South Dakota War College

For dinner in the SD War College Cafeteria tonight, I'm making "Pulled Pork". For the uninitiated, watch the Food Network on the weekend. They're always showing a barbecue festival. I've got a pork shoulder that's had a dry rub applied. As of now, it's been slow cooking in the smoker grill for hours, and has hours left to go. Every once in a while, I apply a "mop sauce" to keep things nice and moist. Sometime later this evening, I'll have a pork shoulder where the meat is falling off the bone in all it's barbecue goodness. Mmmm. Ok. Back to politics.

I woke up this morning and started to read the Rapid City Journal . And what do my eyes behold on the editorial page? Bill Napoli using that "R" word I hate so much . After he starts by christening the MAINStream Moderate group the "RINO Seven," he really lets loose: The apparent lack of concern from the state Republican Party leadership is evident and for several reasons. Gov. Mike Rounds, Randy Fredrick (chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party) and the rest of the leadership know the Republican Party is floating on the thin ice of RINOs. These people have no loyalty to either party and don't believe in the principles set forth in our Republican platform. Plus, many of these RINOs are quite wealthy and have contributed buckets of dollars to Rounds and other so-called "moderate candidates." So our leadership can't afford to alienate these RINOs, even if it means a split in our Republican Party. I don't think I've ever seen a t...

More Ballot Initiative fun : J.A.I.L. will prevent such practices as secret defaults, ignored laws, ignored evidence, sophistry, confiscation of property without due process, involuntary assignment of do nothing probate lawyers that are unneeded, unwanted, and expensive, probate fraud, secret dockets, graft, falsifications of court records, and other abuses. You know, I’m just an illiterate political hack, but I do have moments of clarity. Sophistry? If I had to look that up, so will most South Dakotans. According to one of the on-line encyclopedias : In modern philosophical usage, sophistry is a derogatory term for rhetoric that is designed to appeal to the listener on grounds other than the strict logical validity of the statements being made. Well, that would be all political hacks on either side of the aisle. I’m not sure if the J.A.I.L.’ers just picked the term because its scary sounding or they pulled the text off of some pre-existing ballot initiative from another state. What I ...

OK. I'm probably a little overly sensitive to this , being Catholic myself. The AP report in Yahoo News is charging that is that an adoption service in Mississippi is denying adoption applications of Catholics, just for being Catholic. From the Yahoo news story : "It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith," Bethany's state director Karen Stewart wrote. "Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant's time, money and emotional energy." and The agency's Web site says all Bethany staff and adoptive applicants personally agree with the faith statement, which describes belief in the Christian Church and the Scripture. It does not refer to any specific branches of Christianity. Out of curiosity, I did a little poking around and found this on the organization's South Dakota website : South Dakota Requirements for adoption of Domestic Infa...

I was reading the SDFMM weblog today, and noticed where Eddie was pointing out how one of my high school classmates was testifying against legalizing medical marijuana; Charles McGuigan, Assistant Attorney General of South Dakota: "We are in opposition to any plan to legalize marijuana in any form, whether it is medical marijuana or industrial hemp or any other concoction that would give credence to this substance." "Marijuana is not scheduled as a controlled substance, but marijuana use and possession is illegal and is a crime." Ok. They disagree. Not a big shocker. But then Bob Newland proceeded to mock Charles: Bob Newland said... McGuigan, who has not been allowed out of the capitol building since the AG hired him out of law school, also said, in the same hearing, that marijuana has lots of "carciginians". A few moments later he also accused it of containing "carciginocens". Which is it, Charlie? Personally, I think there are too many McG...

I just came across the Politics and Technology weblog when I was on the Campaigns and Elections weblog area today. Wow. If you don't have it on your list of must read weblogs, you should. Some of it is basic, some of it's advanced. But it's an excellent primer on the internet and blogging for political organizations and campaigns. SD Blog Watch Man - there's a good post for you too: BlogAds for Fun and Profit .

Okay, for my 100th post, I wanted to do something a little unique. We in the South Dakota BlogOSphere (or BlogOLand, if you will as per Todd Epp) are more often than not talking about what each other post, and we take snippets from what appears in the news media to support our positions. What I also notice is that we are intensely focused on what the media has to say about us. Randall Beck slams us in the Argus, we're on it. Recently, part time blogger and Rapid City Journal Reporter Kevin Woster talked about the tone of blogging, and several of us, SDP & SDW most notably, were on that too. Some of us, like Todd at SD Watch come from a journalistic and political background. Some like me come from a pure political and bureaucratic background. Others are students, academics, etc. But, for those of us involved, we're a little too close to the lightbulb on this weblog thing to sometimes stand back and look objectively at what we do. I've said before that I don't want...

