Dakota Today

**Pleasant Surprise last night...No Cover No Minimum

I really have a very low tolerance for "music" mumbled or garbled with strange vocal qualities and lyrics comprehensible only if TV captions are on and which seem to be a common denominator of the trash hyped on most CBS morning shows and unfortunately with most late night TV shows.

 Having seen nearly every Lawrence Welk show a half dozen times by now, even bubbly music sung clearly has gotten old.

 But, last night on SDPB was a pleasant surprise. The group East of Westreville was on SDPB TV "No Cover, No Minimum" show. Good lively and crystal clear with what sounded to my aged and less than perfectly tuned ears to be beautiful harmony and always understandable lyrics. Take a look at what is apparently their web site.  Better photos there than those I took of the TV screen.
 Comfort Theater -- East of Westreville
If you did not hear the show or even if you did, you might want to buy their CD.

 The regulars..apparently Brian Bonde, Kaija Bonde, Boyd Bristow, and Al Slaathaug were joined on a few numbers by Owen DeJong of SDPB classical music playing "fiddle" and Bruce Preheim playing harmonica. Most of the songs were familiar or of the kind you could sing along with if one does not mind embarrassing oneself in the privacy of one's own living room.

 I was surprised to hear that Norma Brick Samuelson was Kaija Bonde's mother and her grandfather was Norman Westre of you guessed it Westerville. It has been around 50 years ago that I and a childhood friend decided we should ride our old balloon tire bicycles about 7 miles to Westerville to buy some firecrackers around July 4. I think our 4-H club may have played a game or two of softball in that area. My parents, grandparents, and some uncles are buried in a nearby cemetery now.

And, after all these years I finally put the family name "Westre" together with "Westreville?"  even though "Westerville" shows up on SD maps. I wondered as a child what it was "wester" of anyway. The 1985 Wakonda Centennial Book has a few stories or articles about Lodi and Westerville and also the cemeteries near there. The "Norma Brick" and "Bob Samuelson" names perked up my ears since they were involved with Democratic politics back in the days when I did a little more than just bitch about politicians here at Dakota Today.

 

**Stay tuned even if you can't carry a tune--- Doug Wiken

**Buyer's remorse: Biden over Hillary

Wow, listening to the Sabbath Gasbags today, there seems to be a lot of buyer's remorse about the Obama selection of Joe Biden as Vice President compared with the Sen. Clinton option.

 It should be noted that most of it came from George Will and Rudy Giuliani and in ads presented by the McCain campaign of many houses. George Will was spinning the terribleness of the Biden selection until there was the smell of burned rubber around him today on ABC. Giuliani was on as well in an interview and he seemed terribly concerned about the Biden selection and the impact on the Democratic Party.

 I was truly surprised by his compassion for Democrats and Hillary. I suspect it will not last past the GOP convention however. And, on second thought, maybe Rudy Judy's concern for Hillary not getting on the ticket may have had something to do with both Hillary and Rudy being from New York state. This all appears to be a tempest in a teapot to me and not a bit like the T. Boone Pickens tempest in a teapot dome.

 There seems to be an inordinate amount of unchallenged silliness on Sunday morning and not all of it is in the Sunday sermons.

 We will know soon enough how the Obama-Biden combination works. At least their names are both short enough they will make for good signs and bumperstickers. Maybe by the time the GOP convention comes around, John McCain will remember how many bedrooms or at least houses he has slept in with his very rich trophy wife.

 

*** Stay tuned the conventions will be over in literally a few days.

**How many Republican apologists to screw in a light bulb........?

I just haven't come up with a good answer, but the old joke style seems to fit the situation despite that. So, How many Republican apologists does it take to screw light bulbs into all of John McCain's Houses?

John McCain apparently wouldn't know because he wasn't even aware that in his joint property state, he and his wife own seven, or eleven, or more homes and a "cabin" or two that graced a home decorating magazine and would probably make the homes of most SD voters look like an old shanty in old shanty town.

 I suspect of course that all those SD voters including Sibby and the paid-bloggers of the past campaign who got their panties in a knot about Tom Daschle's house in Washington, DC will certainly vote against McCain for his outrageous house extravagance. They probably also know he is getting $2200 or $2400 a month in social security payments even as he also gets a Senate salary and his trophy wife apparently has about a hundred million in assets generating half a dozen or so million in income each year.

 Too bad there isn't a Talon News with a phony"reporter" to get this news about McCain houses (that make Daschle look like a real piker) distributed to all the kept bloggers.

Or, perhaps if they excuse McCain for forgetting he has slept in more than one bed with his trophy wife, they might wonder if McCain is already suffering from problems like those that plagued (or plaqued) Ronald Reagan. They sure wouldn't want that kind of guy in the White House considering how irate some of them are about Sen. Johnson's speech problems.

Or, just remember in the World of Republican family values, "It is OK if You are a Republican"...no matter what, and "Republican family values follow wealth no matter how it was stolen."

