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Check the Raucus Caucus link in above menu for transcripts of President Obama's State of the Union Speech and the Republican response. Make your comments there or here, but you will have the actual text, so you have a chance to know what you are talking about.
[[Note of Jan 26, 2012 I have noticed some compaints from Democrats that Obama failed to mention the "Citizens United" SCOTUS decision that opened the floodgates of political contributions by corporations etc granted life like some creature of Frankenstein. I noticed that it appears he failed to mention "agriculture" or "rural America", but I may have just missed that if he did --- Doug Wiken]]
*** Stay tuned for something more original when daylight returns--- Doug Wiken
SD PB-TV is running at least an hour of Janklowisms. Helping us to remember.
For every 50 words of sense, there are 5,000 words of bombastic blather. I am remembering all right, but remembering why I never cared for him. He claimed to take the hard way when usually he was exploiting the easiest rhetorical rattle of the last refuge of the scoundrel or attacking somebody or something in order to elevate his position no matter how irrelevant..
No mention yet of his wonderful idea to import toxic trash and garbage to dumps in South Dakota, nor mention of his wonderful idea to suck the Madison Aquifier dry by pumping coal slurry to Arkansas.
An accurate history of Janklow will not be written this week, but it will get written when his political appointees finish wiping their tears.
*** Stay tuned for better days-- Doug Wiken
I have added a blog as an experiment. I hope it can become something like an online magazine with longer posts more like magazine articles or opinion pieces by multiple authors. If you are interested, let me know.. Use the foxynotes option to right.
It is a more or less blank slate right now.
*** Stay tuned for something less remarkable--- Doug Wiken
With all the hype about Republican Bill Janklow dying of brain cancer and all the compliments to his ability and extraordinary skill in making appointments by those he appointed, the passing of a classic good-old Democrat will probably get little attention.
But check the obituary in this post continuation for the Rapid City Journal obituary of Jack M. Weiland. Jack age 93 died Wednesday January 11, 2012. In his younger days, he was a firebrand Democrat who aggravated people like Bill Janklow and conservatives who spouted their mythology endlessly. Jack actually did work for the people who were not rich and connected. My sincere condolences to the members of his family.
*** Stay tuned for news of the less dead--- Doug Wiken
Continue reading "*** Obituary: Jack M. Weiland, Rapid City, SD. January 11, 2012" »
News is full of information and propaganda about death today of Bill Janklow. When I can find an obituary that is not plastered with newspaper copyright notices banning use, I will post it here in a journal of obituaries. I will reserve comment until then.
Janklow was born in Chicago in 1939. Went into US Marines in 1956 (I think), and was graduated from USD School of Law in 1966. At age 72, he died of brain cancer which nobody could wish on anybody of whatever political stripe.
In the meantime, rumor has it that Heaven and Hell have recently been merged into Heavenell or Hellnheaven with new financing of the new more efficient system by a Mexican loan shark outfit and a Russian oil executive. The extensive heating and cooling systems have been shrunk, consolidated, and turned over to an investment firm run by a Republican presidential candidate who thinks he now has control, but actually the real force behind the "reform" is the ghost of Bill Janklow.. The information collection system is now under control of Bill Gates who has assured everybody the data is safe and will not be used in any nefarious way despite complete monopoly.. Bill Maher's astrologer has noted that the stars indicate the Devil is not at all amused.
*** Doug Wiken with nothing better to do tonight-
If you have not seen the program on Bill McGowan vs. AT&T take advantage of the opportunity.. right now 7PM January 10, 2012.
*** For those who may have had an MCI card and an 8-party US West Phone line-- Doug Wiken
ZD-Net has a story online today indicating Kodak is seeking chapter 11 bankruptcy. Commenters wonder what it is about Rochester, NY that causes two sets of executives there to fail to effectively exploit the inventions of their engineers, programmers, and scientists.
Xerox is not bankrupt, but years ago, it did fail to utilize their PARC inventions effectively. Steve Jobs saw the potential..
