South Dakota Politics

SDP Jazz Note: New Orleans Edition

Professor Schaff and I have been down in the Big Easy attending the Southern Political Science Association.  At night, we have been free to roam around, and we have taken in some classic jazz.  Friday night we saw the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.  It consisted of a drummer, piano and bass players, and four trombones.  It was a marvelous show.  I had no idea what a Trombone was for.  Now I know.  The songs were, of course, old jazz standards.  Their version of St. James Infirmary was extraordinarily moving. 

On Saturday night we stopped in at the Maison Bourbon, also dedicated to jazz preservation.  We listened to two sets of Jamil Sharif and his quintet.  The jazz was more modern, closer to the bebop style I usually listen to.  It was very good.  Schaff picked up one of their CDs.  Here is a shot of the band.

SD Mainstream Coalition

Sibby reports a story from the Mitchell Daily Republic that notes Republican Ed Olson's doubts about the survival of the Mainstream Coalition:

The South Dakota Mainstream Coalition may not survive, one of its founders said this week.

State Sen. Ed Olson R-Mitchell, said a recent membership drive produced fewer than the desired number.

"It’s probably not going to make it," Olson said.

Olson said that Rapid City Businessman Stan Adelstein, another founder who originally underwrote the organization financially, "mailed out 40,000 mailers and got 75 new members." It likely isn’t enough, Olson said, for the organization to remain in operation.

More thoughts and discussion over at SD War College.

The New Media

Patrick Hynes:

Once it became clear during the 2006 campaign that the Republicans would probably lose both Houses of Congress, some conservatives suggested that a bloodletting might not be such a bad thing. It takes an occasional thumping to renew the mind and refresh the spirit, they argued. The jury is still out on that sentiment but in at least one respect Capitol Hill Republicans appear willing to break with their old pattern and try something new. Republicans in the Senate have begun to take the New Media seriously.

Read the whole story.

Graham Extradition Appeal Hearing Postponed

From the Rapid City Journal:

A Canadian man charged with killing American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash earned at least a few more months of freedom by getting a judge to delay his next hearing.

John Graham is on house arrest in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is fighting extradition to South Dakota to stand trial for the 1975 slaying on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

At a court hearing this week, a judge with the British Columbia Court of Appeal granted a request from Graham’s lawyer to postpone a hearing on his appeal until May 17. It had been scheduled for Jan. 29.

However, the judge did require Graham’s lawyer to file paperwork by Feb. 28 outlining why he wants a judicial review of an earlier decision by a judge who ordered him to be committed for extradition.

If Graham’s lawyer doesn’t file that factum — the U.S. equivalent of a written brief — by the deadline, Graham must turn himself the next day, and his bail would be revoked, according to Lyse Cantin, spokeswoman for Department of Justice in Vancouver.

See this for some background information.

Local Comedian to be on Letterman

Rapid City Journal:

Comedian and musician Gary Mule Deer, who was recently inducted into the Spearfish High School Fine Arts Hall of Fame, will appear on “The Late Show With David Letterman” at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

While Mule Deer is in New York, he will also be interviewed by Sirius Satellite Radio, according to a news release from his office.

Mule Deer is often featured on the Clean Comedy Channels of both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Mule Deer will then travel to Nashville, Tenn., to tape a CMT television special, “Comedy Stage,” which will air in February.

New McGovern Book

George McGovern has announced his plan to write a biography of Abraham Lincoln:

George McGovern was never elected president, but at least he gets to write a book about one.

Although he's not the first to take on the life of Abraham Lincoln.

"President Kennedy thought that only the president could understand the exact pressures and responsibilities of the job, and I felt that George's defeat in 1972 would give him a sense of the kinds of decisions a president has to make," said former Kennedy aide and Pulitzer Prize winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., general editor of the Times Books presidential series of short biographies.

Schlesinger is a longtime friend of the 84-year-old McGovern, the former senator from South Dakota who lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972. Schlesinger said Thursday that McGovern not only had a political background but a scholarly one, a doctorate in history and political science from Northwestern University.

McGovern's previous books include "The Essential America: Our Founders and the Liberal Tradition," published in 2004.

I'll look forward to its publication.

National Guard Overrun at the Border

AZ Central:

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired.  However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

The Democrats, for their first 100 hours, say they will "update ethics rules, raise the minimum wage, implement 9/11 Commission recommendations, cut subsidies to the oil industry, promote stem cell research and make college educations and prescription drugs more affordable."  Not one mention of securing the border.