**Stay tuned even if you can't remember why you voted for John Thune--- Doug Wiken

**Somebody has the Democratic Veep Race all figured out

I don't have the exact source. The following was posted in a forum:

From the comments on Daily Kos:
 Okay, I know some of you have been complaining that Barack's been Biden his time with this veep choice thing, but don't believe everything you Reed. The choice has already been made -- they just have to Hagel over some details. Sure, the Webb has been buzzing about a wide variety of candidates, and maybe Nunn of our speculation has been getting any Warner. But does Zinni one think Obama's just sitting around, blaring Sibelius in his limo while munching Graham crackers and Clark bars? He's Jones-ing for a fight in November. And soon he'll text us the answer, which will Rendell all of this moot. I, for one, doubt any possible choice will Daschle our hopes completely... but, in Casey chooses someone we don't care for, we still need to stand Bayh him. Yes, we Kaine.

There does seem to be an inordinate amount of time and space spent on speculation regarding the Vice Presidential nominations. Hope the above helped the Democrats reading this get their fill for the day.

**Stay tuned and if you haven't heard the same old same old,same old same old, It goes like this, "Mission Accomplished" and "The Surge Worked"---- Doug Wiken

** Highway crash deaths.. counts versus rates and NPR with Robert Reich

Robert Reich on NPR August 20, 2008 noted that the number of US traffic deaths is down. He also noted that roads and cars are not a lot better because both highway funding and money available for new vehicle purchases are down because of the dreadful US economy. He predicted that next year with an even more rotten economy would be the "safest year yet" or something much like that.

 Much as I usually appreciate former Labor Secretary Reich's comments, he was using the wrong kind of statistic for his comments. There are several ways to look at crash fatalities, but a simple count is probably not the best and as used by Reich almost misleading if not irrelevant. Using rates such as crash deaths per million miles of vehicle travel or crash deaths per registered vehicle, etc. provide more relevant and explanatory information. A declining economy may also influence the rate of crash deaths, but I would guess that measure would not change in the same way the raw count data has or will.

 Factors which might produce an actual statistically significant change in the rate are more likely to involve increased and more effective enforcement of drunken driving laws, reduction of the speed limit to 55 or 60 miles per hour, uniform and better highway signing, increased seat belt use, etc.

 More useful information than that presented in the way Reich did today can be found at the links below:
 Wikepedia general information on Road Traffic Safety
 Governors Highway Safety Officers Association on Historic crash data
The GHSA has an agenda, but the information is useful anyway even if it is aimed at showing these officials may actually earn some of their income.

 And below thanks to John is a link to a story that only relates somewhat to the story on crash data in a way that shows the need for separate data on intentional and unintentional injury.
 Hell hath no fury like a drunken woman in a car

 

**Meanwhile, stay tuned and remember a slogan I wrote for the SD Highway Safety program about 40 years ago, "Good Neighbors Drive Sober"--- Doug Wiken

** BIg RED is a video camera and it is apparently no dog

I skimmed through the last WIRED magazine past the kinky celebrity photos into the technology stuff. On about page 130 is a story on a new digital video camera with resolution capability comparable to 35mm film. The price seems high, but compared to other cameras used for actual movie making, apparently $17,500 is a good price.

 Below are links that those interested in making very high quality "film" might want to check:
WIRED Online with RED Camera story that appears to be same as that in printed magazine
 Below is link to the RED Camera Company website:
RED Cameras The current "4K" version is what the WIRED story concerned. Other models and options are also available.
 Below is a Wikipedia article on the company which seems to parallel the WIRED story.
Wikipedia article on the Red Digital Camera Company

I don't suppose a local banker would be excited about loaning me money on such a device, cutting edge deal or not. But, if you have the resources and want to make digital cinema with character and quality comparable to film, this thing might be interesting.

 

***Stay tuned maybe I will find an affordable bargain yet this year--- Doug Wiken

**Some followup on previous posts at Dakota Today

In a recent post on SDPB Radio Midday Forum, I mentioned the perils of ignorance. Apparently I was not the only one who noticed since Paul Guggenheimer (to his credit) today read an e-mail from "Charles in Sioux Falls..I think" which mentioned the same problem and he noted a few of the GOP miscreants as well.

But, not to Paul Guggenehimer's credit, he soon followed up with a comment that the "Edwards Affair was exponentially worse" now than it was initially. I'm not sure about that and apparently neither was David Kranz. The Edwards sexual dalliance has apparently already knocked him out of serious consideration for any kind of elected or appointed government position and surely caused more than a little domestic friction for him. Not sure such a disaster could ever be "exponentially worse", but perhaps what little I know about mathematics causes the word to have different meanings for me than for PG. But enough on that.

 Another post I made here some time ago asked a few questions about the South Dakota Vehicle registration system and the new computer SNAFUs connected with the SD:CARS project. Some of my questions have been somewhat answered. For more information check Cory Heidelberger's post at Keloland or Madville Times note also the links to Ehresman's South Dakola blog which has copies of the letters mentioned. In short, it appears the mess and expense is even more tangled and expensive than I had assumed.
 Madviille Times at KELOLAND on SD:CARS
If you wish to make comments on that story head to the actual Madville Times blog:
 Madville Times Blog on SD:CARS SNAFU

Well, better quit on this. Not the time to be posting. I might go all day without a phone call, but start posting or visit the bathroom and the phone will start ringing.