ZDNET with sad KODAK News and Comments
Not what I expected to see today. Rochester, NY friends of ours worked for Koday for years. About 50 years ago, one of my photographs made it into the Kodak photo contest finals. I did not get any real reward other than satisfaction out of it however.
*** Stay tuned for more carnage of the Republican Kinder, Gentler economic Mythology--- Doug Wiken
The GOP mini/micro GOP presidential candidates in Iowa spend a lot of time trying to avoid reality and rewrite their rotten history. Their theme song should be one sung by Eddy Arnold years ago.
Source for Lyrics and Sung by Eddie Arnold
Well maybe just the first line and a bit from another song. "Turn back the hands of time, and make the world go away.". The GOP seems to inhabit a world of unreality. They accuse Obama of things he never did, deny him credit for the things he did do as they deny the things they and their party did and take credit for the good things they always opposed.
Iowans who recognize the lunacy of this GOP collection of clowns have heard and seen so much spinning and twisting that they checked to see if the sun actually came up in the east instead of the west this morning. They might also be wondering about the GOP..Is that all there is?
(crappy ABC ad precedes music)
Perhaps the only thing worse than the GOP candidates in Iowa was CBS The Early Shit this morning with Bob Scheiffer and Norah O'Donnell. They made even Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain look good by comparison. With all the actual important information and real issues available, they resorted to spit-shallow "gotchas".
*** Stay tuned even if you recognize this post is just a good excuse to hear lyrics sung so they can be understood instead of screamed in a language from some retarded alternate universe--- Doug Wiken
Obviously, I should not be giving advice to the fine citizens of Iowa who have been tortured for weeks with the TV ads and handshakes of the mini and micro GOP candidates for party nomination to run for President.
But, anyway. Having seen more than I already want to see of this collection of self-made irrelevancies, I do have a suggestion. The appropriate vote after serious consideration of this collection of partisan mythologists, is "NONE OF THE ABOVE".
Now if we can just hold our breath until tomorrow night and keep wondering what all those "evangelical Republicans" might do.
*** Stay tuned for more TV blather-mouthing tomorrow morning and evening. They are already predicting tight races to picque your interest in catching the ads with their "news".--- Doug Wiken
Whole lot of raucus noise promoted as music on TV around midnight and the start of a new year. The actual news around here today was the miserable cold wind that blew in this afternoon. Below is a New Years Greeting image for readers of Dakota Today. Click on the image for a larger version. It was either these or the GOP presidential candidates polluting the air and airwaves in Iowa.
Celebrate sensibly and drive sober. We want you to be around next year to read the breathless prose or whatever it is around here. No sense keeping all the nonsense just for New Year's Day.
*** Stay tuned even if there will be no new editor or morning news celebrities here next year---- Doug Wiken
.
Today while search for something I could not find at a local hardware store, I heard a country rock or blues song about "Gunna buy me a Mercury.".
I guess songs live on beyond the subject, but this one has been antique or obsolete for a year or so. Ford Motor dumped Mercury sometime after June 2010. I suppose in a few years, younger drivers won't have a clue of what a Mercury is if it isn't a planet.
*** Stay tuned even if you aren't quite as antique as the music--- Doug Wiken
I thought I'd see if Menards had a kitchen cabinet planning site or other information. I found a site that had something, but it was a crappy site. Another link turned up on Ripoff's. You may find it interesting if you ever shop at Menards. I'm not sure we will ever walk into one of their stores again even if I now have one of their gift cards.
Ripoff site...Menards charges shoplifiting
I have no idea if these stories are true, exaggerated, or accurately report some peculialy stupid store and police behaviors in Minnesota and Wisconsin. .
** Stay tuned, shop carefully, leave your tape measures, bolts, at home and clear your pockets before shopping ---- Doug Wiken
Of all the South Dakota public radio Midday noon interviews, Janklow's rant against the core of engineers and his attempt to rewrite history and the weather, this must be one of the worst they could find to rerun. But, rerun it they did this noon December 27, 2011.