Minimum Wage

With the Democrats now moving the agenda in Washington, the federal minimum wage issue is going to come up again, and quickly.  Though President Bush supports a raise of the minimum wage to $7.25 in steps, there are many good arguments why this should not be supported.  In this article, George Will does an excellent job of highlighting this issue and explaining why an increase in the federal minimum wage does not make sense.  I encourage you all to read it.  Here's a clip from the end of the article:

The problem is that demand for almost everything is elastic: When the price of something goes up, demand for it goes down. Obviously were the minimum wage to jump to, say, $15 an hour, that would cause significant unemployment among persons just reaching for the bottom rung of the ladder of upward mobility. But suppose those scholars are correct who say that when the minimum wage is low and is increased slowly — proposed legislation would take it to $7.25 in three steps — the negative impact on employment is negligible. Still, because there are large differences among states' costs of living, and the nature of their economies, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., sensibly suggests that each state should be allowed to set a lower minimum.

But the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices.

Washington, which has its hands full delivering the mail and defending the shores, should let the market do well what Washington does poorly. But that is a good idea whose time will never come again.

Again, here's the link.  Check it out.

Herseth Marriage Notice

From Roll Call

Best wishes to newly engated Rep. Stephanie Herseth (D-S.D.). We hear she and her fiance, former Rep. Max Sandlin (D-Texas), plan to get married on March 31. "Details of the wedding haven't been made available, and I would advise against speculation," Herseth spokesman Russ Levsen said, neither confirming nor denying the wedding date. A friend of Sandlin told HOH the wedding is scheduled for March 31 in Herseth's hometown in South Dakota. Herseth, a head-turner on Capitol Hill, reportedly announced her engagement to friends during her 36th birthday party in Rapid City, S.D., last month. She and Sandlin, 54, who is now a lobbyist, met in 2002 when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee assigned Sandlin to be Herseth's "mentor" when she ran for Congress the first time. Congratulations, lovebirds!

Karl Adam

SDWC: Breaking GOP News - Karl Adam of Pierre is going to run for State GOP chair

Deputy Whip Thune

Excerpts from the Aberdeen American News:

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has a "certain star quality," is respected by his peers and is willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats, according to Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.

Lott, the new Senate Republican Whip, picked Thune to be his chief deputy in the new Congress, which started Thursday.

"And I just like the fact that he's young, and he's energetic and he's a hard worker," Lott said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

...

The first-term senator has been willing to take on big challenges for South Dakota, Lott said, adding that he was impressed with the way Thune dealt with the Pentagon's 2005 recommendation to close Ellsworth Air Force Base. Eventually, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission took Ellsworth off the list.

"He was going against the (Bush) administration. But it was the right thing for his state. He took 'em on and was part of the process that led to Ellsworth being saved," said the Mississippi senator, who has been through three BRAC rounds.

Asked whether - after some experience in the leadership job - Thune might be considered vice presidential material, Lott said, "He could be. Obviously it will depend partially on who our nominee is and what he or she is looking for in terms of experience or geography, something of that nature. If the nominee is (Arizona Sen.) John McCain, he might want to look in the greater Midwest."

Lott added that he hopes Thune doesn't get caught up with that just yet. "We need him too much in the Senate."

Here's the whole story.

Deputy Whip Thune

Excerpts from the Aberdeen American News:

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has a "certain star quality," is respected by his peers and is willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats, according to Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.

Lott, the new Senate Republican Whip, picked Thune to be his chief deputy in the new Congress, which started Thursday.

"And I just like the fact that he's young, and he's energetic and he's a hard worker," Lott said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

...

The first-term senator has been willing to take on big challenges for South Dakota, Lott said, adding that he was impressed with the way Thune dealt with the Pentagon's 2005 recommendation to close Ellsworth Air Force Base. Eventually, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission took Ellsworth off the list.

"He was going against the (Bush) administration. But it was the right thing for his state. He took 'em on and was part of the process that led to Ellsworth being saved," said the Mississippi senator, who has been through three BRAC rounds.

Asked whether - after some experience in the leadership job - Thune might be considered vice presidential material, Lott said, "He could be. Obviously it will depend partially on who our nominee is and what he or she is looking for in terms of experience or geography, something of that nature. If the nominee is (Arizona Sen.) John McCain, he might want to look in the greater Midwest."

Lott added that he hopes Thune doesn't get caught up with that just yet. "We need him too much in the Senate."

Meet the New Democrats

Today's Washington Post has a scathing rebuke of the House Democrats:

THE NEW Democratic House majority has an ambitious plan for its first 100 hours in power, from increasing the minimum wage to strengthening ethics rules to having the federal government negotiate prescription drug prices. Unfortunately, its plans don't include getting those provisions passed in the democratic fashion that the Democrats promised to adhere to once in the majority. When Republicans took over in 1995, they at least went through the motions of putting their "Contract With America" proposals through the normal committee process. Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have decided not to bother with that, nor to let Republicans offer amendments on the floor, nor even to put a GOP alternative up for a vote. This is exactly the kind of high-handed mistreatment that Democrats complained about, justifiably, when they were in the minority.