I should try to come up with a basic manual for political candidates with regards to blogging. The subject has been on my mind lately after my post early yesterday (late the night before). In that earlier post, I had referred to the article in Governing Magazine on political blogging . Our State Auditor had pointed it out to me, shortly before that and I found it interesting reading, especially the part on blogging by state legislators. Can you imagine how Blogging from the SD Senate floor would be like? Dear Weblog. It's the 20th legislative day, and Senator Kloucek has introduced yet ANOTHER Senate Commemeration. Today he's honoring the Tabor Salt Pork Festival. Yesterday it was the Menno Fashion Showcase. And another Senator wants to designate the state dance. The Senate can't agree on the polka or the square dance. But, I can't do either one. Aaargh! Yeah, that would be a good one. But I digress. The point Rich was making to me was that he thought this next electio...

I just noticed that I'm approaching my 100th post (100th ever, not 100th this week). Kind of wild that I'd come up with 100 things to say and that other people might read them. I've got my next installment of 10 questions that I'm saving for that one - it should be an informative lesson from a guest lecturer that political bloggers in general can consider when authoring their articles.

Since they don't post editorials on-line, here's a snippet of the Pierre Capitol Journal editorial by Dana Hess from last Friday (7/8) on the Mainstream Moderate coalition. The formation of the coalition is refreshing. Citizens who fear that their political beliefs must lean to the right or to the left if they are to fit in with one of the major political parties should welcome an organization designed especially for centrists. It has been far too long since South Dakota enjoyed a true two-party political system. Barring a resurgence of the Democratic Party, perhaps the best we can hope for is members of the GOP mixing it up over their party’s agenda. It's not every day an editor can sharpen his tongue against both parties in the same sentence.

We seem to be talking about Ron Volesky a lot lately. Probably because he's the only declared Democratic candidate for the 2006 Gubernatorial race. What many Republicans might not remember is that Ron, born on this day in 1954, had been a House Majority Whip from 1973-1978. That's a pretty good run as a vote 'enforcer' for the GOP - just a hair's breadth away from being Majority Leader. At the War College, we're not going to call into question his intelligence or ability. I've spoken with Ron once or twice as a result of my day job within the last couple of years, and I found him personable. For today (ONLY just today) our intent is to wish him happy birthday, and not pick apart his campaign. We've got lots of time for that before November 2006. So, Happy Birthday from the SD War College to Ron Volesky - a former member and an honorable opponent of the Grand Old Party.

El Duderino is now El Duderino with a new address of http://www.intothebrevitything.blogspot.com/ He's back from the dead! (hat tip to SDMM weblog.)

Geez, that sucked. Doing a Blog Check this evening, and Ryan Kolbeck 's blog is noted as gone by SDBWM & SD Watch (with appropriate hat tip to each of them). Even though he was new, it was an ok read. Sorry to see you go Ryan. I was looking forward to hearing more from you. Now that I've been doing this seriously for a couple months, I find myself editing some of my posts a few times before (and after) I post them because I really don't want to come off as a complete jerk. My intent is usually to illustrate a point, as opposed to going on the direct attack. Anyway, I wonder if Ryan's departure was as a result of the sudden shock of the newfound attention. Clearly, some of the words he had sown had reaped the whirlwind. Besides, Ryan and Todd, everyone knows that even though it lacks a law school, SDSU is waaay better than USD. *SD War College prepares for the coming storm* Radioactive Chief was nice enough to give me a link. Even though he uses that "RINO...

Okay. This topic has gone beyond silly. Celeste Calvitto in today's Rapid City Journal has ANOTHER column devoted to the MAINstream Moderate Coalition . Love it or leave it, and believe me, I have my own opinions about it. I'm just a little suprised that the media has latched on to this story like a newborn pig and is determined to milk it for all it's worth. First, the story was that it exists. Then, it was a story about one legislator's reaction. Then an editorial. After that, we had the story of a meeting. And then, another reaction. Then we had a column about the meeting. In Friday's Pierre Capitol Journal we had another editorial. Now we have a story about the reaction to the prior Rapid City Journal column. And in today's column, get a load of this snippet: So where does all this go from here? A test of the strength of the coalition movement could come when South Dakota Republicans deliberate over a candidate to challenge Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., i...

