South Dakota War College

I think the Audioblog was finally a success, as compared to some of the other things I've tried. It's not that all of the free stuff was bad. In fact I'd use the call-in thing again if I was on the road. But I'm a hands-on techie at heart. I want to cut and clip out the "dead air" parts, and make it perfect. Advice? Write your script ahead of time. I found that I had to trim dead air in spite of having it written up ahead of time. I have to admire Jerry Hinkle at the Holabird Advocate for doing such a good job. It's a testament to being quick on the draw. The only problem is now, I have to come up with stuff that makes it all worthwhile. I'm probably hypercritical of myself. I want it to be perfect. I need to run through the script a few times, and get polished. I actually did radio back in my high school days as a nightime/evening DJ at KGFX in Pierre. It was kind of funny - someone who listened to Styx, the Cars, Berlin and Quiet Riot playing count...

Music courtesy of http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ Text version: In 1988, during my tenure with the state party, we had a Democrat who was running for office challenging one of our incumbents, and there supposedly was rumour they had been arrested, tried, and convicted for selling marijuana. A zealous young campaign recruit like myself would normally think, "Oooooo. Silver bullet issue here? Might look like it. The Opponent better get out the butter - because he's toast!" I researched this issue, and proved every single allegation true. The rare instance where it was documented in a public forum. The rare instance when this stuff actually proved true. I had news clippings from two newspapers, with the name in print and everything. I had the sledgehammer, and I was getting ready to swing! Before I prepared for the pounce, I noticed that this is the second go around for this pair of candidates. And the conviction was even more recent two years earlier, when they tangled before...

I was listening to Jerry Hinkle's audio blog stuff, and thought I'd try it out myself. I figured "hey, this is cool." This might be the first step towards videoblogging (Where I see this going in a few years). So I signed up and did my first post. What you do is call in on a telephone, and leave your messgage for the blog. Test Message It's not bad, in fact, if you sat down and actually scripted out what you were going to say, it might be ok. My problem is that I want to edit out the "uh's and ah's" and overlay music. Kind of tough to do on a phone call. I'm trying to see if there's a solution through Blogger that would allow me to edit it, and then make it available for listening and later. But I'm not sure if they allow for honest to goodness podcasting. More as the "distance learning" portion of the SD War College develops.

In my immediately previous post, you will recall I was mocking State Senator Frank Kloucek for his idea of checking the stinkiness of farms. Afterwards I was lamenting to my wife, MP, that I had writers' block on what political topic I could ponder in more depth. A quick one off topic takes me about 5 minutes, but I needed something more substantive because I haven't done something in a couple days, and I would hate to be accused of ignoring my blog. It must be the job hunt in Brookings/Sioux Falls. I hate job hunting. Almost as bad as I'll hate commuting to my new house in Brookings from Pierre every weekend. So, the job hunt drags on. (If anyone is hiring in the areas of association work, insurance compliance, or political stuff, you know where to find me.) Anyway, my wife points out that I had an excellent post started on the Kloucek poop smell thing. "Huh? What do you mean?" I asked. She pointed out that the only reason Frank was doing it was to get his name i...

Okay, I've got another set of "10 questions with..." coming soon, and I'm starting to line up the one after that. The next one should be another one of our elected officials, and I doubt you'd guess who. And as far as the local weekly media, I agree the Hot Springs Sheriff one is good, but my favorite is from the Lake Andes Wave (7/20/05): State Senator Frank Kloucek found high levels of Hydrogen sulfide on a hog feedlot legislators toured last Monday. Later in the day, even higher levels were found at a dairy feedlot that legislators were to tour near Brookings... Hydrogen sulfide is one of the 302 gases found in manure. It is usually associated with the foul smell... So, Frank is flexing his legislative muscle to help investigate poop smells? This might top his previous legislative milestones on his efforts at the state dessert. I'm just wondering how he tests for it? Is it strictly a nasal test? Or does he have a machine to read the stinkiness of poop smell...

CCK gets the hat tip for noticing Progressive Republican , a new GOP weblog. This blog is run by Gabe Mydland, who I met waaaaay back when I was first working for the State GOP. At that time, Gabe was an assistant to Governor Mickelson. I've always known Gabe to be a real gentleman, and his thoughtful insight will be a welcome addition to the Republican side of the SDBlogOSphere. I'll get him added to my links on the right hand side of the page later tonight. As far as bad news goes, my 10 question subject backed out on me at the last minute. Rats. This one would have been really good. I'll have the return of this feature in another day or so. I have a good subject in mind I was working on for the installment after that. I'll just move that one forward, and get to question writing.