Of course the Democrats have not kept their promises.  Decorum has been steadily breaking down between the two parties.  The Democrats may be no more guilty than the Republicans for this, but they are no less guilty.  I think the post is being a bit naive about all this, but it stands again as a relatively honest voice on the moderate left.   

Left Activists Applying Pressure to Democrats

Washington Post:

Democratic leaders set to take control of Congress tomorrow are facing mounting pressure from liberal activists to chart a more confrontational course on Iraq and the issues of human rights and civil liberties, with some even calling for the impeachment of President Bush.

The carefully calibrated legislative blitz that Democrats have devised for the first 100 hours of power has left some activists worried the passion that swept the party to power in November is already dissipating. A cluster of protesters will greet the new congressional leaders at the Capitol tomorrow. They will not be disgruntled conservatives wary of Democratic control, but liberals demanding a ban on torture, an end to warrantless domestic spying and a restoration of curbed civil liberties.

The protest will be followed by an evening forum calling for the president's impeachment, led by the Center for Constitutional Rights, antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan and a pro-impeachment group called World Can't Wait.

UPDATE:  The protests have begun:

House Democrats tried to unveil their lobbying reform package today, but their press conference was drowned out by chants from anti-war activists who want Congress to stop funding the Iraq war before taking on other issues.

Led by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a slain soldier, the protesters chanted "De-escalate, investigate, troops home now" as Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., began outlining the Democrats' plans to ban lobbyist-funded travel and institute other ethics reforms. The press conference was held in the Cannon House Office Building in an area open to the public.

Emanuel finally gave up trying to be heard over the chants, and retreated to a caucus room where Democrats were meeting.

Sheehan says she has nothing against lobbying reform, but she and her fellow anti-war activists want Democrats to know they will keep pressuring Congress to end the war in Iraq.

"We wanted the Democrats to know they're back in power because of the grass roots," Sheehan says.

The anti-war activists held their own Capitol Hill press conference earlier in the day before deciding to attend the lobbying reform press conference as well.

Before the chanting started, Sheehan got a hug from Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

More Cautious News on Senator Johnson

Another medical expert confirms the news I reported yesterday.  From Keloland, hat tip to SDWar College. 

A Sioux Falls neurologist says US Senator Tim Johnson may be in for a long recovery period from brain surgery.

Doctor William Rossing bases that belief on the length of time that the senator has been sedated. Prolonged sedation was used to minimize swelling after emergency surgery on Johnson for bleeding in the brain.

Rossing says recovery for someone who's been sedated as long as Johnson is likely to be "significant and lengthy." That could mean the 60-year-old politician will be in recovery for months instead of weeks.

Rossing says it usually takes just a few days to wean a patient from sedation. Johnson has been sedated since December 13th and is being gradually weaned.

Massachusetts Lawmakers decide to obey the law

In a startling demonstration of the power of the blogosphere, the Massachusetts state legislature dropped its defiance of  that state's constitution mere hours after their behavior was criticized by South Dakota Politics!  Well, I have to admit that it might not have been my post that did the trick.  It probably had more to do with the scolding they got from their own State Supreme Court.  But back down they did.  From USAToday:

BOSTON (AP) — Lawmakers in Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal, voted Tuesday to allow a proposed constitutional amendment to move forward that would effectively ban the practice.

As in many states, the Massachusetts state constitution includes a procedure for citizens to place initiatives on the ballot, including constitutional amendments.  All they have to do is come up with enough valid signatures.  Opponents of gay marriage met this goal.

The amendment's backers had collected 170,000 signatures to get a question on the 2008 ballot asking voters to declare marriage to only be between a man and a woman, but they still needed the approval of legislators in two consecutive sessions.

As I understand it, the above paragraph is a bit misleading.  Before a citizen-generated initiative can be placed on the ballot, to be voted on by the public at large, it must be voted on by the state legislature in two consecutive sessions.  But it only needs one quarter of the legislators to approve it.  This is apparently a fail-safe measure, allowing the legislature to block a particularly harmful but popular measure, though of course at the cost of public ire.  I have to say that I approve of this procedure.  If you are going to allow the initiative process, this is the way to do it. 

On Tuesday, 61 lawmakers voted in favor of moving the measure forward, compared to 132 opposed. The amendment need 50 votes of support to advance.

If it makes it on the ballot and residents approve it, the constitutional amendment would leave Massachusetts' existing same-sex marriages intact but ban any new ones.

So the measure has now passed by the necessary margin.  If this procedure is repeated in the next session, it will go on the ballot and the voters of Massachusetts will decided whether or not gay marriage will be legal in that state. 

What I and others objected to was that opponents of the gay-marriage ban clearly attempted to circumvent the state constitution and prevent a legally valid initiative from going forward.  This displayed contempt for the people of Massachusetts and for their fundamental law.  It is encouraging that the scofflaws did not prevail. 

Democratic Gov.-elect Deval Patrick on Tuesday had met with leading lawmakers and urged them to skip the vote, calling it a "question of conscience" and saying the amendment process was being used "to consider reinserting discrimination into the constitution."

