SD Shovel

Senate “Gang” (Including Thune) Sells out to Donks on Drilling

Not-So-Slick Oil Bill

Intro to Article: Some GOP senators allied with Democrats are peddling a “drilling” bill that actually adds exploration restrictions, raises taxes and may even end up meaning no new domestic oil. Some Republicans never learn.

Does this ever nail it! It’s even worse than Charlie Brown trying to kick the football!

Whenever the nation is faced with a big problem that the people demand be solved, we can always be sure of one thing: A group of Republican senators will scramble away from their party’s principles to join Democrats in some grand “compromise” scheme.

This kind of stuff just drives me nuts! What’s wrong with showing some cojones for a change instead of falling for the false belief that a “Republican” compromise gesture gets us ANYTHING, except farther away from where we really need to be going.

Unfortunately SD’s lone GOP Senator John Thune has bought into (or been bought into) this display of political pusillanimity.

The bipartisan “Gang of 10,” led by Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota has grown into a “Gang of 16,” with GOP Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Sununu of New Hampshire the newest misguided Republicans. A more apt nickname would be “The Gang That Couldn’t Think Straight.”

The “comprehensive” bill that these four, plus fellow Republicans Bob Corker of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Johnny Isakson of Georgia and John Thune of South Dakota are joining with Democrats to push would exclude — permanently — the entire Pacific Coast from drilling. It would also limit a lot of the Atlantic Coast, and ban drilling anywhere within 50 miles of shore.(Emphasis added.)

Hey, Senator…if EVERY ACRE in the country was planted to ethanolic corn crops, it STILL wouldn’t be enough to maintain our fuel supplies…we need to drill wherever there’s oil - and the recent experience of the Gulf production platforms in the face of repeated hurricanes, shows that this can be done with extremely minimal environmental risk.

It’s almost enough to make a life-long (the Chief started his involvement with Youth for Goldwater before he could even vote) Republican activist give up on the once Grand Old Party…but for what alternative? Maybe it’s time to revive the Whigs or something, since The Libertarians, and other minor parties are fatally flawed at present by their hopelessly blind situational awareness concerning the national security problems we have with Islamofascism, and the resurgent Soviet Union Russia and Putin’s Cold War II.

What a great end to an amazing day. Since I woke up this morning, I’ve been watching in awe as three champions shone about their competition — one local, one national, and now one world champion.

The Local Champion

This morning I had the opportunity to walk the Central States Fair Parade route with Elli Schwiesow — the real Republican candidate for District 32 Senate — and witness her energy and zeal one more time. The lovely Stephanie Trask set out with signs and literature with the intent to flank Elli as she walked. Little did we know that we would both be flanked by Elli herself, bouncing from curb to curb as she recognized folks. I’ve done a few of these parades, and have never seen a more energetic candidate outside the TeenAge Republicans.

Noticeably absent from the parade was the beady-eyed hijacker of the good name of the Republican Party. I wonder if it was too hot for his Cadillac’s air-conditioning unit. Meanwhile, Elli had about 50 people, four vehicles and two mules on her team (no pun intended). One of the announcers joked that she had a quarter of the parade in her entry.

No matter how you cut it, Elli’s grassroots support is there. What has yet to be determined is whether District 32 voters will choose a champion values with grassroots support, or if they will choose the chump with hidden agendas and big money.

I know who’s got my support!

The National Champion

I’ll leave the deep punditry to others, but it’s safe to say John McCain was the audience favorite at tonight’s forum at Saddleback Church. He topped Obama on all the issues, and probably more importantly to voters, personality (the liberal talking heads began excusing Obama, attributing his lackluster performance to nerves from his harrowing plane ride). Although I personally cringed every time McCain started to tell a story, each anecdote was very well timed, appropriate and most importantly, applicable. I’m sure the Dems will try have tried to cast him as an old-timer, for the stories he told. However, we need to remind them how much wisdom is in those words.

The World Champion

Although the Olympic fanfare is starting to ring with me in a manner akin to my alarm clock — partially because I’ve fallen asleep a few times this week with the TV on, only to be awoken by the sound of trumpets — I’ve got to tip my hat to the arguably best Olympian of modern times, Michael Phelps. His performance tonight was nothing short of inspirational. My only thought (along with the rest of the cynical nation) is how long will it be until this great hero gets accused of doping, or some other method of cheating. Seems like every time we get behind an athlete as a nation, the accusations start flying.

But for now, Congratulations #1! U-S-A! U-S-A!

