio. But in this era of American politics, perhaps the most divisive in history, the political battlegrounds are shifting.

The war games are increasingly being waged not just on the streets and through the airwaves, but on the Internet. As a result, bloggers are beginning to dominate the battles, not just the politicos and the traditional media.

Two years ago, in the world of political blogs, there wasn't any contest. Conservatives held the advantage and, with the exception of MoveOn.org, clearly dominated. Last year, local authors John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson teamed with Paul Mirengoff to lead their blog, Power Line, to Time magazine's "Blog of the Year" award. Also, Tom Daschle became the first U.S. Senate party leader to lose a reelection bid in 52 years when John Thune beat him in South Dakota, thanks in no small part to a couple of bloggers employed by the Thune campaign.

Kneip

Black Hills Pioneer:

Former Gov. Dick Kneip actually hosted "Saturday Night Live" during his term as governor. During the show's first season, SNL ran a contest called "Anyone Can Host."

Fans were asked to submit nominations and four finalists were picked to appear on a show with John Belushi, Chevy Chase and the gang. I was a senior in high school and remember watching an old lady, an unemployed guy, a young woman and the governor of South Dakota appear.

Kneip was game for it and participated in skits. His sons had sent in a letter urging the show to hire him or he would have to return to being a dairy implement salesman after his political career was over.

But at the end of the live episode, as the four finalists were to make their plea to the viewers and voters, Kneip asked not to be chosen. Doing the show was trouble enough for him, he said with a smile.

A.N.S.W.E.R. and Israel

The far left organization A.N.S.W.E.R., which organizes the major anti-war rallies, shows again that any enemy of the U.S. is a friend of theirs. 

Democratic Money Funnel?

Is the South Dakota Democratic Party a money funnel?  Reports are saying that Matt Entenza, who recently withdrew from the Minnesota Attorney General's race after disclosing he was digging up dirt on a fellow DFL member and the current Attorney General Mike Hatch, may be guilty of money laundering.  It appears that Entenza and his wife sent money to South Dakota Democrats in order to shuffle it back into Minnesota to get past donation limits and financial disclosures (it should be noted he's violated election law before when he donated $300,000 to 527s which laundered it back to the Minnesota DFL campaigns).  The documents claim that money "went through the PACs to the South Dakota Democratic Party then to the Minnesota DFL Party and eventually to the Minnesota House DFL campaign committee."  The "$45,000 to a South Dakota Democratic House campaign committee" mentioned must mean a donation to Representative Stephanie Herseth.  Anyways, some of the documents causing this political storm in Minnesota can be seen here (pdf alert), which again claims that Entenza gave huge amounts of money to the South Dakota Democratic Party which funneled it back into his organizations.  The big question is this: if this is true, who in the Democratic Party coordinated all the money shuffling?

UPDATE:  According to this (pdf), the South Dakota Capitol Committee PAC is embroiled in this controversy (see page one).  The person filing the report for the Capitol Committee PAC is Debra Elofson (pdf), who is now legislative director of the South Dakota Democratic Party.

UPDATE:  The documents (pdf) also discuss the South Dakota Wanalain PAC.  Former South Dakota Democratic Party Executive Director Bret Healy, brother of the Democratic School and Public Lands Commissioner Bryce Healy, filed the reports for Wanalain PAC.  Bret Healy was also the one who claimed in 2004 that South Dakota voters were "intimidated" because they had to show an ID when voting and was involved in a voter fraud case in 2002. 

UPDATE:  See this report from the Center for Public Integrity:

Democrats in South Dakota needed every dollar they could find in 2002 to help U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson defend his seat against a challenge from then-Rep. John Thune. Five state Democratic Party committees sent valuable "hard dollars" to South Dakota's Democratic Party during the 2001-2002 cycle, and four of those states got non-federal money from South Dakota, often more than they gave.

"We were concerned that we would run short on hard money, so we were actively seeking it out," said Bret Healy, a political consultant who served as executive director of the state Democratic Party in 2002.