July 21 is a big day in SD Politics. Lots of people - some of whom I actually had met - were born today. Just to note a couple.... Former State Representative Mike Shaw, Sr. was born today in 1924. Mike has retired, and I believe is just recently remarried after the passing of his wife Marilyn (who was a real nice lady) a few years back. Don't confuse him with his lobbyist son, Mike Shaw, Jr., who continues to be an active participant in the legislative process. Sioux Falls Democrat Loila Hunking was also born today in 1939. Loila is a former legislator and Sioux Falls City Commissioner, and she also served on the Sioux Falls School Board. Happy Birthday from the SD War College.

From the 7/20 Argus Leader . If you haven't signed up yet, you need to do this tonight. We need good Republicans on that board in addition to the good Democrats there too: Published: 07/20/05 We're looking for three to four dozen people from across South Dakota to become members of the 2005-06 Dakota Comment panel. The requirements are simple. Each week you'll be e-mailed a question or issue. You e-mail back a response. Responses of five or so panelists will be published in the Argus Leader on Sundays, while all the responses will be posted on the Argus Leader Web site. There are no specific requirements for panel members. We're looking for a broad cross-section of South Dakota - geography, race, gender, age, occupation, educational background and political views. To apply, send: A brief biography of yourself, to include - name, age, address, telephone number, e-mail address, occupation, educational background, political views or affiliation (conservative, liberal...

I haven't shared this, because it did - and still does - mean a lot to me. Several weeks back, I had an e-mail inviting me to become a contributor to SDP . Having spent the entire last year or so reading them, I thought " Wow. What an honor ." I mean, these are the guys who really started it all in South Dakota political weblogging. They took it from idle rantings to a decisive tool in politics in this state. I seriously had to sit down and examine where I was going, and what I wanted to do with my blog. This is more thought than I put into my last car, and current home purchase. And as a result of my own agonizing, I had to say no. Why? For a couple of reasons. First, I'm in the middle of moving a household across the state. Second, and more importantly, I took a look at where South Dakota political blogging is today. Right now, there's really only two big South Dakota Republican Blogs; SDP , and Sibby . Ryne tends to be more Nebraska oriented, and while Radioa...

As I'm home for lunch eating a roast beef sandwich and blogging, I just saw that James Doohan - Scotty from Star Trek - just passed away. Okay, it's not political, but it's Scotty for god's sake. Read the Fair and Balanced account here . It's a little sad, I spent many a Saturday afternoon watching Star Trek re-runs listening to him say "I canna defy the laws of physics. I've got to have thirty minutes." In a suprisingly quick and responsive reply, Campaigns and Elections Magazine corrected the spelling error on my listing. Wow. No wonder they are the best at what they do. And what they do is cover campaigns. Also, coming soon (maybe yet tonight), my next installment of "10 questions with...." I think this one is going to be excellent, and definately a "must read." I have to say, I'm really pleased with the interviews, and the quality of people who are agreeing to do this. This interview will be no different. UPDATE: I also see...

I've added a "pay pal donate link" where if you feel so inclined* to make a tuition payment for the SD War College, the technology of paypal will allow you to help me with the upkeep of the website. It does cost me a few bucks to make the T-Shirts I have to print for my 10 question guests, and I really would like to transform this into video blogging at some point, which will require paid server space, so donate away! Thanks for your support. (*Yeah, I know, a Republican asking for money? Sounds like Metabank asking for donations for the DNA workers.)

One of the lessons I was taught early in politics was in reference to the colors that should be used in campaigns. Keeping it simple and straightforward, I was told to stick to red, blue, green and white for use in signs and logos. Well, as of this last election, I've come to call some of that into question. Larry Russell, who was within a few votes of being the GOP special election nominee against Herseth had a logo of black, white and and orangish brown. It was a rising sun over a windmill/farm scene. My thinking? The logo was ok, but Burnt umber? Bleaugh. Although, Larry stuck with his choice despite my badgering. And, in retrospect, it nearly took him over the top of a bunch of people who had already been in elected office. Then, not too many months later, PUC Candidate Dusty Johnson comes up with a logo comprised of orange and white. I believe I showed my disdain for the color choice by relating to Dusty what I'd been taught; That red is a good color for appealing to men,...

Campaigns and Elections Magazine put my weblog up on their website . Although they misspelled South Dakota (Dekota). I'll take the listing anyway.