Janklow uses his usual diversions with expressions like "everybody knew" except perhaps the arrogant Corps of Engineers. Nobody knew for sure that a lot of snow would melt very rapidly or that multiple inches of rain over a large area of still frozen ground would significantly raise reservoir water levels. Janklow also claims that none of the people building homes mere inches above the river water level could possibly have known they were in a flood plain. And, just to add some more of the "everybody knows" humbug, Janklow never met another military officer in his military years as arrogant as those in US Army Corp of Engineers and his father died in the military too...as a lawyer he forgot to mention. Despite Janlow's asertion, I have met few military current or former officers which did not seem to me to have more than their share of arrogance and ignorance.
Janlow as noted before at Dakota Today, did indeed sue the Corps of Engineers, but his suit was to raise the water levels to benefit South Dakota recreation. Janklow doesn't note that as a waste of tax payer's money, but does claim that releasing water to maintain Missouri and Mississippi River levels for barge traffic was a very wasteful subsidy. Seems like 6 of 1 and a half dozen of the other to me.
Give Janklow credit, He knows how to twist facts into nonsense and make rewrites of history even sound plausible at times. He knows how to ignore salient facts and use his mighty Wurlitzer histrionics to emphasize irrelevancy to the highest hill.
The whole broadcast is classic Janklow. His find an enemy to demean to make himself look better has been his life's work. One other little Janklow diversion of a question. Midday moderator asked a question concerning Gov. Daugaard's performance related to flooding, etc. Janklow responded after only minutes before acting as an expert on weather and rivers for about 1000 miles up and downstream, by saying that he just couldn't comment on somebody 200 miles awary.
And speaking of highest hills, South Dakota and US governments should only spend money to move houses out of a huge and obvious flood zone. If water releases of 150,000 cu ft per second can cause such damage, perhaps those homeowners enamored with living next to the formerly mighty Missouri might remember those dam flood gates can actually release over 500,000 cuft per second. Those high release rates were made because of historical flood data.
*** Stay tuned even if you are not so ignorant of history (and geography, and hydrology)_ that you are damned to relive history--- Doug Wiken
Totally appropriate for the US House Republicans that yesterday had the longest night hours and the least daylight of any day of the year. Their intransigent obstructionist partisan hackery fit well with the most darkness.
Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you tolerant enough to look at Dakota Today now and then.
))) Stay tuned into your own joyful holidays--- Doug Wiken
About 40 years ago here in rural Tripp County South Dakota, the only phones available were party line phones. Some of these had 8 families using them on a first-come first- served basis. These phones made sure gossip spread mighty fast, but if one of the old yakking forever redundantly ladies got on, it was faster to drive 8 miles to town than wait for a useable phone.
That was the system while US West/ AT&T owned this system. Finally we got much better lines and single-party service. I had not thought much about those bad old days until today.
AT&T cellphone system must have more than 4 users at a time today, because it just is not working. Even if a connection is made, there is no telling what you might hear. High pitches scrreeeeeech over the voice which might appeal to Alvin and the Chipmonks, but is muddled noise to me. Or, normal voice tone with clipped, chopped words nobody can understand.. not even slow talkers of America.
Mostly the phones don't even connect at all. No message of non-connection, just the phone dead silent for 20 seconds or so with maybe a single dial tone.
Perhaps FCC and SDPUC could get one of those third-world cellphone systems to come in here with better technology and better service.
**** Stay tuned, and keep dialing. Learn to use smokesignals---- Doug Wiken
The GOP sticks XL Pipeline in a tax/jobs bill as a POISON PILL. It is a purely partisan hack tactic which should fool no one. It is another indication of the GOP irrelevance for the 99.5% of us who can’t contribute millions. Unfortunately, The Democrats are equally dependent on large corporate contributions..even if once in a blue moon they actually decide to fight for us unrich..