 

***Stay tuned. I may even try out the new vehicle licensing system myself tomorrow-- Doug Wiken

**Extremism driving Mediocrity of the Moderate?

Barry Goldwater was often hammered for his statement something to the effect that "Extremism in the pursuit of virtue is not a vice". For whatever that is worth, the harsh negative reaction to it has not made moderation a virtue despite our politicians pandering to that idea.

It appears to me, at least for today, that perhaps the abhorrence of the violent or near violence of the destructive extremism of the far right or the far left has driven our politicians to at least mouth support for middle or "across the aisle" positions which they can claim actually solve something when they blather to the voters terrified of being anything but moderate. It also seems that these politicians also paint actual solutions as extremism to make killing real solutions easier.

Unfortunately, there are many times when those middle positions are really a mediocre middle which holds mindless compromises which guarantee that nothing in the way of serious problems is ever actually solved. Politicians can "solve" these problems right before every coming election.

 This situation also seems to communicate that any kind of integrity between what is said and done compared with what is actually known or believed has disappeared for these middle of the road mediocrocrats or mediocreprubs or they have no guiding principle other than asking, "Will this help me get re-elected."

 If there is something to attack in the way politicians like Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin and Tim Johnson represent us, this middle mediocrity seems to fit. I of course don't know for sure, but I mostly got the feeling that what George McGovern said and did very probably closely correlated with what he actually knew and believed. And, if that meant he was in a difficult position with voters, he made an attempt to provide information that would help voters see the wisdom of his perspectives.

Our politicians in both parties have become so adept at holding a finger to the wind in the middle of bank or business lobbies that they are clueless about the damage they are actually doing by pursuing the mediocrity of the moderate middle. The "reality" of these gutless politicians has cost the US dearly in terms of world respect and world power.

The primary current example is the war in Iraq. We need to clean house in Congress if there are actual alternatives to do the job if the incumbents are swept out of office. I don't care if the senator or representative is a Republican or Democrat who supported Bush wars in Iraq. That was such an obvious blunder prior to the actual blunder that the support for the Bush war powers is a kind of tipping point for removal from office.

*** Stay tuned, I might be in a moderate mood by tomorrow--- Doug Wiken

**Weather Photo...Boiling Clouds

A week or so ago early in the evening, clouds off to the SE were boiling. We got only a few drops of rain right in Winner, SD that evening, but there was strong wind, heavy rain, and hail that evening in other parts of the county.

The last few days, we have had an inch or two of rain without very much hail. The ground is wet right now. South Dakota weather is very variable, but, if the recent findings of dimming of the sun and global warming being underestimated are correct, we should probably expect even more variable weather.

 Our politicians are dancing around issues like abortion and how to support the troops without supporting the war as the economy goes down the drain and ignorance of science may actually be converting our planet into something barely inhabitable by humans. We deserve better from our elected officials.

 

*** Stay tuned, the sun will shine tomorrow..tomorrow....be glad I am not including actual audio--- Doug Wiken

**The perils of ignorance in SD Media...Midday at SDPB

I just heard Paul Guggenheimer? say that with the Edwards affair, it seems that all such hanky-panky (not his term) seems to be associated with Democrats including Bill Clinton, Edwards, Ted Kennedy, and Eliot Spitzer (not sure if he mentioned Jack Kennedy).

But, PG apparently forgot or is unaware of the marital infidelity..sometimes bordering on serial infidelity of some prominent Republicans including John McCain, Rudy Judy, Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, and others (on edit: I forgot about Larry Craig and the SD GOP's very own Ted Klaudt).

(another edit: Just to help "newsmen" properly relate to Republican sex scandals, I am generously providing the link below:

  Partly unsourced or poorly sourced list of GOP "sex scandals")

And then there were also the stories of now Libertarian but then Republican Bob Barr buying an abortion for his ex-wife and licking whipped cream off the bare breasts of a stripper in a fundraiser of some kind. Another Republican congress critter whose name I can't remember right now, but who was on TV nearly nightly attacking Bill Clinton's morals but had or formerly had on his own staff a woman who also happened to have his illegitimate son which he had also supported.

Don't get me wrong, I don't see Republican adultery and hanky-panky as justifying Democratic politicians hanky-panky. All of them in such situations may betray the trust of their spouses as well of their supporters no matter which party they belong to. If they wish to represent us, they also seem to owe us some minimal personal propriety even if it may be totally irrelevant in regard to their own actual performance as government officials. Generating fodder for window peepers is not in the job description.

 I do see a problem when somebody in the news media seems unaware of Republican Adultery and Hanky-panky, but can remember nearly every Democratic such misbehavior that has graced the pages of the prurient press. Neither party has a monopoly on virtue.

 In the discussion of Sen Johnson's disability and reluctance to debate opponent Dykstra, here are a couple of my comments they refused to put on the air. Somebody in another forum (not myself) raised the idea of Stephen Hawking's disability which prevents him from speaking. ALS has him almost completely paralyzed, but he remains one of the most brilliant minds in the world of physics and other sciences. Johnson may be in the same sort of situation even if he was never close to Hawking in brilliance to begin with. And, for all I know the actual physical situations are markedly different.