If you'll recall my post a few weeks back , I was responding to Eddie's request from the SDMM weblog about my position on the whole smoked pharmaceutical thing. And I noted I wasn't sure of their chances, but generally, I discussed what ballot initiatives need to consider if they want to win. More recently, I posted on some of the commentary containted on the SDMM website about one of the assistant AG's; moreso than anything it was a convenient segueway into who our next AG might be. Eddie had noted that Bob Newland's words were his own. And Bob Newland took the opportunity to reply to my post and express some more disdain for prosecuting attorneys. I posted an innocuous reply, and Bob replied again. Fine. He can have the last word on that post. Just to see if there were any related comments, I visited the SDMM website recently, and checked out a couple comments left for one of the latest posts . And, boy. Did I get an earful. I don't even want to put it on m...

Just got back from TAR camp, giving the kids a talk on campaigning and politics. I kept it light and fun. PUC Commissioner Dusty Johnson commented that this was the first time anyone had invoked "Napoleon Dynamite" in a speech at TAR camp. I'm not sure if it was good or bad, but the kids seemed to get it. I gave the points I outlined in a prior post , and I also referred to other points (everything from Father Flanagan to Dirty Harry to Will Ferrell in Anchorman) including the slogan "Vote for Pedro." I noted how it was short, sweet and to the point. A good example for us political hacks who tend to over-analyze things. And, I spoke right after lunch, so it needed to be fast paced - I didn't want to put them to sleep. I really think Teenage Republican Camp is a good way to get young people inolved in a process that they seem to reject because it might be imposing. I've always thought the best way to change things is from within. Anyway, I got back, and ...

I'm heading off to Teenage Republican Camp to teach the young impressionable minds today. I might get a post in later tonight.

Joel Rosenthal at SD Straight Talk finally chimes in on the MAINstream coalition. Joel takes a slap at Bill Napoli for his behavior. Name calling as Napoli does may rally his base and endear him to others in his wing of the caucus, but calling people names (RINOs in this case) and wanting to show them the exit is not the way to good government nor the way to build a party. Acting in this fashion will find Republicans in the minority. The Republican Party was founded on the belief of giving rights and being tolerant to those who are different and in the minority. (Just anecdotally, when then Representative Napoli was the Assistant Majority Leader in the House (2001-2002), a partisan position, he often would oppose Republican caucus positions. He always said that he did this because of his principled positions but now he criticizes others and ask them to leave the party for the same motivation. Then, Joel takes a slap at Republican Leadership for not squelching Bill: This behavior hurt...

Okay, Since I really like the format of SD123, but no new blogs have been added in months, I'm going to try to get this to work for my own. I really want to have a single place to glance at to see if my favorite weblogs have been updated, so I'm trying to get a RSS web aggregator to work. Dont worry, I'll share. The web address is: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/sdwarcollege If I can ever figure out how this works, it will be gold. If not, it will go away in fovor of something else. If someone knows of something that works better, feel free to let me know, or build one yourself and tell me where to find it. Thanks.

OK, I'm not quite sure why I'm considered the guy who's always writing on this stuff. I see it, and I comment about it. It fascinates me, because it's really stirring the pot up as of late in my party, the GOP. I can't remember a single issue that' s energized the party like this in years. You have the MAINstream Coalition Members who are gushing over it. And there are others who, if they had a Spear and Magic Helmet * , might prefer to be calling down an electrical storm to smite the others. And then there are others who don't care one way or the other. Add Bob Ellis of the Dakota Voice newspaper, website and blog to the second group. He uses his website (And I suspect this will be a newspaper editorial as well) to give them heck in an editorial he entitles "The Belief Buffet": Yet I can at least respect true, unabashed dyed-in-the-wool liberals for one thing. I may vehemently disagree with them, and will oppose them at every opportunity, but I ...

If you ever happen into the Greenfield Family Convenience store in Clark South Dakota, right on the edge of town while driving on Highway 212 to Watertown, you can't miss the resident guard dog, Les. If you do stop, leave the hamburger scented cologne at home. I was stopping through one day to see if my friend, State Senator Brock Greenfield, was working at the family business, if just to give him a hard time. And then I saw this dog. Thinking about a life of crime breaking into convenience stores? Avoid this one. It is easily the biggest german shepard I think I've ever seen. I can't make the party, although it would be fun to try. So, Happy Birthday greetings from the SD War College to a really big dog in the Republican Party. (Not Brock, Les.)