Since Tuesday was the final day of the session, skipping the vote would have effectively killed the amendment effort.

Instead, the Senate president called for a vote shortly after opening the constitutional convention, though he left open a chance for parliamentary maneuvers by gay marriage supporters to try to reverse the vote.

My guess is that the amendment will find its way onto the ballot.  Whether it will pass or not I don't know and frankly, I don't care.  This is a matter for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  I am not opposed to gay marriage, though I do not believe that the Constitution or fundamental principles of equity require it.  I think that democracy and constitutionalism are more important.

A Test for Speaker Pelosi

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has promised "the most honest, the most open and the msot ethical Congress in history," has a test ahead of her:

There is so much wrong with the Conyers situation that Pelosi shouldn’t have to think twice about nixing Conyers’ chairmanship. Let us look at how the Conyers scandal epitomizes the ethics mess in the House:

First, releasing its report late on Friday before the New Year’s holiday weekend made it clear that the House “Ethics” Committee intended to minimize public understanding of the Conyers scandal. This is classic Washington Establishment manipulation of the news cycle to insulate itself against public accountability.

Second, Conyers responded to the “Ethics” committee by “accepting responsibility” for a “lack of clarity” in asking aides to work on his re-election campaign while on the official payroll instead of going on a campaign staff, as the law requires, and to do personal chores for him. The allegations came from senior staff members, including a former chief of staff, not interns or other short-term aides who might have questionable motives.

Third, the “Ethics” committee report also concerned a second investigation of Conyers from 2003 on allegations that his aides also worked on the Carol Mosely-Braun presidential campaign and JoAnn Watson’s Detroit City Council race. Would Conyers have applied the same slipshod legal standards to his Bush impeachment effort?

Fourth, the Conyers scandal shows it’s still business as usual for the “Ethics” committee. Pelosi should demand that Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., the committee leaders who signed off on the Conyers report, be removed permanently from the panel and barred from leadership of other House panels.

Finally, Pelosi should heed former White House chief of staff and ex-congressman Leon Panetta, who said “you can attack one party for having a lack of ethics, but if any of your own members have problems, it dulls the message with the American people, they begin to put everybody in the same box.” In other words, whenever one member of the House has an ethics problem, it damages the credibility of all members of the House, including most especially its most visible leader, the speaker.

Her predecessors Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert said the same thing.  Recall that Gingrich lost his seat after a House scandal, and Hastert loosened ethics rules and even removed GOPers from the ethnics committee who voted against Tom Delay - before Delay resigned. We'll see if Speaker Pelosi ends up in the same spot they're both in.  History serves as a useful precedent here.  That whole "culture of corruption" deal?  Yeah. There's a reason it didn't work.  Rest assured voters are paying attention right now, and if the Democrats are as unsuccessful as the Republicans were at cleaning up Washington, they'll feel it in 2008.

Also, note this: "As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking. . . . instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories."

UPDATE:  Mark Tapscott has more on Republican fraud and how it hurt them in the mid-term elections.  Have the Republicans learned their lesson yet?  More thoughts on John Conyers from The Captain.  Also see Power Line.

UPDATE II:  Via Captains Quarters, EJ Dionne of the Washington Post also notes the importance of reform on the Democrats' political agenda:  "If Democrats don't seize this rare opportunity, their party will pay for a long time. Not only will they disillusion their own supporters, but, more important, the angry centrists of the Ross Perot stripe who voted the Republicans out last year will either go back to the GOP or seek other options."  I don't have much faith in Speaker Pelosi after the Alcee Hastings debacle, but maybe she'll prove me and other Republicans wrong.

The Primary Debate

South Dakota Straight Talk has reignited the debate over moving up South Dakota's presidential primary (a topic we've discussed often on this blog).  I know my colleague Prof. Schaff disagrees, but I think moving forward would be a good idea.  Joel Rosenthal concludes that moving the primary forward will help establish a relationship between national political leaders and political leaders in South Dakota:

Because 2008 is an open election, an early Presidential Primary would ensure that the next president of the United States would visit South Dakota before he or she is elected. The unsuccessful candidates in what promises to be a crowded and colorful field will not leave the national stage; they will continue to be opinion leaders for their parties and champions for their causes. The real benefit to an early Presidential Primary would be establishing a close-up and personal friendship with these powerful people. National political leaders would develop both personal and professional working relationships with the leaders of our state. Rather than read one-page position papers about issues crucial to South Dakota, political leaders would have first-hand knowledge. They would understand the real people and real needs behind rural water systems, renewable fuels, farm-to-market highways, our growing financial services industry, Missouri River management, tribal-state relations, drought relief, and the challenges of our “donut demographics”—with increasing numbers of the elderly and the very young. Further, an early Presidential Primary would encourage more young South Dakotans to become active in all political parties—and in public service.