 The other point was a suggestion to newspapers that they invite Johnson and Dykstra to respond to written questions with each in a separate room with pencil and paper and then the paper or papers can publish the result. If Johnson can physically write, this would seem to be a level playing ground with equal opportunity for the two candidates to demonstrate their knowledge and perspective.

 

**Stay tuned maybe one of these days we will learn if Paul Guggenheimer  thinks Al Gore was a liar and George Bush was a compassionate conservative truth teller-- Doug Wiken

** Reliable rumor... price of the Argus Leader newspaper to increase

The news-stand news around here is that the prices of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader are to increase soon. Currently the Sunday paper is $1.50 and the daily papers are 50 cents. Rumor is that soon the daily papers will be 75 cents and the Sunday paper will be $2.00. That might be great news for the South Dakota government collectors of sales tax, but maybe not.

 After the ARGUS recently scrambled their paper, the actual news content seemed to significantly decrease, but perhaps that is just my warped perception since I don't view a Sports page as news and a "Voices" section seems like the wrong name for anything in a newspaper. Anyway, I dragged out an old baby scale labeled "Not Legal for Trade", and wondered who was selling babies anyway, but set it to zero and cleaned off the magnifying window and tossed on the ARGUS I bought today.

The news, views, and sports part of the paper weighed about 1/4 th of a pound. The classified sections and the glossy ads totaled about 1 and !/4 pounds. Not sure if that means anything, but to me it suggests something is seriously wrong if they must raise the rates on a paper that becomes more and more like a free shopper every month or so.

Maybe it is the tightwad in me, but I had a hard time justifying paying the old prices. I suspect increased prices may cause me to only rarely buy the ARGUS anymore.

 

**Stay tuned even if you can't turn pages here--- Doug Wiken

**The 50% Solution... Sen. Johnson and Dykstra

Some of the Republican outlets and Republican or Republican-leaning blogs are having a hi ho time with Tim Johnson's saying he will not debate GOP Opponent Dykstra.

 Much as I disagree with Johnson and his vote on Bush War, at the present time, it would appear that a nominally Democratic Sen. Johnson speaking at even only 50% of his former ability in the Senate is still a hundred percent better than a freshman Republican who hasn’t yet said anything to suggest he would be anything but much worse than Johnson .

 We have already seen the consequences of having a Thune in the Senate instead of a Daschle. It should not take a 2×4 between the eyes for South Dakotans to see which is better for South Dakota considering the current economic situation. Dykstra could always try the "empty chair debate" tactic, but the chair might beat him. Can anybody remember an issue mentioned by Dykstra that means anything in a general election?

 However, the Democratic Party better be doing as much as possible to get a replacement ready for Johnson if his speech doesn’t improve significantly in the next year or two. At some point, the Democratic Party will start to look like the Republican Party with Karl E. Mundt when his illness made it impossible for him to continue talking out of both sides of his mouth.

 

**Stay tuned, there may still be about a 100 days until the General Eection--- Doug Wiken

**Edwards repeats the arrogant, stupid behavior of other politicians. What is wrong with politicians?

Can't our politicians ever learn anything of significance from other politician's mistakes?

 There was Newt Gingrich going to the hospital where his first wife was suffering with cancer to inform her he was divorcing her. McCain divorced his formerly beautiful wife after she was disfigured in a serious vehicle crash. Awfully tacky.

I supported John Edwards, but his doing something this incredibly stupid should certainly give him a long period of well-deserved political and government obscurity if for no other reason than he should have been smart enough to learn something from the sexually-challenged ethics of Bill Clinton and the hypocritical Republican horndogs doing all the tut-tutting as they steamed the windows of offices and vehicles.

 I guess we Democrats can at least be glad we did not end up seeing Edwards and wife on 60 Minutes trying to present a case of some kind for something a few weeks before the coming election. But it is small consolation.

 

**Stay tuned for more political soap opera..well probably not...I hope-- Doug Wiken

**What is it with John Thune, GOP Presidential candidates, and Ag Policy?

John Thune may have no influence whatsoever with the presidential end of his party for all I know, but recent visits of GOP presidential candidates to South Dakota and their further policy and position statements after talking with Thune seem to indicate a problem of two ..or two dozen.

In the last election, Thune and Bush spent a part of a day together in western SD if my memory is even close to correct and soon after Bush announced he would not support drought disaster payments for scorched western South Dakota.

 Republican presidential candidate and husband of a trophy wife, John McCain, went to Sturgis to talk to a crowd paying to see entertainment with John Thune of GOP Hunk Calendar fame. Just hours later McCain goes to a midwest farm state and says he opposes ag subsidies and the ag program is loaded with pork he would slaughter dead in the fast track of congressional legislation.

 Does sort of make a person say, "Hmmmm???"

**Stay tuned as we wait nearly breathlessly for the Thune Spin on this--- Doug Wiken

***Sen Obama -- Berlin; Sen McCain -- Sturgis

Yesterday Sen. John McCain rode the "straight-talk Express" from Rapid City to Sturgis, SD apparently and spoke to 40,000 or 50,000 bikers and hangers on. A week or two ago, Sen Obama visited Berlin Germany and had a crowd estimated to be 200,000.