Diddling around like this with XL and the Noem Fairly dust and every other obstructionist humbug is partisan gamesmanship designed only to keep ignorant fear alive and keep the contribution tree shaking.
Lawrence Lessig who wrote REPUBLIC LOST was in a rerun interview on Tavis Smiley. He noted that much congressional time was devoted to back and forth on whether or not banks should be able to rip us and merchants off with egregious swiping fees. Keeping the issue alive in Congress and devoting much time to it again and again was a fund-raising tactic.
If you want explanations for this kind of GOP and Democratic humbug, the Lessig book is worth reading. His perspective is that huge contributions have corrupted Congress as an instrument of a republic or democracy..not in the usual idea of individual corruption such outright bribe attempts like the Gov of Illinois…but as a corrupted institution that fails to represent the people it is designed to represent and instead represents only the very monied interest no matter what color of feathers the parties stick on their dodobird legislation.
I just heard US Sen. John DC Thune congratulating himself on getting the third spot GOP Senate leadership position. He says he will "be at the table". I hope he will then take responsibility for the near traitorous obstructionism of the national GOP ...aimed only as Sen. Mitch McConnell said is to make certain Obama is a one-term President.
NOTE of December `2, 2001: KELO has Thune claiming the White House is dug in and only concerned about election next year. Nothing like Black Pot Republicans calling a Democrat Kettle Black. Repubicans haven't done anything for over three years that hasn't been aimed at defeating Obama. Seldom has there ever been such a good example of GOP projection.. KELO also has a story on the congressional lack of funding for the East River Water Project and pipeline. GOP obstruction has that stalled with about $200 million of already constructed infrastructure sitting mostly idle because the loans or grants necessary to finish that very, very shovel-ready project aren't available. Of course, rural water projects aren't in a position to dump millions of dollars into GOP campaigns directly and indirectly like the fossil fuel companies ...apparently both domestic and Canadian can.
Thune is a despicable insulting hypocrite who assumes all South Dakotans except him are ignorant dolts. [End of Dec14 Note].
*** Stay tuned even if a pipeline is not running right through your primary source of drining water--- Doug Wiken
SDPB-Radio this afternoon (December 12, 2011) had a few interesting comments related to water and oil and wheat.
California farmers can make more money by selling water rights to cities than by actual farming. There are now something like 13 rivers in the world that no longer put a drop of water into the oceans because all the water is used up before water gets to ocean.
Shipping wheat to Arabia is much like trading water for oil. I am not sure my calculations are correct, but they seem interesting and mostly paralleled comments on radio regarding the "trade"..
An acre of ground getting 16 inches of annual rainfall gets about 17.000 tons of water to produce 40 bushels of wheat. 40 bushels of wheat is about 2400 pounds or a about 1.2 tons of wheat. So, a ton of wheat requires about 1400 tons of water. We are essentially trading water for oil when Saudi Arabia buys wheat.
40 bushels of wheat at $6.00 per bushel is $240. At $80 per barrel of oil, that is 3 barrels of oil or something like 120 gallons of oil. Sweet crude is apparently about 7 pounds per gallon. 120 gallons is then about 840 pounds. or 0.42 Tons.
We are then effectively trading about 40,000 tons of water per ton of oil.
Check my calculations. They may be off even if interesting. Corrections welcome.
*** Stay tuned even if breakfast Wheaties is as close to wheat as you ever get -- Doug Wiken
One previous viewing of the GOP presidential candidates and the nearly weekly summaries of their blather has pretty much convinced me of the mini or micro irrelevancy of the GOP mythology purveyors. But like an imminet train wreck, it is hard to keep my eyes off the collection. Last night on ABC was no exception. All I missed was a rational summary of somekind on SDPB-TV because it is in the midst of another fundraising celebration of old music, etc.