Healy found willing partners in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Virginia where state party committees combined to send a total of $1,101,800 in hard money to South Dakota between June 2001 and August 2002. In return, those committees received a total of $1,178,750 in soft money from South Dakota.

The generosity of other state parties was such that Healy was able to dole out hard money to other states as the election approached. Party committees in Massachusetts, Montana and Louisiana got a total of $204,667 from South Dakota between Sept. 25 and Oct. 31, 2002.

UPDATE:  SDWC asks:   

Why are the checks written out to these political action committees, when neither one can be found anywhere in any of their PAC Reports?  Because the next time you see any evidence of this money is not in either of these committees.

UPDATE:  To clarify, I remain somewhat skeptical that anything illegal happened and, until we have more information, I defer any judgment on the legality of this (I've offered the same opinion to Tom DeLay, who was also accused of laundering campaign money, so it's only fair that the other side is treated the same way.)  The purpose of this post is to offer some observations and connect faces (Elofson and Healy) to the PACs involved.  As the Pioneer Press reported:  "But it appeared, at least initially, that while the donations were unusual there was nothing illegal about them or the route the money allegedly took to the House Democratic campaign."

One last note: it's odd that no South Dakota media outlet has covered this story.

UPDATE:  A reader at Captain's Quarters has more questions:

This could get even more interesting. It is unlikely that Entenza & spouse carried out that (apparent) laundering operation themselves. Who among the South Dakota Democrats knew about it and was involved? Who else in the MN DFL knew about it?

Did all of the well-washed money come back to the Entenza campaign, or did some of it go to other DFL candidates?

I'm sure that the Star Tribune will rush to investigate.

Presidential Frontrunners

A new Gallup poll measures the viability of potential presidential candidates in 2008:

A recent Gallup Panel poll asked Republicans and Democrats whether they would find each of several possible contenders for their party's 2008 presidential nomination to be "acceptable" nominees. Unlike other nomination ballot questions that measure respondents' first choice from among a list of possible candidates, this question paints a broader picture of the level of potential support and opposition for each candidate.

Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner among Democrats when voters are asked to choose which one candidate they would prefer for the Democratic nomination for president, but the current poll finds Democrats are about equally likely to rate Clinton, John Edwards, and Al Gore as acceptable nominees. Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain typically vie for the lead in Republican preference polls, but a greater percentage of Republicans say they would find Giuliani acceptable than say this about McCain (73% to 55%). Four in 10 Republicans say they would not find McCain to be an acceptable GOP presidential nominee. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also widely considered by Republicans to be an acceptable nominee.

Gallup's June 26-29 poll tested Democrats' (and Democrat-leaning independents') reactions to 13 potential candidates and Republicans' (and Republican leaning independents') reactions to 12 potential candidates. While none of the politicians evaluated in the poll have officially announced their candidacies for president, many have laid the groundwork for a run by visiting early primary and caucus states like Iowa or New Hampshire or by setting up political action committees to raise money for themselves and other candidates. Others have been talked about as potential candidates, even though some (like Rice and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush) have stated they do not intend to run.

Tom Daschle fared with 35% acceptable, 50% not acceptable, and 15% having no opinion.

A Challenge

Here is Jonathan Adler at Volokh:

I have been at a conference in Montana the past several days. While here I learned some interesting facts about the state. Approximately 30 percent of Montana's 700,000 residents purchase fishing licenses, and nearly 25 percent purchase hunting permits. I would be surprised to see higher numbers in any of the lower 48 states. Perhaps more surprising, according to a presentation I attended yesterday, approximately one in four Montana hunters is female.

I wonder what the percentages are of South Dakotans who have fishing and hunting licenses.  If anyone has an answer let us know at southdakotapolitics at hotmail.com.

The Inconvenient Truth on Global warming III

In an earlier post, The Inconvenient Truth, I laid out the following propositions on global warming.

My position is basically this: 1) we know a whole lot, but none of it is enough to tell us what to do unless we indulge in a great deal of groundless speculation; and 2) there is very little that we can possibly do about global warming in the short term.