So, yesterday Sen. McCain said something like, "I'd rather hear the roar of 50,000 Harley Davidsons than the roar of a crowd of 200,000 Germans!!" He got loud applause with that.

That would be the compare part of this. The contrast would be: Sen. McCain followed a crowd to Sturgis to speak to them; but a crowd of 200,000 Berliners followed Sen. Obama to hear him.

That might say something about apples and oranges or about being a leader or a follower.

**Stay tuned, they haven't even gotten to their conventions yet-- Doug Wiken

*** Digital to Analog TV converters and TV broadcasting going digital

OK, you may already have gotten your nice red government $40 gift rebate coupon for a DTV digital to Analog converter just in case you don't intend to shell out a wad for a new large screen digital TV and made the conversion already. If so, you may be wasting your time reading this post. Anyway, about a month and a half ago, I decided it might be time to see if we could get any digital signal at all using our off-air antennas and do it before there was no analog signal to even use as a test.  I sent in an order for the coupons...and waited.

Local Pamida had a $99 sale price on a 13 inch Sansui Digital tuner TV set...think it was DTV-1300.  So in a weak moment a week or so ago, I bought one just to check what happened with getting digital off air instead of via cable or satellite.  At a house on a hill in Winner, we have only an amplified rabbit ear antenna.  The 13-inch digital Sansui had a good analog picture on Public TV channel 10, KELOLAND channel 6, and KSFY on channel 4, and it found some of the digital signals when the digital channel scan was run, but it would only signal a "weak signal" error message and would not display any of the digital channels.

I took the set out to our farm house where I have a good antenna in the attic pointed toward Reliance about 40 miles away.  I also have an amplifier on a good antenna pointed toward Bassett, Nebraska which will bring in an analog signal from there..not as good a signal however.  I don't use that very often because SDPB started broadcasting Charlie Rose show again and I did not have to watch it on Nebraska.  In any case, the 13 inch Sansui would not bring in any digital signals from either antenna or if I used the amplifier with the antenna in the direction of Reliance.

I did not know anybody around here pulling in a digital signal via an antenna, so I started trying to find information again.  Most sites are more or less fronts for some marketing system and I found little useful information, but one site did indicate that if you could get a good analog signal, the digital signal should work and have a better picture.  After a day or two of wasting time trying to find more information, I called SDPB and got a chance to talk to Dale Baity? who is engineer with SDPB in Rapid City.  He suggested I cut all signal splitters and switches out of the antenna lines since the can cause significant signal losses with a splitter effectively cutting signal in half.  He remembered that a fellow I knew about 15 or 20 miles further away from the transmitters near Reliance, SD was able to get a digital signal.  He provided me with more information as well....  all interesting and some useful.

I knew the guy he mentioned and called and talked to him.  He had sets getting the digital signal and said images were much better than any analog he was getting before.

The next morning, our $40 coupons for the converters finally arrived.  I bought a Digital Stream converter at the local Nelson Radio Shack store.  Hooked it up in town between the rabbit ears  and the set and then did the channel scan and in a few minutes, was watching SDPB digital images on an analog set.  Pamida agreed to allow me to return the Sansui set.  I don't know if the particular set had a defective digital tuner or amplifier, or if it is just a mediocre design that is in all those sets.  Stores selling digital TV sets might want to do a little testing with an outdoor antenna to see if any or all models work with off the air signals in their locality.

I bought a Philco converter at Karl's TV and brought it out to the farm.  With very little fuss, I had KSFY, SDPB, and KPLO coming in via the antenna with digital signals converted to analog for our old set.

In short, the process of moving from off-the-air analog signals to digital using antennas rather than cable or satellite is not terribly complex, but not quite as simple as the information ads you see on TV either.  It does appear however that if you can get a good analog signal, you should also be able to get a good enough digital signal to use a digital to analog converter with your analog set and have a good picture. In fact, the picture using the converted digital signal is likely to be much better with no snow and also not showing some of the interference that comes in with analog signals.

Apparently there is a "digital precipice" for signals.  You either get a good digital image or none at all.  Analog signals on analog sets can give varying qualities of images depending on distance and terrain with the image quality likely to just gradually fall off into a world of snow even if audio is still present as well. Even though the Sansu set got no useful digital signal, the signal strength indicators for all channels using the converters were in the green "best" area.

In a followup post, I will add some information on the converters with a few photos comparing analog and digital signals as they are seen on an analog set.  One bit of information however.  Despite sales clerks telling you all of the converters are all the same, that is not quite true.  The menu systems and the handheld remote tuners can be very different as well as whether functions are only determined by a menu or a combination of menus and switches.  Also the lowest price versions may not have "analog pass through" which may be helpful until February 2009 and the analog pass through may work better on some converters than others.

Also, if you think you may continue to use your analog sets past February, 2009 with digital to analog converters, you may want to start on the conversion sooner rather than later.  Availability of the converters seems to be rather variable depending on stores and chains and which suppliers they use.  Yesterday, none were available in Rapid City at Sam's Club, Walmart, and perhaps other stores.  Pamida was out of them here.  Karl's had a few left and Radio Shack may have one or two left and are waiting for more.  Estimates are that something like 15% of the population still relies on analog signals and does not have cable or satellite.  That is a lot of converters or new digital sets which must work with off-air signals.

