South Dakota War College

In the Argus Leader this AM, Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Dennis Wiese is out on the trail telling gas station operators that Ethanol will be mandated EVERYWHERE in South Dakota. Except there's a few of those pesky details to work out. From the Argus : If elected governor, Democratic candidate Dennis Wiese says he'll mandate the availability of ethanol gasoline in every South Dakota community. He would create corridors along interstates 29 and 90 where fueling stations selling E-85 would be no more than 50 miles apart. and... Asked whether ethanol isn't already available in all of South Dakota's communities, Wiese, the former president of the South Dakota Farmers Union, said he estimates that a mandate of ethanol in every town would still result in additional sales of 10 million to 15 million gallons annually. As for how he would ensure the availability of E-85 fuel along the interstate corridors, Wiese admitted that he is still working out those details....

I JUST caught a quote being posted on the Blog in response to the goofy people from out of state who are protesting the oppression of chickens at Reptile Gardens. (I prefer my chicken fried rather than oppressed.). If you saw my blogpost a little while back , I was publicly expressing that I hoped they weren't going to cave to these goofs. From US Newswire : United Poultry Concerns Urges South Dakota’s Reptile Gardens Tourist Attraction to Drop Chicken 'Basketball' UPC urged Reptile Gardens to honor its claim to educate the public about the animals it houses by closing chicken basketball and tic tac toe the same as it closed its other trained animal shows. UPC asked Reptile Gardens to develop alternative programs that teach respect for the relationship that chickens and other birds share with reptiles in the course of evolution. and.. Want to hear something that's not funny from the group's founder? "The deaths of thousands of people ... reduced the am...

I see that KELO is going to host a televised forum with the Sioux Falls Mayoral Race this next week. From KELOland.com : KELOLAND News will air a special edition of Inside KELOLAND on Wednesday, April 19, at 6:30 PM CDT. Sioux Falls mayoral candidates Dave Munson and Bruce Halverson will debate and discuss a number of issues posed by KELOLAND political reporter Jodi Schwan.If you have a question for the candidates, please email Jodi . Now that we're down to two candidates, I hear that this race is going to get more heated. I'm told that there's some information running around how Halverson has been a big supporter of Munson's, and there is a glowing endorsement letter from him that's circulating. I'll see if I can chase any more information on that down. In the meantime, watch KELO on April 19, at 6:30 for what I hope is a big one-on-one debate.

In an AP story, The Rapid City Journal this AM reported that Congresswoman Herseth has a million dollars in the bank as compared to Bruce Whalen's $5000: Rep. Stephanie Herseth has raised about $1 million in her bid for re-election this November, and her Republican opponent has raised less than $5,000. Bruce Whalen, the Republican running against Herseth, will not file a fundraising report for the first three months of 2006, Whalen campaign manager Lee Breard said. Republicans - this should be a wake up call to get working for our candidate. Take a moment and write a check to the Whalen for Congress Committee.

And the campaign signs are blooming by the side of the road. This sign is for Samantha Stormo who is running for the House in District 6 (that's her photo in the top banner). She's got several signs up across the district with more to go up.

I was going to do some research this AM, but I notice that the national Judicial Accountability Act website - http://www.jail4judges.org is down hard. And the revolution is stalled out for a day.

Tim over at Progressive on the Prairie is keeping closer tabs on the AP news wire tonight than I am. He caught a story on Judicial Accountability Act sponsor Bill Stegmeier and the little matter of a tax bill that's hanging out there. Go read his story . And then you can take a look at this: Circuit Judge Max Gors of Pierre had asked whether the South Dakota Revenue Department's case against Stegmeier should be dismissed because nothing had happened in the civil case for a long time. But after a brief hearing Wednesday, Gors granted the Revenue Department's request to keep the case open. Bret Afdahl, a state lawyer, said the Revenue Department had nearly given up collecting the money it alleges Stegmeier owes because it had been unable to locate him, but officials learned of his whereabouts when he appeared in news accounts about the proposed amendment to the state constitution. "We were able to track him down that way," Afdahl said. Stegmei...

If you recall a few posts ago, in an attempt to try to understand the Judicial Accountability Act, I threw out an offer to the SD Jailer in Chief, Bill Stegmeier: If the JAILers will agree to it, I'll offer one of my 10 questions with... to Bill Stegmeier. What does he have to do to get the opportunity to be featured at the SDWC with no editorial comment from myself (excepting the slander of others). It's simple. I'll send him ten questions. And he sends me the answers to those questions. And that's all ten of them. Unlike the legislative hearing, he can't refuse to answer the ones he doesn't like. But, pursuant to the request he had of legislators, the questions will be in writing. What will the topics be? I'm going to ask Bill about the JAIL measure and his views on government. Same format as I've done for others. Everything he's written or has been written about himself and JAIL is fair game. To his credit, Bill very cordially replied. He did i...