These were not, I thought, very demanding propositions, though one could certainly disagree with both.  I backed-up my assertions with arguments and evidence taken from a very respectable economist, Robert Samuelson.  Chad at CCK responded by calling my argument "wacky," without addressing any of the arguments.  He clearly suggested that the American News shouldn't print my articles.  I responded by making the argument again, with more detail, and I pointed out the left-wing Archie Bunkerish nature of his rhetoric.  Chad responded with this:

The fact of the matter is what we are seeing on the Thune/Heppler/Lauck/VanBeek blog is the result of a couple of professors who are profoundly influenced by wacky ideas forwarded by extremists on the conservative fringe and no one else. The only media that promotes these ideas are the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Powerlineblog, and their ilk. No one with serious credibility on environmental science have forwarded the kinds of arguments that Blanchard has written about on the Thune blog or in the Aberdeen American News.  [emphasis mine]

Well, it turns out that Chad's grasp of the scientific consensus is as stunted as his grasp of American history.  I found the following quote in the June 15th  issue of Nature [Vol. 441, No. 7095].  It's from an article by Gabrielle Walker, described as "a writer who specializes in Earth science and cold places."  Nature, I would point out, is among the two or three most prestigious journals in the general sciences. It is highly competitive, and every single item is refereed by experts in the relevant field.  Such journals represent the only authoritative statement of what scientists do and do not take seriously.  Here's what Ms. Walker says on page 803, after summarizing studies of global warming in the Arctic and elsewhere. 

What insights do these three examples provide into tipping-points more generally?  One is that they are hard to predict, because they often depend on phenomena too subtle or small to be captured in climate models . . .   .  As a result, few researchers are prepared to put a number on how much warmer we could allow the climate to get without endangering humans. 

That was my first point, that we don't know what we really need to know before we spend hundreds of billions of dollars that might otherwise be spent on improving the lives of people in the developing world, including the necessity to adapt to global warming.  Ms. Walker also says this:

[T]he question of whether sea ice would continue to shrink without global warming is academic.  The current level of greenhouse gases ensures that the world will continue to warm over the next decades, and the current structure of the world economy ensures that, over that time, there will be further increases in the greenhouse-gas level.  The question is what will be done about it, and how soon  [my emphasis].

That was my second and primary point.  We just aren't going to arrest global warming in the near term.  So when Chad wrote that my argument was wacky, that "No one with serious credibility on environmental science have forwarded the kinds of arguments that Blanchard has written about on the Thune blog or in the Aberdeen American News,"  he demonstrated only his own flamboyant ignorance. 

Some Spitballs from CCK

Like I said, whatever shortcomings the Clean Cut Kid may have, at least they pay attention to us.  Chad took exception to my  piece on anti-war Nazis.

It's the Ward Churchill syndrome -- find some obscure story and talk like it's representative of the entire "left" (whatever "the left" is).

Seriously. Is that the best they can come up with to counter criticism from "the left" of the biggest fuck-up in the history of the Republic?

In my post immediately preceeding the one Chad responds to, I said this about the proposed University of Wisconsin course that will present 9/11 as a hoax. 

Both sides have their nut cases, and while each does comfort the other side, no one but the nuts are really responsible.

So I thought it obvious that I agree with Chad.  Apparently it wasn't. 

I also thought that the picture of George Clooney with the dubious look on his face (from Oh Brother Where Art Thou?) would have tipped any reasonable reader to the fact that I didn't intend that as serious commentary.  Of course it doesn't discredit the anti-war movement in any way that 50 Nazis oppose the Iraq war.  It's just funny, that's all.  But one thing CCK definitely doesn't have is a sense of humor.

Or a sense of history.  Is the Iraq war really "the biggest fuck-up in the history of the Republic?"  Bigger than waiting until the Russian monarchy was collapsing to enter WWI?  Bigger than the isolation that helped encourage the rise of Nazism in Europe and the Japanese Empire in the pacific?  Bigger than secession, a move that ultimately cost about a half a million American lives?  No serious person could say such a thing.

DM&E

Dave Kranz, the star political reporter for the Argus Leader, has more today about Tom Daschle and Bill Janklow's efforts to destroy the biggest project in South Dakota history:

The battle between the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad is about big names and big bucks.