** Stay tuned even if you are tuned in digitally already and wonder what the fuss is about--- Doug Wiken

*** Dakota Today Cartoon -- Games Politicians Play 1

No sense in our politicians discussing serious issues like the collapse of the US economy, the inflation and deflation of the housing market and businesses, the ever escalating executive salaries even as businesses go bankrupt or collapse under the weight of over-paid incompetents, the increasingly unaffordable health care and also increasing health insurance profits, etc ad nauseum.  But never fear, Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama both have a campaign card that was barely hidden in their sleeves:

Click on image for a larger version if you have the stomach for it.  I needed more colors or none at all combined with better drawing.  Anyway, though I am not a betting man, I'd bet a nickle or so that almost every reader here gets the point.  If not, it is long past the time that our politicians pander to Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, whatever in terms of race or ethnicity.  Serious issues cut across racial and ethnic lines even if acute conservative brain blockages may obscure the clarity.

In the real world, apparently Sen. Obama does play poker.  Not sure about McCain..lately seems like he is playing spin the non-issue. 

** Stay tuned even if you really can draw cartoons--- Doug Wiken

*** A few of the reasons Bush-Cheney should be impeached

Nancy Pelosi has danced an obscene dance around the issue of impeaching George Bush.  One place she says it is off the table, in another she asks for evidence.  This poor woman is supposed to be a congressional leader and has resources none of us have.  She has easy access to perhaps a dozen lists of actual crimes that don't include misleading White House window peekers about sexual dalliances.  Below are some links.  One promises a $1000 to anybody asking Pelosi some tough questions and provides links to several documents which I will also include here.

First, the $1000 offer:

Democratic Underground on Pelosi, Impeachment Articles, etc.

Next, from links at above site, a congressional minority report with a summary on terror and torture relating to Bush adminstration deception:

Minority Report Summary on "Downing Street" deceptioon

And third, the Articles of Impeachment introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich:

Articles of Impeachment for President Bush

There is enough information in those three links that they should catch the attention of our current and past South Dakota delegations even if they are intellectually and ideologically blind as deaf bats. Let them know. Save the PDF files for your own reference. Check PBS for the Bill Moyers transcripts of "Runup to the War".

***Stay tuned even if the only kind of impeachable offense you seem to care about involves sexually-challenged ethics ---- Doug Wiken

**From CBS FTN, Sen. Hagel on Sen. McCain's ads and comments

I heard CBS Face the Nation..or most of it as I flipped back and forth between it and the Sabbath gasbags on ABC. Sen. Hagel's comments did catch my attention...and also a lot of other bloggers apparently:

UPDATE: Another huge one!
 Question: Have you decided who you are going to vote for?
Senator Hagel: "I HAVE NOT DECIDED."

 UPDATE x2 Halperin has some of the transcript here:

 BOB SCHIEFFER: Senator Reed, now you've done a lot of these trips. They call them "codels," "congressional delegations," go.

 Are you ever allowed to take cameras when you go in to visit wounded troops? I thought that was sort of the general rule that everybody knew about.

 JACK REED: I don't think Senator Obama would have done that. Senator Hagel, Senator Obama and I visited the combat support hospital at Baghdad to thank those nurses, those doctors, to see patients that were there, to bring a bit of greetings from home and profound thanks. That should be in the ad that Senator McCain is running. I think Senator Obama made a very wise choice. Any suggestion that a visit to a military hospital would be political, he made the wise choice not to go. But when you were in Baghdad we made a point at the end of a very exhausting day to go in and see these magnificent young Americans and those doctors and nurses that give such tremendous care without a lot of fanfare, just to say thanks. He did it-the same thing. We went-we didn't stay in Kabul. We went to Jalalabad to see the soldiers of the 173rd. We stopped in Basra to see our soldiers down there. We went into Anbar province to see soldiers there. That is a completely distorted, and, I think, inappropriate advertisement.

 CHUCK HAGEL: Let me add to that. As you know, Bob, the congressional delegation that you referred to ended when we parted in Jordan. At that point, it was a political trip for Senator Obama. I think it would have been inappropriate for him and certainly he would have been criticized by the McCain people and the press and probably should have been if on a political trip in Europe paid for by political funds-not the taxpayers-to go, essentially, then and be accused of using our wounded men and women as props for his campaign. I think the judgment there-and I don't know the facts by the way.

 I know what you've just read. No one has asked me about it other than what you've just asked about. But I think it would be totally inappropriate for him on a campaign trip to go to a military hospital and use those soldiers as props. So I think he probably, based on what I know, he did the right thing. We saw troops everywhere we went on the congressional delegation. We went out of our way to see those troops. We wanted to see those troops. And that's part of our job to see those troops, by the way, and listen to those troops, Bob. And we did.

 BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think that ad was appropriate?

CHUCK HAGEL: I do not think it was appropriate.

 BOB SCHIEFFER: You do not.
 CHUCK HAGEL: I do not.
 Daily KOS quotes CBS and Sen. Hagel
 http://snipurl.com/364x0

Some of John McCain's recent comments and ads don't seem to have much in common with the old "straight-talking John", but more to do with the old John of the Keating Five and the tactics of Carl Rove.