One or two telling or at least interesting exchanges need a tiny bit of coverage in the GOP Horse/Hearse race. Mitt Romney taunted one of the other mini/micro candidates with his "I bet you $10,000 you are wrong". His bet was spurned, but the obvious rejoinder would have been the "A wager is the logic of a fool" quote tossed back at him. Whatever, there seemed both liberal and conservative agreement that the Romney "bet" gambit was truly counterproductive and harmful because it reminded everybody of his wealth, etc. He seems to be kind of a twit.
The other interesting gambit was by Michelle Bachmann, who mostly seems crazier than a pet coon in heat. When asked which other candidate had provided her with the most useful or valuable information, she referred to Herman Cain. I heard some commentators say they thought that harmed her. I think, despite her policy luniness, that she made a shrewd move. She avoided being forced into the moderators corner where she would have had to say something good about the other candidates. Anyway, by then all the others had their shot at it and none had found anything valuable in anything Bachmann had said or done. She returned the favor.
So much for GOP cat fights. No matter what isolated comment from any of these candidates catches our momentary attention, the general reliance of GOP economic mythology means the rest of their blather is irrelevant.
In fact, the GOP obstructionist opposition hypocrisy and willingness to oppose anything hinting of coming from Obama purely because they want him defeated without regard to disastrous consequences for the county has made the whole national GOP a huge irrelevancy.
Send them back to howling in the wilderness for the next 40 years. It is what they deserve for the last 3 years of rank, stinking obstructionism no matter what kind or color of mythological feathers they use to decorate their dodo-bird zombie economic nonsense.
*** Stay tuned. Maybe we can again be amused by another GOP public circle jerk-- Doug Wiken
LCD panel prices have apparently been fixed. Makers pay millions in penalties.
Whitch starts with paragraph below. Information from Bloomberg News and Business Week.
Some major television manufacturers have been forced to pay a fine of $388 million for their actions in driving up the price of LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions. There's a good chance a TV in your home right now (or at one time) can be counted among the devices sold at inflated prices.
Price rigging seems to suggest that the GOP constant blather about regulation working against capitalism and growth is total hogwash. Manufacturers, bankers, insurance, drug manufacturers, health care, whatever without regulation, fix prices and screw consumers or dump dangerous products into the hands of consumers. The GOP red in tooth and claw ideas on regulation are another bit of their mindless economic mythology what makes the Republican Party irrelevant in solving the problems that beset society, our nation, our enviroment, and our world. Consign them to the dust bins of history.
*** Stay tuned even if you are not in the mood to Remedy and Reset America back on rational tracks and headed in the right direction --- Doug Wiken
I read this article last night in the snail mail version. It is worth reading even if on my first reading, I was not convinced the book author's names for categories, myths, illusions, etc added either simplicity or clarity.
Dispel Your Illusions Book Review by Freeman Dyson at NY Review of Books
Dyson's examples and those of the actual author are interesting even if you are less than enthralled with the categorization scheme involved.
*** Stay tuned even if dispelling your or politician's illusions is the last thing on your To-Do List--- Doug Wiken
I tried to watch re-run of Daugaard budget late last night, but could not stay awake.
From TV news this AM, it appears he has presented a bandage on stupid.
Percentage wage increases only expand the disparity between lowest paid and hightest paid. A five percent increase on the minimum wage might amount to an $85 a month bonus. That should be the increase for all employees no matter what their current salaries.
If for example Jim Abbott at USD gets 5% tacked on to his salary, it would be over $10,000 a year. Seems to me that in tough times, he might survive on the current salary instead of getting the equivalent of the bonus for 15 minimum wage workers.
Schools and school boards contribute to the same kind of disparity. After years of such nonsense we still have some of the lowest starting wages for teachers and the highest wages for administrators who mostly sit twiddling their thumbs with jobs narrowly constrained by state law or regulation.
Even if Republicans think that progress in the world depends on extreme executive pay, it would seem Democrats could get a bit aroused by the wealth disparity and how their support of percentage wage increase policies continues to expand that disparity.