At the center of the disagreement is the effect of the anticipated extension of the DM&E rail line running near clinic property. The clinic is resisting the plan because of patient health concerns.

Mayo has placed former Sen. Tom Daschle on their board of directors and former U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow was hired as a consultant.

Now, clinic officials have hired an influential Washington, D.C., firm. The mission of lobbyists with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips is to stop the railroad's $2.5 billion federal loan application, says Stephen Ryan, a Manatt lawyer.

Keep Your Eye On The Tribal President

Anyone who can accurately follow the travails of Cecelia Fire Thunder deserves a prize.  She was in, then out, then in, and now apparently out as tribal president of Oglala Sioux. 

Herseth Votes For Marriage Amendment

An amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman has failed to gain the necessary 2/3rds vote needed for passage in the House of Representatives.  If my count is correct, thirty-three Democrats voted for the amendment, including South Dakota's Stephanie Herseth.  Most of those Democrats voting for the amendment are from the South, including Black Caucus members Sanford Bishop, Arthur Davis, Harold Ford, William "how'd that money get in my freezer" Jefferson, David Scott, and Bennie Thompson. Whatever the merits of same-sex marriage or a constitutional amendment on the same, those liberal Democrats who claim that opposition to same-sex marriage is morally reprehensible will have to deal with the fact that many in their party voted to protect traditional marriage via amendment.  One wonders how the left-wing South Dakota blogosphere, which has consistently attacked supporters of traditional marriage in a most illiberal manner, will deal with the fact that Rep. Herseth voted for this amendment.  Given the caricature of marriage defenders as mouth breathing religion crazed cro-magnons, how will they explain the votes of Rep. Herseth and, for example, Rep. Ford, one of the most respected men in Congress?

Ku Klux Klan joins Anti-War Movement

Some time ago I blogged about the role of ultra-leftist groups in organizing anti-war rallies.  Now a group even more odious (though considerably less colorful, in their starched sheets) is moving into line behind Cindy Sheehan.  From the Jerusalem Post.

The National Park Service granted a request by the Ku Klux Klan to rally and protest near the spot where a failed offensive by the Confederacy turned the tide of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Gordon Young of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan obtained the permit Wednesday for about 100 people to participate in a Sept. 2 event on the lawn of the Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg National Military Park, near the site of Pickett's Charge. The purpose, according to the permit, will be to oppose the Iraq war and speak on "white unity between the North and South."

The Great 9/11 Hoax II

It's wonderful to live in a time when a college course can become national news, even if it usually involves an idiot professor risking his job.  Kathy Young at The Boston Globe weighs in on the 9/11 hoax course, about to be taught at the University of Wisconsin by one Kevin Barrett.

The latest in the academic follies comes from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where the administration has cleared the way for an instructor to teach his belief that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were plotted by the US government to create an excuse for war.

There's nothing new or surprising about Sept. 11 conspiracy theories. E-mails with ``conclusive proof" that the attacks were an inside job land regularly in my mailbox. They are subject to automatic deletion, right along with ``proof positive that evolution is a fraud" and invitations to collect $150 million from a Nigerian bank.

As a rule of thumb, conspiracy theories are bunk. People are not smart enough to carry out their scenarios, and not discreet enough to keep their secrets. It is particularly a stretch to believe that the Bush administration, given its track record in managing things like the Iraq War and the Hurricane Katrina response, could have pulled off a conspiracy so immense.

On the question of why no serious person would take the hoax story seriously, Young is right on target.  I would add that an administration resourceful enough to stage a murderous magic act in downtown Manhattan in front of millions of witnesses would surely not have come up empty when it went to look for a chemical weapons industry in Iraq.  Which is harder: rigging 9/11 or arranging some photo opps with Arabic looking men standing around wearing "WMD Division" jump suits? 

The tougher question is whether the professor ought to be allowed to teach such a course.  This one looks to me to be over the line, in the same way as a physics course that took astrology seriously.  Perhaps a better example would be a course that presented Creation Science as if it had anything to do with science.  I am certain that the UofW would not allow the latter. 