Since I try to be at the cusp of political trends, I want to dress the part, even thought I'm a bit of a late comer to the weblog scene. According to Randall Beck of the Argus Leader, this is what the fashionable Blogger is wearing. Or are slippers required?

Read this! Great Stuff from Governing Magazine.

NOTE: This feature is mainly to probe the news makers and other political folks, and maybe get to the human side of politicians. I think it works. I've known our State Auditor, the Honorable Richard Sattgast since we were legislative interns together way back in 1988. If you ever are in his office, you'll notice the ratty goose mount I pawned off.... Er, gave him as a gift after his successful run for the office. We had lost track of each other for a while after college, but we happened to run into each other upon Rich's return to the Black Hills fresh after serving in Desert Storm. I was in Rapid City working for the party and Rich had volunteered to work at our fair booth. You'll find for current statewide officeholders, Rich is about the only one out there who spent any time in the military, having served as part of the occupation force in Berlin shortly out of High School in the 1980's, and went active duty again in the 1990's to serve in Kuwait & Iraq. ...

For my next post I'll have a new feature - my first interview! Watch for it tonight.

Senator Clarence Kooistra , who fights home schooling because it *gasp* isn't as accountable as he'd like it to be to government , led the fight to ban tobacco sales on the inter net , and is going after the adult entertainment industry in Salem has now found a new thing to hate - cell phone use in cars . ( check this link too ) At what point does government become too altruistic? It's something I struggle with, being someone who has a slight problem with authority. It's not that I'm ready to front a militia or anything like that. But I really have to question it when "should's" are legislated into "have-to-or-else's." Seat belts. Raising the car-seat age from 3 to 5. Raising the drinking age to 21 from 18. Political yard sign size limitations, and all that kind of stuff. At what point am I going to be told how much I'm allowed to weigh? What I can and cannot eat? Whether I can smoke in my own home or not? What I can and cannot watch...

I had started this post on Saturday Night about my invitation to speak to the Teenage Republican Camp, but I noticed that SD Straight Talk beat me to the punch on discussing TAR Camp. I was recently contacted by Dustin "Dusty" Johnson, our recently elected Public Utilities Commissioner, who noted that he'd been reading my weblog, and thought it was ok. Of course, the compliment preceded a request to speak at TAR camp about running and working in campaigns. Oh, crap. Now I have to come up with a topic. Talk about my weblog? I sometimes use what my 1st grader would consider potty words in my blog. That's out. I'd hate to be blamed for the corruption of impressionable Republican youth. I was informed by the camp director Tom Muenster (A son of notable Democrats Ted and Karen Muenster. Who we corrupted early in life with our Republican jedi mind control techniques.) that he gave my half-hour talk the title "Running a Winning Campaign." But I don't know ...

I'm going to add Ryan Kolbeck's Blog to my list on the right. It's fairly new, and he seems up on the political topics of the day. http://kolbeckblog.blogspot.com/ Hat tip to SDP

Jesus. We're currently at day 11 and the media's still going strong on the Mainstream South Dakota Coalition. (You'd think Democrat bloggers were pushing this or something..) The Rapid City Journal is devoting additional time, energy and column inches to the group by making it the focus of today's editorial . Which basically regurgitates everything that's been written to date. I must not have been paying attention before, because I do note that they have a website up at http://www.mainstreamsouthdakota.org . Well, more like a web page . You can find out what they are about, and that's about it. No listing of membership, listing of directors, etc. I was going to buy the mainstreamsouthdakota.com and .net domain names and turn them into a front for my blog, but they beat me to it. They must be craftier than I thought. So, if we have the Republicans on the Dark Side, and the Democrats on the self proclaimed Light Side - does this make the Mainstream Coalition...

You know, working in politics affords you some unique opportunities in life. And what would unique opportunities be, if people didn't abuse some of them, horribly. Thus begins the tale of the Marilyn Quayle visit to Rapid City. When I was out in Rapid City, there was an entourage, if you will - working and/or volunteering in the Republican office. There's many fond memories from this team of go-getters who took no prisoners. And we kicked butt in Pennington County, in a year where the GOP did poorly everywhere else. Many from this group still lust over my Hot Chicken Wing recipe, renowned by them as some of the best in the state. And these same people were involved in the Marilyn Quayle episode. All are still involved in politics in one way or another, in one place or another, so we'll change the names for protection of the formerly young and not so innocent. It was announced one day that Marilyn Quayle, the wife of the Vice President was coming to Rapid City to campaign fo...