 

***Stay tuned if for no other reason than it is too hot and humid outside--- Doug Wiken

**So why are they actually changing the SD Vehicle Registration System?

The arguments I have read and heard from the State of South Dakota regarding the new vehicle license system don't seem to make much sense.  I suspect the present data base system could have been used if the state were not so reluctant to refund the unused part of vehicle license periods.

I know one shrewd junker car buyer around here who always considers the value of the existing license plate on a vehicle. A car with plates that expire closer to a year from now than to a week or two from now is worth more to him.

Unless we have personalized plates, I don't think many of us have preferences for the random numbers on plates that we end up with.  Some people with connections in the local treasurer's offices can get some relevant or easy to remember numbers.  My feeling is that if people want those, they should pay extra for them just as they would for personalized plates.  In any case, most of us would also remove the plates from vehicles we sell or trade if we knew we could get a few dollars for them when we turn them in.  Dealers need some temporary plates that fade to all black or all white in a week or so.

I suspect the actual drive for the new plate system is pushed by private companies selling the intersection and other camera and penalty systems.  They don't want a bunch of people getting their fine letters who sold the vehicle a month ago, etc.  I don't ever remember anybody saying, "Gee, I sure wish I could use these old plates on my new car."

And, based on comments from some local license buyers, the system isn't just fouled up in Minnehaha and Pennington County.  Pick the right time of day, and the process may take a lot of time even in the boondocks.

The part of the system that may in the future allow getting plate stickers via e-mail or internet browser might be useful in some situations, but snail mail and a telephone call might work just as well.

It now appears to me that a lot of taxpayers are wasting a lot of time standing in line and more than a few county treasurers are frustrated for perhaps less than good reasons.  I don't think the Great State of South Dakota is showing all the cards in the little vehicle license game they are playing.  If you have better ideas, comment.

**Stay tuned.  No licenses yet equired to read this blog--- Doug Wiken

**The poisoned DNS Well

Apparently a few weeks ago, almost all DNS servers were vulnerable to an attack which poisons the information our browsers use to convert a string of hard to remember numbers into something you can type easily and remember such as http://www.typepad.com  instead of a dozen or so nearly random looking numbers.  NPR discussed this today with the security expert that discovered the problem:

All Things Considered, July 26, 2008 · A few months ago, Internet security expert Dan Kaminsky discovered a major problem with the basic wiring of the Internet — one that could easily be exploited by hackers. It has to do with what's known as the domain name system, or DNS.

Kaminsky, who works for the Internet security company IO Active and is a consultant for Microsoft, tells NPR's Andrea Seabrook that he stumbled upon the flaw while tinkering with a way to make the Internet faster.

"You want to talk sinking feelings," he says. "This was a bug that was going to take months and month and months of work."

Essentially, the DNS contains a design flaw that could enable hackers to switch the Web site you're directed to when you type a URL into your Web browser. Without your knowledge, you could be transferred to a fake Web site that tries to steal your personal information.
NPR with more of DNS and Dan Kaminsky
http://snipurl.com/35m7b

At the NPR site are links to Kaminsky's blog and also to a site to test the DNS server you access sites with to determine if the vulnerability has been patched yet. Apparently 50% of the DNS servers have not yet been updated. If you find a problem, let your Internet Service Provider (ISP) now you have found a problem.

***Stay tuned, right now at least you are right here and not at a site in China or Singapore or Russia--- Doug Wiken

**This and that-- Robert Novak and John McCain..taking the age gravy train

Robert Novak, another conservative gasbag is oblivious to the world around his black Corvette:

Novak told WJLA-TV he was cited for failing to yield the right of way. He said he didn't realize what happened and continued driving until a bicyclist stopped him. David Bono, the bicyclist who witnessed the incident, told The Associated Press that the pedestrian was hit in a crosswalk and was splayed across Novak's windshield.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25819579&GT1=43001

More details at the site. Novak is older than John McCain, but younger than Henry Kissinger. Wonder if they are all collecting the maximum social security payment despite their ideological opposition to such dreadful programs which also help poor people ...even if not quite as much as they help rich people. Apparently John McCain has been collecting over $2000 a month even though his wife is worth about $100 Million with $6 million in annual income. Republicans don't just want a free lunch, they think they deserve free gourmet meals on silver platters sprinkled with decorative gold flakes.
 McCain takes SS Payments from the system he calls disgraceful

 

**Stay tuned for more of this and that, now and then -- Doug Wiken

**"Mondak" starts a new South Dakota TypePad blog-- Dakota 21

Another blog has been started in SD BlogLand or in the South Dakota Blogosphere.  Take a look.  The author apparently wants to move South Dakota into the 21st century.  It may be a big job for a single
blog, but check what may be the newest blog in South Dakota and it is a TypePad Blog.

Dakota 21 Blog by "MonDak"

**Stay tuned, but now and then spin the dial around South Dakota Blogland for other perspectives--- Doug Wiken

**Somebody was asking just last week... it is a dynasty

I just plain don't remember who it was, but somebody just a week or so ago was wondering if Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin was pregnant. It appears a dynasty is on the way, but I doubt SD Bloggers will be paying millions for the first pictures.  Anyway, good luck to the Herseth-Sandlins on their latest project.  Nice to see that some intelligent people are having children.  The importance of good parenting becomes more obvious every day.