The latest attack by Democrats in the Race for Governor sounds more like questioning from torquemada than legitimate debate. If you happen to have missed it the issue du jour for the Democrats is whether or not the Governor is going to serve a full four year term. As reported in today's Argus Leader, the Gov responded to those questions yesterday on Public Radio: "I understand what people are saying, some of the Democrats are worried I might be challenging Tim Johnson, who is my friend and who I have a very good working relationship with, in two years,'' Rounds said on the radio program. "I've indicated to folks from Day One, that if they look at my track record, that I've never left a job I've been elected to early.'' Rounds also said "I will tell you honestly that I really think at this stage of the game, this will probably be the last time that I actually run for a public office statewide within this state." But he said of makin...

If you recall a few posts ago, I invited Republicans to e-mail me information on promises that Democrats hadn't kept in response to the Dale Hargens article. While I didn't hear from any Republicans, my friend Rich Engels (Yes, I know Democrats too) sent me a few points he's going to be using as he runs against Republican incumbent Deb Peters. The first thing I asked Rich was "can I quote you on this?" And to his credit, he responded yes. I think this has the potential to be a pretty good feature on this blog. What Rich is sending me are three valid points where he thinks his opposition has failed. Or, in the case of another candidate, it could be three points where he's better than his opponent(s). So, for this feature, HERE'S THE RULES: In any instance, as a regular feature, I'd offer the focus of a blog post to any legislative candidate for three points whey they are better than their opposition, or why their opponent stinks, or any general points ...

Between working on a brochure, designing a t-shirt for a candidate, getting a screen ready for yard signs and a host of other things this evening, I did try to catch the election night coverage. I didn't see much of KDLT's coverage, although they did a good job with the scrolling at the bottom. KSFY was the preferred, and I didn't think KELO did worth a crap. HELLOO KELLOOO? Don't you cover Brookings, or doesn't KELO land extend north of Dell Rapids? For KSFY's good web results of the election, Click here . For KELO's mediocrity, Click here. KDLT has a website? Oh yeah, it's here. What were my thoughts on the elections? Munson dominated as expected, but Halverson unexpectedly peaked at the right moment. I was expecting the #2 to be Smith, but I'll wait for Epp's analysis on that. Vernon Brown's years on KELO certainly didn't hurt his name recognition any. I thought Murschel was going to do better, but she really didn't catch fire. Whe...

This one caught me by surprise. Carole Hillard, the Lt. Governor under pro-life Governor Bill Janklow, has come out with some less than supportive thoughts on HB 1215: Abortion activists speak to friendly crowd By Cara Pallone, For the Camera April 11, 2006 Participants on a panel concerning the South Dakota bill outlawing abortion said they were disheartened by the new law. The four speakers for "Get Your Hands Off My Body" delivered emotional stances at the Conference on World Affairs on Monday. Carole Hillard, who served four years on the South Dakota state Legislature, focused on the question, "How far should lawmakers go in controlling people and their bodies?" "The state Legislature is more conservative than they have ever been," she said. "The majority of us are appalled, but even so, it passed."

Actually, this time it's No on Amendment C. The effort to vote no on Amendment C has a website up and on-line, http://www.againstdiscrimination.org/ as run by the organization's director, Jon Hoadley. As stated on the website: One of the items on the ballot is Amendment C, an anti-marriage amendment that changes South Dakota’s constitution not only to define marriage as between a man and a woman, but also to prohibit the state from recognizing domestic partnerships, civil unions, and "quasi-marital" relationships. S outh D akotans A gainst D iscrimination.org will be the online campaign headquarters keeping you up to date on events, achievements, volunteer activities, and other ways to help the campaign. Amendment C was placed on the ballot by 2005's HJR 1001 . Interestingly enough, the votes on this bill haven't come up yet as a campaign issue. It passed 55-14 in the House with the following No votes: Bradford Nay Elliott Nay G...

When the subject of the legality of blogging and commenting came up in a recent article in the Rapid City Journal, South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long seems to be throwing in with us. Or at least he thinks what we do is mostly within the parameters of the law. From the Rapid City Journal : "What happens if on one of these blog sites a well-known businessman is accused of selling drugs out his backdoor, and it decimates his business?" Napoli said. "I believe everybody has the constitutional right of free speech. I do not believe they have the right to slander and lie about someone and not be called on the carpet for it." Long wouldn't rule out a legal carpet-call to libelous bloggers. But identifying the blogger could be as difficult as identifying the telephone caller, he said. "With the telephone calls, if you can figure out who it is and they've crossed the line, you can probably do something about it," Long said. "If you can figure ...