*** Stay tuned even if elementary arithmetic is above your pay grade...as has been demonstrated by some members of the SD Board of Regents unable to roughly calculate a 30% discount on a store purchase--- Doug Wiken
I have this computer set up with a video splitter and audio splitter so that computer can be seen on a flat screen TV and a computer monitor. I have not done much more than play a bit with that before for a few minutes by watching part of a Charlie Rose show. Tonight however, I watched "the internet" TV or video for over an hour.
C-SPAN was broadcasting live from Mitchell, SD with author Scott Farris and reporter James Witcover . They discussed George McGovern as a contender for the presidency who lost an election, but also changed American politics and government significantly.
According to the Mitchell Daily Republic, this program will be rebroadcast 10PM tonight and at 10:30 AM on Sunday on C-SPAN. I found the program very interesting, but I have been a supporter of George McGovern since the early 1950's long before I could vote.
I urge you to watch the show if you have the opportunity. You will find it interesting no matter if you are a strong McGovern supporter or a strong anti-McGovern troglodyte. This would be a good history lesson for students interested in learning why they might actually be proud of something good that came out of South Dakota.
Unfortunately, George McGovern was unable to be on the program because he fell this evening and was taken to a Sioux Falls hospital according to the Mitchell Daily Republic and the moderator of the program this evening.
** Stay tuned even if you can find more interesting stuff on C-SPAN cable or internet-- Doug Wiken
On a Tavis Smiley rerun today, Nov 29, 2011, Michael Lewis who wrote book Boomerang, when asked by Smiley what he thought of the Occupy Wall Street activity said, "Justice is on their side." He also noted that attempts to discredit the demonstrators are an indicator of the fear the right-wing money groups have of the OWS potential to alter the status quo in ways which might benefit the unrich.
This may partially indicate why Cal Thomas, George Will, and other right-wing blatherers are spinning absurd attacks on the OWS groups. I will dig out some of that craziness tomorrow.
[[Note: A Village Voice Blog checks the right-wing blogs and their comments on OWS]]
Meanwhile, here is a suggestion to the OWS groups. As the snow falls, shovel snow for citizens on condition they put an OWS supporter sign in their yards or bumper stickers on their cars.
*** Stay tuned, listen for the right-wing mighty Wurlitzer blasting away always off key-- Doug Wiken
A few weeks ago I got a call from a Wall Street Journal Reporter writing a story on the proposed AT&T takeover/merger with T-Mobile. He had seen my comments at this Dakota Today Blog and Bob Schwartz's Blog Great Plains Technology and other online stories in South Dakota newspapers and said he was following up on the results of the AT&T takeover of Alltel in South Dakota as it may relate to the proposed T-Mobile merger.and transition.
I was a bit surprised a few days later when he said he was already in South Dakota and would be driving through Winner, SD the next day. Anton Troianovski, a WSJ Technology reporter, did show up here. He talked to local business people in Winner and got a few words from me, but was short on time having to catch a plane in Sioux Falls, SD about a 150 miles east of here.. Click on image for a larger version.
You may have noticed my previous post discussing the AT&T service loss here last evening (Sunday, November 27, 2011) As indicated in previous posts here, the AT&T service has improved from the first terrible week, but about the time I think it is working well and then really need to use it, it may be worthless. That was also a particular concern of people with connections to the medical services here.
You can read Anton Troianovski's story at the WSJ if the link stays good.
WSJ Phone Deals Dial Up Coverage Problems
Read the story and note the images with data. Anton and his co-author dug out this paragraph which gives an idea of the whole story:
According to company data, AT&T has lost at least 343,000 customers out of the 2.3 million contract customers it acquired from Alltel and a smaller deal for Southeast carrier Centennial Communications Corp. Of those losses, 124,000 can be attributed to normal customer attrition, AT&T said.
AT&T says most coverage gaps are in rural areas, but more than 90% of the customers it bought from Alltel had a seamless transition.