More Boise State

Patrick Garrity and Todd Epp on last night's historic football game. 

Giuliani Agonistes

Some time ago (I will not bother looking up the post) I predicted that Rudy Giuliani would never be president because of his troubled personal life.  It looks like the Giuliani camp is aware of the problem. 

America Alone

Glenn Reynolds posts a positive review of Mark Steyn's America Alone.  I read this book on the plane to Idaho over Christmas and was quite disappointed.  While Steyn is a right-wing nut job and thus strokes all of my prejudices, I found the book's arguments thin and poorly evidenced.  Steyn has lots of numbers on demographics (and never tires of telling us demographics is destiny), but he does not present them in a logical fashion that builds toward a grand conclusion. Instead, and this is true of the whole book, conclusions and supporting arguments are intermingled, making the overall argument muddled.  I guess this is what happens when a columnist tries to turn his columns into books: some interesting points here and there, but a lot of repetition and a lack of rigor.  Buy it when it comes out in paperback, but the hardcover is not worth it.

Todd Responds

I posed a question to Todd here, and then he answers.  Essentially I asked how Todd could square his approval of Saddam Hussein's demise (as a leader and as a living being) with his opposition to the war in Iraq.  If one seeks a certain end, then one should support the means to achieve that end.  In my opinion military intervention in Iraq was the only way to achieve the end of removing Saddam Hussein.  Todd seems to argue that sometimes you have to live with dictators, a position with which I have much sympathy.  I think his examples fall short by means of comparison.  One should compare likes to likes, not to unlikes.  Of course we didn't go after such dictators as Stalin and Mao, as to do so would likely have meant WW-III.  But no such fear existed with Iraq.  Likewise, a decade of history made intervention in Iraq more reasonable then intervention in North Korea.  Finally, intervention in the other two prongs of the "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, is significantly complicated if those nations achieve nuclear status.  Todd also has a faith in "multilateralism" that is not supported by experience, in my opinion.  If multilateral institutions, notably the UN, are blind to brutality and/or genocide, and in some cases are actual apologists for brutality (as was the case with Saddam), it would be foolish to wait for the rest of the world to catch up with justice.  Todd, surprisingly, takes a very realist view of international affairs. Again, I have a great deal of respect for the realist perspective. But there is also the notion, supported by Spiderman, that "with great power comes great responsibility."  Given the realist premises Todd seems to develop, it is difficult to see how the US intervenes in places like Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and the realist perspective (although not Todd, so far as I know) apologizes for a lack of intervention in places such as Rwanda and currently in the Sudan (see David Brooks on what happens when you adopt a self-interested agenda coupled with a breathtaking faith in the United Nations: you get a lot of dead Sudanese).  The US should intervene when these factors are largely in place: a considerable good can be achieved by intervention, there are viable alternatives to the present situation, the costs of non-intervention are high in terms of human misery,  there is a reasonable chance of success that does not produce a greater evil, and some level (perhaps a low level) of legalist justification can be made. I think Iraq meets these standards. Todd clearly diagrees.  On that I suppose we will get no resolution.  I thank Todd for a thoughtful response.

By the way, there is a new book out that questions the "bright shining lie" theory of Vietnam.  the book is Triumph Forsaken by Mark Moyar.  You can read about the book here.  You'll noticed it is endorsed by incoming Democratic Senator James Webb. I have not read the book so have no idea whether it is any good. 

Kausfiles on Tim Johnson

Mickey Kaus has this ominous note on his Slate blog:

Sen. Tim Johnson is still under sedation, and AP's report contains this alarming quote (missing from the version now posted on WaPo):

Dr. Keith Siller, director of the Comprehensive Stroke Care Center at NYU Medical Center and assistant professor at the NYU School of Medicine, said it is unusual for a patient to be sedated after brain surgery for more than a few days.

"The two-week period is longer than I would be happy with," he said.

Siller is not the doctor on the scene, of course. Congressional Quarterly has some more encouraging stats [via IP].  ...

The AP report can be found here at CBSNews.com.  The Congressional Quarterly item that Kaus refers to has this:

The prognosis for Johnson’s condition, diagnosed as congenital arteriovenous malformation (AVM), depends on a number of factors.

Of the small percentage of patients with AVMs who have bleeding, about a quarter die within several days. Another quarter suffer minor loss of function. One-fourth have a more severe loss of strength, motor skills and speech, and one-fourth make a full recovery.

The first sentence in the second paragraph tells us something important: that AVM with bleeding indicates an alarmingly high mortality rate (25%), and thus that Senator Johnson and those who care about him have much to be thankful for.  The rest tells us almost nothing.  It creates three logical categories (major damage, minor damage, and no damage) and says that cases are evenly distributed across those categories. 

