Good to see that the Argus is hanging out at the deli counter with us bloggers.

Had I mentioned before that Randall Beck hates the Governor?

We all know he thinks bloggers are worthless pieces of garbage, but it seems there's nothing that gets Randall off like a fire and brimstone sermon against Mike Rounds.

In case you don't remember, I mentioned it here, and here with regards to the editorials that he's written here, here, here, here, and here related to the topic, and several other times I'm not going to bother citing. It starts to bring into question whether or not the Argus' publisher is legitimately questioning items in the public view.... or if he just plain hates the Governor's guts.

In his latest tirade against our state's chief executive he tries to take yet another shot at the gov because of the story that appeared this weekend about two of the Governor's brothers opening up a distillery:

What started as a bill last January to regulate liquor sales around Bear Butte State Park magically morphed, under the shrewd direction of our Legislature, into a measure legalizing distilleries to produce up to 50,000 gallons of spirits each year.

and...

The final version of the bill won overwhelming support in both houses - including from Rep. Tim Rounds, a Pierre Republican. With the skids greased, brother and Gov. Mike Rounds were all too happy to sign the legislation. And recently, a month after the law went into effect, more family members stepped up to the plate.

and...

To be fair, the brothers Rounds won't be dealing much to booze hounds; only small bottles will be sold at the distillery.

The real money, I imagine, will come from anticipated bulk sales to liquor stores and bars.

Hey, let them do the dirty work.

(Read it all here) So, should we take it that he's starting a temperance crusade, or write it off as yet another example that the publisher of the Argus hates the Governor?

As far as I can tell, everyone was up front about stating their purpose. Just like the people out West who wanted to start a small scale brewery. They had to get the law changed to do it. And also like the people in the Eastern part of the state who wanted to start wineries. They had to change the law to do it.

Here, we have a couple of people who want to start manufacturing specialty liquors on a small scale. Just like their predecessors, they had to ask for the laws to be changed for that. Yet, because they're related to the Governor, Mr. Beck infers it's dirty, and uses pointed language like "greasing the skids" and picks up his literary ax against alcohol like a woman in a victorian gown going to smash up the local speakeasy.

My point to all of this? Pure and simple, it's bias. He's writing it not from a sense of moral outrage for the Sioux Falls community about the evils of alcohol. He's merely penning his tome because of personal animosity.

And it's bias is ill befitting someone who - with a straight face - actually had the hubris to belittle bloggers and state "when anybody with an Internet connection and an ax to grind can distribute baloney disguised as news, a good newspaper with high ethical standards plays a critically important role in any community or state."

I'll be the first to admit that bloggers are biased. You're reading a blog written by a fairly conservative Republican activist, and that's how I write. There are Republican blogs, and if memory serves, I think you'll find a few Democratic oriented blogs out there as well (both linked on the right hand side of the page). But I don't think any of us are going to get on our high horses and claim "high ethical standards." We write what we write, and it's simply opinion and the evidence that we believe supports our view.

Most of the time we disagree. Sometimes we don't and actually collaborate. But my point is, we freely admit our opinions, leanings, likes and dislikes. We don't or at least we rarely try to set forth a facade' that we aren't biased.

Yet, our state's largest newspaper has done just that in the past. They've claimed "high ethical standards" like some white knight trying to lead the citizenry from darkness. in the past, they've inferred that bloggers improperly got them to change whe way they covered the election because they pressured them by complaining about a perceived bias.

What about "the perception?" By itself, today's editorial isn't an example of a perception of bias. But once you get past the third or fourth instance, and get into the fifth and the sixth, you've got to start to wonder. And today was just another example why they're no better than the rest of us who have "an Internet connection and an ax to grind" distributing "baloney disguised as news."

So, Randall Beck, welcome to the deli counter with the rest of us. We saved you a stool.

Would you like that baloney sliced think, or thin?