From the Right-Wing Whackos who bring you the SD Wingnuts Blog

Well, if Bill Kristol says it, it’s got to be true, right?

From the FOX News Election Center:

Sources say former Secretary of State Colin Powell will endorse Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol told FOX News exclusively on Thursday.

“He may well give a speech at the Democratic convention explaining his endorsement of Obama,” Kristol m a FOX News contributor, said, citing inside sources.

“This is not an absolute done deal, but these people are very confident that Powell will endorse Obama,” Kristol said, adding that he thinks Powell, a Republican, still has “a high respect” for John McCain, Obama’s Republican rival.

Powell spokeswoman Peggy Cifrino strongly denied the report.

“There’s absolutely no truth to it whatsoever,” Cifrino told FOXNews.com. “Colin Powell will not be at either convention. There’s absolutely no truth to this.”

Roll Call executive editor Mort Kondracke, also a FOX News contributor, said he personally has spoken with Powell, who denied the report and said he has made no endorsement decisions, according to Kondracke.

An endorsement by Powell could go a long way to attracting moderates and wayward Republicans to the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate.

Read the rest at http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/13/kristol-colin-powell-to-endorse-barack-obama.

Read more conservative punditry at the S.D. Wingnut Blog.

If my previous post wasn’t enough, I have another South Dakota stupid government report:

The Board of Regents is fine-tuning a campus emergency alert system after a summer test uncovered problems in delivering a test message.

The system was tested in June on the six state university campuses and the two specialty schools for the deaf and the visually impaired that are administered by the regents.

At a meeting Friday in Spearfish, the board discussed the campus alert system and the updates.

“We learned a lot from the summer test,” said Monte Kramer, the vice president of administrative services for the regents. “What we learned caused us to rethink how we’re putting data in the system.”

The system contacts students, faculty and staff through landline and cellular phones, text messaging, e-mail and instant messaging.

Of the eight campuses, six had between 30 and 61 percent of those contacted confirm they received the message. The remaining two had less than 30 percent confirm the notification.

Everyone will find out much quicker by hearing the shots ring out.But the government doesn’t want students to defend themselves by allowing concealed carry.

To see what happens when citizens can shoot back, see this post.

The liberal South DaCola just doesn’t get it.

What kind of a low have we sunk to where a pastor is condemned for speaking plainly about what is true and what is moral. Our society used to commend pastors for that, and used to appreciate that pastors helped keep our society healthy and safe.

Now such pastoral dedication is not only rare, but often met with scorn.

I noted a couple of days ago that South DaCola was awful touchy about the abortion issue when Pastor Steve Hickey at Voices Carry blogged on Leslie Stusiak, the new Regional Field Director for the South Dakota Campaign for UnHealthy Families.

South DaCola was in a tiff because Hickey provided some information about this young woman, and I pointed out that the information provided was not super-secret or information of an intimate or embarrassing nature; pretty much what you could Google up with a few seconds effort. And wanting to know something about a leader in a major public policy group in South Dakota is completely legitimate and natural.

Apparently my appeals to reason fell on deaf ears, because South DaCola took another swipe at Pastor Hickey today, among other things saying Hickey is an “ideologue.”

South DaCola says an ideologue is…

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

It seems the debate over preschool and universal pre-k are getting started even earlier this year.

Today the Argus Leader from Sioux Falls has two articles on the subject, one examining efforts in the legislature for the past two years to set standards for private preschools, and another examining a new behavior-based preschool being started by Avera Health.

The article on official standards features a quote from South Dakota War College blogger Pat Powers:

Pat Powers of Brookings, an unsuccessful legislative candidate in June who frequently blogs on the topic of the “nanny state,” says preschool standards don’t concern him as much as more heavy-handed state actions.

“My argument has always been that if you’re going to have preschool, it’s not inappropriate for the state to set some minimum standards,” Powers says. “It should always be up to the parent to decide if the child will participate.”

Chris Hupke of the South Dakota Family Policy council, however, more closely reflects my concerns:

Where we get concerned is when the government starts pushing into an area that is already being serviced by private groups, and preschool is being served,” says Chris Hupke, president of the South Dakota Family Policy Council. “That’s our concern. Businesses, churches and private enterprise are providing the service already.”

When government starts getting involved in something, it isn’t long before that something becomes mandatory…

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

By now news has broke across South Dakota like a firestorm that Senator Tim Johnson has announced that he will not be able to participate in any debates this election season.

I have been open and honest about my recovery. While my speech continues to improve it is not yet 100 percent and I have not yet reached a point in my rehab where my participation in a debate would accurately reflect my capabilities. Therefore I will not participate in traditional political debates during this campaign.