I note that there has been some controversy in the regional blogosphere over the ethics of this kind of commentary.  If there is an ethical problem in "non-attending physicians" and other informed persons making comments about Senator Johnson's condition, the Congressional Quarterly and Dr. Siller do not seem aware of it.  I think that, so long as the status of the commentator is made clear, there is no problem. 

Contempt for Democracy & Contempt for the Law

Two of the most important principles of legitimate government are democracy and the rule of law.  The legislature of the state of Massachusetts has shown utter contempt for both in order to save legalized gay marriage.  Here is Hadley Arkes:

The [Mass. State] constitution provides that a proposal to amend the document “shall … be laid before a joint session of the two houses,” and shall be voted upon in the form in which it was introduced, unless such amendment is amended by vote of three-fourths of the members voting thereon in joint session, which vote shall be taken by call of the yeas and nays if called for by any member." 

Citizens of Massachusetts had collected more than enough signatures on a petition to amend the state’s constitution — in this case, an amendment to overturn the recent, controversial ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court in installing same-sex marriage. The amendment would mainly restore the old understanding that the commonwealth “shall define marriage only as the union of one man and one woman.” Under the constitution, the legislature is obliged to vote by a roll call on a petition properly vetted, as this one was by the attorney general. If the proposal gained at least one quarter of the votes in the legislature — and this proposal surely would have — it would be advanced in a process that could carry over eventually to place the proposal on a ballot, where it would be voted on by the people of Massachusetts. But the legislature performed a finesse: It simply recessed without voting on the petition. If it had adjourned, the governor, Mitt Romney could have called it back into session, where it would have been obliged to vote.

The State Supreme Court of Massachusetts, the same one that created by situation by "finding" a hitherto non-existent right to gay marriage in the existing state constitution, has spoken on the legislature's behavior.  On the one hand, the Court has no legal remedy to order: it cannot force the legislature to do its duty under the constitution.  On the other hand:

Without a shading of doubt, the court declared that the legislature had failed to meet its plainest duties under the constitution. 

The legislature of Massachusetts have every right to want to establish homosexual marriage.  It has shown that, in pursuit of that end, it is utterly without principle. 

BSU! BSU! BSU!

Boise State University, in my home away from home, just won one of the great games in college football history.  GO BRONCOS! 

Bonfire of the Vanities-Duke Lacrosse Edition

The most appalling thing about the prosecution of three Duke lacrosse players for rape and other charges (see the New York Times) is that the abuses of prosecutorial powers have been bluntly manifest to everyone who has looked at it, and the motive of the prosecutor has been almost as transparent, and yet the circus has not yet been forced to fold its tents.  As for the motive, it is clear that Durham County, N.C., District Attorney Michael B. Nifong thought he had the kind of case he could ride to fame and fortune, and very probably to higher office.  American society is quite properly hypersensitive to the kind of case that DA Nifong thought he had: privileged, white athletes had raped an African American woman.  But to fabricate such a case where there was no reason to believe that any such thing had taken place is doubly atrocious: it undermines the legal protections of victims and the wrongly accused in equal measure. 

As for the abuses of power, here is the Washington Post:

It's been clear for months that Mr. Nifong's case -- to the extent he has a case -- is riddled with flaws that raise serious questions about his motives and ethics. The accuser's story has been inconsistent and unreliable -- and that was even before the latest interview with the prosecutor's office, in which, according to his filing, she said she could no longer be certain she had been penetrated with a penis. The physical evidence was scant at best; the identification procedure -- the woman was shown photographs of only Duke lacrosse players -- was shockingly shoddy; one defendant seems to have an alibi.

In recent weeks, Mr. Nifong has admitted that he failed, as required, to turn potentially exculpatory information over to the defense: test results that showed the presence of semen from several other men, but not the Duke players, in swabs taken from the woman's body and clothing. Mr. Nifong says it was an accidental oversight. Yet the director of the DNA laboratory says that he and the prosecutor agreed to leave that information out of his report because it was so "explosive." If so, Mr. Nifong has a bigger problem than a botched prosecution. He should be subject to further ethics proceedings by state bar authorities, who filed charges Thursday against him for making inflammatory and misleading comments about the case in its early days.

I cannot conceive of how any prosecutor could now make a case against the Duke lacrosse team members.  The case should be dropped, there must surely be some legal way to make sure that Mr. Nifong is never in charge of another prosecution. 

Morale

Michael Yon: "This war is strange. I never hear soldiers worried about their own morale sagging. Contrary, the war-fighters here are more concerned to bolster the morale of the people at home. . . . The morale at war is higher than I have ever seen it at home; makes me wonder what they know that most Americans seem to be missing."

SDP Jazz Note

My kids came through this Christmas, as usual.  My son gave me Wayne Shorter's Juju. His older sister gave me Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers A Night in Tunisia, which also features Shorter on tenor sax, and Jason's hero Lee Morgan on trumpet. 