You might not see too much of me this week. I've got a bunch of stuff to catch up on. I've got ads to do, and stuff to write, a child's birthday, Easter, doing my taxes, etc. That and I've got a thing I'm going to try to write for the Mainstream Media on the Judicial Accountability act, if I can get it accomplished. I've got a few screenprinting screens I'm going to try to get burned. I was even thinking of making a few shirts as well, but every time I get to it, I run out of evening. Actually, the ads have my priority tonight after I do dinner. I did manage a good post over at the No on E weblog which you might use as filler while we wait for the municipal elections tomorrow night. I might have a report on the Davison County Lincoln Day Dinner, depending if anything goes on. I hear Thune is the speaker tonight, so that's going to be the place to be. Speaking of Thune, I see Larry Russell got a big promotion with the American Road and Transportation Buil...

In the Huron Daily Plainsman, Dale Hargens claims that Republicans aren't keeping their campaign promises. Republican candidates for the state Legislature should be held accountable for campaign promises that don’t always match their voting records, the House Democratic leader said Thursday in Huron. “We need to dig in and show what they have stood for in the past,” Dale Hargens of Miller said. “People at home seem to forget about it.” In an appearance before the Beadle County Democratic Forum, the six-year member of the Legislature who is seeking re-election said members of his party were able to increase K-12 education funding the past two years with support from some Republican senators. But Hargens said Democratic voters need to support the large field of candidates — including two former Republican legislators — so the party can gain enough seats to block extreme legislation. “Across the state, we have people stepping forward,” he said of Democratic candidates who filed nomina...

Under the prior post, I had an anonymous commenter bring up a point for the 3rd or 4th time. Aside from bringing up new information about a Judicial Accountability weblog, for a third or fourth time, it's crap. There is already a blog dedicated to amendment e check out amendment-e.blogspot.com AND ONCE AGAIN I will say.... This is about AMENDMENT E, NOT bill Stegmeier. You guys look like a bunch of kids scrambling around to discredit the neighborhood kid who is gonna tell your parents about something you did. Why not be constructive? Why not offer an actual debate instead of all this Bill Bashing. Remember there are 46,800 south Dakotans who think this law is needed, so stop and think about who you are also bashing...AND GROW UP!! As noted, there is a weblog which was created on the heels of the new one that was created to oppose the measure. Progressive on the Prairie and I even get a plug on it, although they left off the links. From the only post on the blog so far : These proce...

Just a couple of quotes to start your day. "Permit the People direct control over immunity of a nation's judiciary, and I care not who makes the money." Ronald Branson Thanks for your support in extracting America from the grip of the bankers and the NWO. Ronald Branson Go read about it here on the NEW NO-E-SD weblog .

It's not that I've got that much free time on my hands. But I think factual information on the Judicial Accountability Amendment, Amendment E, is important enough to warrant a weblog strictly devoted to the topic. You can find the weblog at http://no-e-sd.blogspot.com/ and I'm working on the inaugural post as we speak. That doesn't mean that I won't take the time to post on JAIL here. Rather, it's a good place to aggregate all the information I dig up without getting "too J.A.I.L. crazy" at the SDWC. God knows J.A.I.L. doesn't need any more crazyness. **BIG UPDATE** Tim over at A Progressive on the Prairie has agreed to join me on this blog and contribute articles on the South Dakota Judicial Accountability Act (Otherwise known as Amendment E xcrement). I'm excited about this, since we're both being cited as "the big critics" of the measure, and it's only appropriate. If it was only me, is would only be half a "beat d...

The Associated Press has now jumped on Gary Aguiar using his students, which means there's a good chance this story is going to go national. From today's Rapid City Journal - South Dakota State University administrators are checking into concerns from students who say Gary Aguiar, a political science professor, used students in his class to help him with his campaign for mayor of Brookings. The dean of SDSU's College of Arts and Sciences is investigating, but no written complaint was made, Carol Peterson, vice president for academic affairs, said. Students said Aguiar circulated a nominating petition in class, asked for campaign volunteers and encouraged another class to create a campaign strategy for him. One student, Brian Kimmes, said Aguiar's action was an abuse of power to campaign for Tuesday's mayoral election. and.. Professors may run for office, according to a Board of Regents policy, but they cannot use their position to push students toward politica...