Johnson suffered a brain hemorrhage more than a year and a half ago and has been working hard to come back from this debilitating injury. Despite notable progress, he still faces serious challenges in his mobility and speech.

These difficulties have been the source of speculation for months, over whether Johnson would be able to participate in the usual campaign debates, or would even be able to run for reelection at all.

Recent weeks have seen considerable discussion, especially among South Dakota blogs, over whether Johnson would participate in the upcoming DakotaFest debate later this month and a scheduled October KELO TV debate. Republican challenger Joel Dykstra had already committed to both debates.

This must have been a heartbreaking decision for Senator Johnson and those close to him to reach. Still, Johnson’s advisors surely knew this would be an issue during the campaign…

To read more, go to Dakota Voice

Leslee Unruh, after two-plus decades of frontline work in South Dakota on behalf of women in crisis pregnancies and the unborn, finds herself faced off with an anti-life “Leslie.” Meet the newly hired Regional Field Director for the South Dakota Campaign for UNHealthy Families, Leslie Stusiak (more interesting stuff on who she is below). Surely she’ll give her heart and soul to this thing but don’t think for a moment this campaign is being led by anyone other than the out of state big guns and big bucks of the Planned Parenthood cartel.  Of course it’s hard to tell just via a brief video, but I’m not seeing strong, seasoned, nor strategic leadership in the new Leslie video debut.

Read rest of post at Voices Carry

Many vendors in the Black Hills raise their prices during the Sturgis Rally, and therefore make killer profits off of a two-week stretch. Is it acceptable for the U.S. Government to essentially do the same thing?

Check out what prompted this question at the SD Wingnuts Blog.

This is just too strange not to note.

One Nation, Under a New Obama Salute

These people are entering realms of consciousness that are more typical of north-central Europe in the 1930’s than anything that has come since.  How very weird this is…not just the whole idea itself, but the overpowering need that Obamanationers have to absolutely DEVOTE themselves to what is apparently becoming a Fuhrer-figure to them.

Also, enough already of the neo-Boshevik style poster art - a Freudian slip is showing somewhere, for sure.

But you say there’s not really anything totalitarian going on here? Come again? What about The Candidate Of Change promising that he will CHANGE the details of our lives…no matter what WE want to do:

…he is going to give us not just new politics, but new lifestyles. He recently told an audience, “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.”

Read on at RadioActive Chief

The deception in the abortion debate has begun and continues, and it’s the same folks doing it now as did it in 2006: pro-abortionists and pro-abortion blogs.

The South DaCola blog claims today that a recent post at Voices Carry is “misleading” because it points out that the South Dakota Campaign for UnHealthy Families seems to have designed their website to use a very similar color scheme to the VoteYesForLife.com website. (No mention of my post that same day, even earlier than Pastor Steve’s–sniffle, sniffle)

South DaCola claims the old UnHealthy Families website had similar colors to the new site, and that it’s VoteYesForLife.com that’s the copycat.

Sorry, I know that with all the years of “mainstream” liberal media dominance, liberals feel entitled to revise history and facts at will, but there’s a “new media” in town now…

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

There are some in the pro-life community who don’t support South Dakota’s latest pro-life measure, Initiated Measure 11.

IM 11 is a measure which would ban most abortions in South Dakota. Unlike Referred Law 6 in 2006, IM 11 contains exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.

The exceptions in IM 11 were carefully written to prevent abuse.

For instance, the health exception requires that the issue must involve “a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of the functioning of a major bodily organ or system.” In making this determination, the abortionist must use “accepted standards of medical practice” which must be documented in the woman’s medical records. In other words, the claim to invoke this exception cannot be frivolous and must be medically substantiated.

The exception for rape and incest requires that the incident be reported to law enforcement authorities before…

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

From KXMB in Bismark, North Dakota on Operation Dakota Peacekeeper, which increased the number of law enforcement officers on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation which is mostly in South Dakota and partly in North Dakota.

The reservation has had a crime problem…

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.

This is from a KEVN report about Senator John McCain’s appearance at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota yesterday.

For more, go to Dakota Voice,

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Pro-life initiative Measure 11 offers South Dakota voters an opportunity to stand in defense of preborn human life during the November election, and carries the endorsement of Focus on the Family Action in conjunction with the South Dakota Family Policy Council.

Both groups are urging South Dakota voters to vote “yes” on Measure 11, which would prohibit abortion except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life or health of the mother is endangered by the continued pregnancy.

To read more, go to Dakota Voice.