Herseth Sandlin expecting first child in December

In an e-mail to friends and supporters, Herseth Sandlin and husband, former Texas Rep. Max Sandlin, said they were overjoyed to share the news. She said they are looking forward to a "particularly blessed holiday."

Spokesman Russ Levsen confirmed the news, saying the pregnancy will not affect Herseth Sandlin's re-election this year. He said the late December due date works well with the congressional schedule, since the House is not expected to be in session at that time.

Herseth Sandlin, 37, wed Sandlin, a fellow Democrat, in March 2007. Sandlin has four children from a previous marriage.

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/articles/?id=28097

***Stay tuned even if celebrity news is not the usual beat here-- Doug Wiken

***Argus Leader editorial advocates an open door to frightening prosecutorial abuse

Copied below must be one of the most anti-democratic, myopic, expedience at all costs editorials I have ever read. This makes the McCarthyism of the 50s either come alive again or seem like child's play. I don't know anybody who enjoys child pornography or is a pedophile or who preys on underage children and in no way approve of or support such behavior; but, we don't need to make mockery of the Bill of Rights or the rest of the US or SD constitutions to catch sexual predators. Read the editorial below which is Titled "Legislative fix for Internet case" A hotlink to the Editorial follows the quote.

July 19, 2008 Editorial: Legislative fix for Internet case Need to consider protecting means of catching predators Editorial Board Argus Leader A challenge brought by a man arrested after being caught on the way to what he allegedly thought was a liaison with a teenage girl might get him off the hook, but it should also result in the closing of an important loophole in state law.

 Samuel Wilson was arrested in February after he set up a meeting at Tuthill Park with what police say he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The person he'd been chatting with on the Internet really was a Sioux Falls Police Department investigator, and Wilson was charged with soliciting a minor and attempted sexual contact with a minor.

 The first count isn't being challenged. But as Judge Brad Zell pointed out, the law doesn't allow for the prosecution of crimes against victims who don't actually exist. That circumstance does seem to set a troubling precedent.

 And while the law regarding solicitation of a minor includes a provision, to throw the book at deviants who only think they're talking to a potential victim, the law prohibiting sexual contact with a minor does not.

 At least not yet.

 The best solution here might be a legislative fix. It makes sense to include the same provisions in laws prohibiting similar crimes. That's because there's little doubt about what the people caught by police had planned. Those who are caught attempting to prey on children - even if no child is present - deserve stern penalties if convicted by a jury.

 If police weren't catching these predators online, it's entirely likely they'd be setting up meetings with teenagers who are very real.

 Internet predators now are routinely investigated and prosecuted nationally in the same way Sioux Falls police are attempting now. Protecting teens and younger children online requires tools we couldn't have imagined when most of our laws were written. Police need to be given those tools.

 If this ruling does not go in the prosecution's favor - that's quite possible - the Legislature should address the issue in next year's session.

 http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/VOICES01/807190311/0/voices09&template=printart

The link in the quote as a hotlink is
 Argus Leader Editorial Printable Version

This text from the editorial is one disturbing concept:

The first count isn't being challenged. But as Judge Brad Zell pointed out, the law doesn't allow for the prosecution of crimes against victims who don't actually exist. That circumstance does seem to set a troubling precedent.

It is troubling that the ARGUS considers this a loophole in the law which somehow requires fixing. If they don't comprehend the possibilities for prosecutorial abuse of such a broad power, let's put it in terms of this editorial or recent libel cases against the ARGUS.

 Assume for a moment that press errors are viewed by a repressive authoritarian government as terribly serious and socially damaging problems. So, they allow tests of papers by generating ficitional witnesses, stool pigeons, and whistleblowers who communicate with the paper via the internet. The paper is fooled by this dodge and prints the story.

 The authoritarian regime then prosecutes the paper for publishing falsehoods and prosecutes them for that "crime" but also allow an attorney working with them to bring civil charges for harassment under color of legal fees on behalf of an imaginary reader and an imaginary whistleblower. Can you imagine the press outrage at such a situtation?

There seems to be an element of insanity in the idea that an individual can be prosecuted for an imaginary crime against an imaginary personna... even if one personna is a cop pretending to be a teenage girl and the prosecuted person is a personna acting as a sexual predator. But wait incredulous ones, there is more to the editorial insanity.

Protecting teens and younger children online requires tools we couldn't have imagined when most of our laws were written. Police need to be given those tools.

Even if you have near complete trust in the wisdom and virtue of police and insane fear of sexual predators, you might want to think twice about the idea of giving any kind of law enforcement the power to prosecute on the basis of imaginary crimes against imaginary victims.

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of any kind of privacy, freedom to vote for the right or the wrong people, freedom to earn a living..in short any kind of freedom can be threatened by any kind of precedent that allows law enforcement and prosecutors to prosecute for imaginary crimes against imaginary victims.

 If police really "need" tools like that, it is time to wonder why they can't make a case based on actual behavior not generated by police acting as if they are something they aren't. It is not a problem with a loophole in