Ms. Young of the Globe thinks that the issue here is liberals behaving badly, and thus discrediting their own cause.  That strikes me as wrong.  Both sides have their nut cases, and while each does comfort the other side, no one but the nuts are really responsible.  What the story really shows is that left wing nuts have a little more protection (but only a little) than right wing nuts. 

Hildebrand: "We're watching what you say on HB 1215"

The inimitable SDWC is covering a statement by Steve Hildebrand, Tom Daschle's former campaign manager, who has told churches that "we're watching what you say on HB 1215."  The Alliance Defense Fund has responded to Hildebrand's challenge and will be holding a luncheon for pastors to direct them on what can and cannot be said from the pulpit.  A heated discussion has resulted, so be sure to give that a read.  I defer any opinion for now, except this obvious one: you can bet this discussion will only become more intense as fall draws closer.

The New Media

HiWired Blog:

There are two unique angles to this war [between Israel and Hezbollah] involving technology, the first is this:

The internet coverage is more interesting, more informative and more up-to-date than any mainstream source. This is for two reasons:

1.  The internet can draw the reports of many mainstream sources together in a single place

2.  You have first hand reporting from Israel, Gaza, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.

This are first hand reports of people actually seeing what is going on they are providing a human perspective to what is happening, but this is NOT the most unique thing that technology has done vis a vis a war.

The second and the most amazing part is the role of blogs and bloggers.

You basically have bloggers on both sides of the conflict telling their stories and making their case to the world.

The Pajamas Media and The Truth Laid Bear blog sites are providing and collecting coverage from blogs in the area. At a single click you can see what people in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel are saying. Not only that because of the nature of blogging both sides have access to the others blogs and can comment back and forth as we can. 

Think about it. Rather than going through diplomatic channels the actual people under attack can converse comment and argue their respective sides to each other with only the ability to post (electrical power) as the limitation. This is unheard of in the history of the world. In addition they can debate and discuss the situation with the entire world either to justify, appeal, condemn or cajole the reader to act.

This is history being made by the people making it. Of course if you are dodging rockets or bombs the idea of making history online doesn't seem all that important, yet it is important all the same, both for people involved and not involved to understand what is going on.

Personally I'd just as soon everybody have a quiet life and not have to make history in this fashion, but as this is not the reality on the ground we can only be amazed as ordinary people do extrodinary reporting thanks to modern technology.

May they all live to appreciate what they are doing and may all of us fortunate enough to be far away from the dangers and horrors of war be be grateful for their efforts.

[Edit: all emphasis original]

Keeping The World Safe From Prairie Dogs

This weekend was the second annual trip to friendly Lemmon, SD to shoot prairie dogs.  As one resident told us, Lemmon may not be the end of the earth, but you can see it from there.  Plenty of the little rodents were sent to prairie dog heaven, and Lemmon pretty much felt like Hell by noon time Saturday.  We were out in 110-115 degree weather, but not for long.  We went back into town and had ice cream.   Yes, it was a dry heat, and no, that is not funny. 

We saw the damage caused by a prairie fire just east of Mobridge.  When we got out to Lemmon the folks at the Grand River National Grasslands ranger station told us another fire was blazing north of Lemmon.  Luckily the wind was blowing it away from town.  Another fire had occurred the day before, and we drove through that carnage to get to one of our shooting spots.  Saturday afternoon the federal land was posted with "extreme fire danger" signs. 

The damage done by drought in almost awe inspiring.  We travelled Highway 12 from Aberdeen to Lemmon.  It is safe to say that from Roscoe and all points west drought damage was obvious to the naked eye. The Lemmon area aparently hasn't had a lick of moisture in a couple months.  Many ranchers are selling cattle since water and hay are in such shortage.  There will be no crops coming from the area.  The wheat is no more than ankle high and the corn is about knee high and shriveled.  This must be recognized as a natural disaster, and one hopes federal money will be released to ease the damage done by this extreme drought. 