Both CDs are wonderful, but Juju ranks as one of the best jazz disks I have ever heard.  Shorter is often given credit as the "idea man" behind the Miles Davis Quintet, which is a lot to be given credit for.  His genius as a composer is on display in every number on Juju.  McCoy Tyner plays piano; Reggie Workman, base; and Elvin Jones is on drums. 
For brief bit of more recent Wayne Shorter genius (2006), complete with video, see this link from YouTube. 

Must Read Of The Day

Anne Applebaum on Saddam Hussein's reign of terror.  A snippet:

The Iraqi writer Kanan Makiya, whose book "Republic of Fear" remains the definitive account of Hussein's Iraq, estimates that in 1980, one-fifth of the economically active Iraqi labor force were members of the army, the political militias, the police or the secret police: One in five people, in other words, was employed to carry out institutional violence. The result was a country in which the families of political victims received their body parts in the mail; in which tens of thousands of Kurds could be murdered with chemical weapons; and in which, as Hussein's truncated trial demonstrated, the dictator could sign a document randomly condemning 148 people to death -- among them an 11-year-old boy -- and feel no remorse or regret. As his defense team argued, he believed this was his prerogative as head of state.

Happy New Year

From Dave Barry:

[T]his was the year in which the members of the United States Congress, who do not bother to read the actual bills they pass, spent weeks poring over instant messages sent by a pervert. This was the year in which the vice president of the United States shot a lawyer, which turned out to be totally legal inTexas. This was the year in which -- as clearly foretold in the Bible as a sign of the Apocalypse -- Howie Mandel wound up with a hit TV show.

Also, there were many pesky problems left over from 2005 that refused to go away in 2006, including Iraq, immigration, high gas prices, terrorism, global warming, avian flu, Iran, North Korea and Paris Hilton. Future generations are going to look back at this era and ask us how we could have allowed Paris Hilton to happen, and we are not going to have a good answer.

Other Football News

The University of Minnesota has fired Glen Mason after yet another embarrassing fourth quarter collapse, this time a record setting one in the Insight Bowl.  Now the clock ticks on the Brad Childress era for the Vikings. 

Given the events of the last 48 hours, it is hard to believe that Minnesota ranks ahead of South Dakota as a football state. Perhaps Chad supports increased football funding from the legislature to remedy this condition.

A Question For Todd

Todd Epp states he opposed the war in Iraq from its inception, but is glad that Saddam Hussein,  a "murderous butcher," who finally gotten justice.  Here's a question for Todd: Absent the invasion, how exactly was Hussein going to be brought to justice?  A decade of sanctions had proved worthless; indeed nations such as Russia, France, and China wanted to remove sanctions and deal with Hussein as just another national leader.  Was not an invasion the only way to stop the Stalinst regime of Saddam Hussein?  By opposing the invasion, are you not saying Iraq was better under a murderous butcher than it is now?  I suspect you disagree, so tell me how I am wrong.

By the way, Todd, when I first saw the NFL officials today, I thought that maybe the crew had lost its uniforms and were wearing sweat pants.  I guess I was wrong.  Fashion disaster right there on national television.

More Snow

Northern Campus.

The MJ edition. 

Blog Wars

SDWC:

I just caught the documentary by British filmmaker James Rogan titled "Blog Wars."  If you get this channel, set your TIVO, or else find someone who has it. It's worth your while to watch it.

It's a great look at how blogs can still embody the wild west of the internet, but can also shape political coverage. My favorite quote? "Someday, someone with their video camera is going to be at the right place at the right time, and they'll change the course of an election."

Clearly this was filmed earlier. Because all I could think of was the George Allen "Macacca" comment. And how I need to get a little video camera that I schlep around with me. I have to start hitting the events and toting it along. And try not to feel so darn dorky when I do so.

Focusing on the Connecticut Senate race, it was amazing to see how just plain jane bloggers like myself were taken seriously, and how candidates in races to come need to engage bloggers as a potent political force.

I guess I have something to aspire to.  So, sooner or later, I'll have to ugrade my pajamas. Possibly to a robe.. and an ascot.

Snow in Aberdeen

Here is a shot of campus from a distance.  You can see the glass front of the new edition to MJ in the center. 

Family Christmas

Prof. Blanchard has shared pictures of his trip home for Christmas.  Here are some pictures of my own holiday experience.

Here's a picture of a couple of my brothers trying to take away my favorite present:

It was a bit crowded for Christmas dinner:

Here I ponder the new tax on tobacco in South Dakota:
 

Where's the Beef with the Beef Plant?

My former colleague, Professor David Newquist, has a post on the politics of the beef plant issue in Aberdeen.  He describes his conversations with Aberdeen Alderman Clint Rux.  I would note that Clint was a student of mine and took more of my courses than the FDA recommends.  But no one should hold that against him.  David has this comment on the opposition to the beef plant.

Construction has started on a beef processing plant outside of Aberdeen near the waste water treatment plant. Many people are resisting. A couple of law suits have been filed against the city, the county, and the plant's originators claiming that such a facility will damage the environment, their property values, and create traffic, noise, and stench. But some letters to the editors and comments on discussion boards all boil down to the fact that the protesters do not want "the kind of people" who are likely to seek jobs at the plant in town. The assumption is that they will be Hispanics and people of Asian backgrounds. That assumption is extended to the speculation that they will be illegal aliens. But whoever they are, they will endanger the life style and the security of the community and put a strain on the school system and the government services.

One does not have to have verbal skills to see a subtext behind all these arguments erupting into plain view. The resistance to a beef plant rises from racist attitudes.

Now I agree with David on the substance of the issue.  It would be crazy for Aberdeen to reject the beef plant.  Moreover, I think that the economic benefits are secondary to the fact that it seems likely to bring many new families to our town.  Contrary to what many seem to believe, it is not jobs that Aberdeen lacks, it is job seekers.  This is precisely the kind of enterprise that will bring a lot of new people here, and people is what we desperately need.

Second, there is no doubt that racism is a factor in the opposition.  There are surely those who do not want to see a lot more Hispanic folks wandering around the Lakewood Mall and Target. 

But a lot of the opposition is not racist at all.  Some of it "rises" from a desire to keep things the way they are, or better yet, turn back the clock to some imagined past.  I think these are vain and self-destructive conceits; but they are not in themselves racist.  Moreover there are perfectly legitimate concerns about the effects of growth as well as problems like rising crime rates. 

But if Aberdeen is to have a future at all we must reverse the effects of depopulation in the region.  The problems of growth are problems we should want to have to worry about.  And the more Mexican and Oriental restaurants, the better. 

Saddam Meets His Maker

Most cultures have euphemisms for death, largely due to superstition.  The Romans did not like to say that someone died, preferring to indicate the fact by saying "he has lived."  The reason for this is the ancient idea that the name of something contains at least a little of the original power of what is named, and to name it is thus to bring it into presence.  On that premise, one is understandably cautious about naming death.  But I especially like the euphemism "he met his Maker," for it is pretty much true no matter what you believe about the after life.  In some sense it is certain that when we die we go back where we came from. 

Well, Saddam has lived, and it certainly seems fitting as he made sure that so many human beings, men, women, and children, have done all the living they would do.  Todd Epp has blogged extensively on Saddam's execution, and has a link to a video of the event.  It is absurdly chaotic, but if you want to see the bitter end, you can see it.

Todd has this reflection:

Whether he was convicted and executed properly under the laws and constitution of Iraq and in accordance with international standards is an open question.  But at a cosmic level, Saddam got what he deserved.

I have no quarrel with this, but I am less willing to say what anyone deserves, on a cosmic level or otherwise.  Part of the problem is a certain conservative caution that was expressed well by the Wizard Gandalf.  When Frodo says that Gollum deserved to die, Gandalf replies (this is from memory) "I dare say he does.  Many who live deserve death and many who die deserve life.  Can you give it to them?  Then do not be so quick to deal out death in judgment."  I hope I got that close to the text.  Gandalf does not deny that death may be deserved, he just questions our ability to weigh the scales or get them balanced.  I am sure that Saddam deserved a lot more punishment than we can give him.

I am not so certain that I can figure out the meaning of life and death, except in a formal, political sense.  While I am not a supporter of the death penalty in the U.S., I do not think that it is morally wrong in many cases.  Governments have the right to decide the penalties for crimes, and I can see no reason that death is not appropriate in some cases.  The Iraqis had the right to execute Saddam for his crimes, and since they decided to do so, quicker was better.  As everyone realizes, Saddam's death does not mean that the troubles are over.  It will probably have little effect.  All it means, in a larger sense, is that murderous dictators sometimes end up suffering the fate of their victims.  Maybe that is cosmic meaning enough.

UPDATE:  The Washington Post has a nice obit for Saddam, under the fine heading: "Arc of Power Ends in Utter Ignominy."  I would like to believe that that is the meaning of Saddam's drop, dangle, and strangle.  But one has to say that this is rare for 20th century tyrants.  More often, they live and rule to a ripe old age.  By the way, has anyone seen Fidel lately?

Pictures from Arkansas

I risk turning SDP into a Blanchard family scrapbook, but I did get this cool digital camera from Santa Klaus, and I hope soon to turn its powers from evil to good.  I intend to spice up SDP with occasional photos of Aberdeen and the surrounding area, for the benefit of our expatriot readers.  Meanwhile, here are some images from my hometown below the Mason-Dixon line.

Here is a shot from my old backyard, of a flag flying in a neighbor's yard. 

Here is a shot I was a bit proud of.  I pointed the camera straight down by accident, and saw this in the view finder.  It is just the old driveway, with an oak leaf on it.  I think the color and texture are worth a glance.