The Great 9/11 Hoax

We received this stern e-reprimand from alert reader MJW. 

Please do your research on the other side of a story, no matter how distasteful you may consider it to be, before you automatically dismiss it and criticize its supporters. Do you have the courage simply to sit back and watch undeniable evidence presented in stark terms? I like to think I'm a courageous South Dakotan. I would like to think you are one too. I certainly didn't believe any of this stuff at first, but I reluctantly had to change my mind when I saw the overwhelming evidence that things didn't happen the way the 9/11 Commission (run by dedicated Bush supporter Philip Zelikow) says they did. So please, set aside your doubts, your biases and your distaste for a while (I certainly felt a lot of distaste at first) and take a look:

Free online video documentary: Loose Change, 2nd Edition (20 million to 40 million viewings; read about it in August 2006, Vanity Fair Magazine)

Free online video documentary: 9/11: In Plane Site (Dave vonKleist of "The Power Hour")

  Free online video documentary: What's the Truth? (after the intro, nothing but the facts -- from firefighters on the scene, mainstream news broadcasts, etc.)

Scholarly web site: Scholars for 9/11 Truth Several hundred people with academic backgrounds (please note that there are also conservatives in this movement, including Robert Bowman, the former head of the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") in the 1970s; he also flew 101 combat missions; Morgan Reynolds, a former member of the George W. Bush Administration during the first term). These people are a far cry from partisan political hacks, such as Rush Limbaugh and Gerry Falwell, who were calling for investigations of President Clinton.  Research web site: 9-11 Research

I confess that I haven't consulted the record that MJW brings to our attention here.  I have been too busy studying the communication from one Jay North, who promises me I can "Vibrate Emanate the Life I Want!" Unfortunately, this did not reach Professor Schaff in time for him to incoporate it into this lectures on the emanation theory in Griswold v. Connecticut.  But I will confess my opinions on a few similar issues.

Pearl Harbor. 

The Japanese did it.

Alligators in New York City Sewers.

Nope.

Bigfoot filmed walking.

A guy in a Planet of the Apes Suit.

TWA Flight 800.

Planes are large flying cylinders full of flammable material.  This one just blew the heck up.

The Assassination of  JFK.

Lee Harvey Oswald.  Out the book depository window, through the Governor, nothing but neck.

Professor Schaff's recent haircut.

Like Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite, he "just got hot." 

NYT

Jeff Goldstein: Sleeping with the Enemy

UPDATE:  Tim Blair has more.

Radical Republicans

Hiram Hover compares and contrasts the radical Republicans of the 1860s and the Republicans of today and how we will remember both and the wars they fought.  It's a good comparison that I recommend checking out.  For more history reading, check out the latest history carnival.

Steyn

Mark Steyn:

During all the time the Great Men were shuttling back and forth, a kind of toxic globalization occurred: The Palestinian "movement" (insofar as there ever was a genuine nationalist movement) became infected and eventually annexed by hard-core Islamism and the Palestinians' most depraved terror techniques were exported to every corner of the world. You can build a "security fence" in the region, but what we might call Palestinianism has leapt the psychological fence and incubated in radicalized Muslim communities worldwide: It's not just Palestinians but also Yorkshiremen who now blow themselves up on public transit. What's happened in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria and elsewhere is that the weaknesses of those polities were exploited by Iran and others through various client groups and a potent ideology that's really a virus.

That's a much more cunning and effective strategy than sending a fellow in a suit to concoct a plan in his name. We need to learn from the Iranians. We need to wage war on the ideology, because until we do, the reality is that the Middle East's fetid "stability," its demography, its remorseless nuclearization and proxy militarization all favor Israel's and our enemies.

DCCC Ad Pulled

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee withdrew the advertisement that was released last week after a torrent of criticism from both sides of the aisle.  I wrote last week that I didn't see anything wrong with the pictures of flag-draped coffins as a form of political debate, but that the ad suffered because it provided no argument about how the Democrats would improve America.  The critics of the ad have done the Democrats a favor.

In somewhat topical interest, check out "A Historical Look at Campaign Commercials."