If you read the comments following the story, I suspect you get a perspective of the conservative mythology regarding regulation that perhaps typifies many WSJ readers. A few non-partisan remarks to the actual point of the story are also there.
South Dakota is not in the technology news every day and even a story with SD info included in a broader context is probably not common in national publications. The last time I subscribed to the WSJ, it ran around 10 cents a copy, so it has been some time. If you are interested in an online subscription, click WSJ Electronic Edition Subscription Info 1yr $2.99/week, then $3.99 per week
--- Stay tuned even if the only stock you own all eats grass or corn --- Doug Wiken
AT&T runs a lot of ads for new products most of which probably won't work here in the Winner, SD area. Plain old cellphones aren't even dependable here. The phones were working again this morning at 8AM, but last evening for at least from around 8PM to Midnight or later all the cellphones produced when a number was dialed was the "Emergency Calls Only". Which probably means that even emergency calls won't work according to people here who have had to dial 911 to report a burglary attempt when phones had the "emergency calls only" notice on..
A portable phone system that many of us buy primarily for the emergency situation and which randomly fails for hours at a time is not what we need on the plains of Dakota.
Before regulators allow AT&T to suck up more systems and peddle more sophisticated and expensive technology, regulators perhaps should require that AT&T provide reasonably priced consistently reliable service to existing customers with existing basic cellphones.
*** Stay tuned even if you think a landline and a cellphone would be a good deal in your vehicle (and a very long electric extension cord)) . --- Doug Wiken
I am not much of a movie watcher and don't much keep up on them, but I am going to give a free plug to a movie which will be in Rapid City very soon for only one showing. A short review is below: Thanks to Greg Olson for the heads up on this.
Nov. film “Inside Job”
Elks Theatre, 6:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 28. All seats $5.00.
Directed by Charles Ferguson. Starring Matt Damon, William Ackman and Daniel Alpert.
Takes a closer look at what brought about the financial meltdown. Source: IMDb.com
This scathing expose should be enough to alarm people all over the political spectrum. – Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
This is a compelling documentary that will have you leaving the cinema absolutely seething. – Simon Reynolds, Digital Spy
Inside Job tackles the mess head-on with a kind of bitter pragmatism, reconstructing the system that failed and circling its weak spots. – Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
120 minutes. 2010 release. Rated PG-13 for some drug and sex-related material.
The above is from Heartland Films website..
The movie is being sponsored by the Occupy Rapid City group in conjunction with the Heartland Film Society. Admission is $5 per person. The movie will be shown once, Monday, November 28, at 6:30 PM. So, recover from Thanksgiving dinner and Black Friday, but save enough cash to see the movie. As far as we know, the Rapid City Police Department has no plans to spray all viewers in the face with pepper spray.
*** Stay tuned for more of our more nearly regular regular programming--- Doug Wiken
The problem I see with mixing religion and government is that it gives a hammer to politicans who as they do the most egregious abusive things imaginable claim they are just doing God's will on earth. Take a look at a slightly jaundiced view of the Grand Old Rotten Party Presidential Mini-candidates as they pander to the religiously deluded.
GOP Steps to Theocracy in the US
Salatan has the quotes.
*** Stay tuned even if the idea of a political Christian Jihad appeals to you--- Doug Wiken
Perhaps you have seen the video of a couple thug policemen using a spray canister that probably held a half gallon of "Pepper Sray" spraying seated peaceful OWS protestors on a California campus. Pepper spray used this way is deadly force by another name. Take a look at the link below:
What you need to know about "Pepper Spray".
The obvious sensless attack injurous to the health and safety of the protestors was justified on the basis of public safety and health. There apparently is no limit to the lies and distortion flexiblity given abusive, destructive, malicious thug law enforcement. Campus police officials saying that the officers felt encircled and threatened. I guess I did not notice the encirclement or the theat from the seated protestors.
Note the comments in the information on Pepper Spray link above. There is information there related to the near world-wide bans of pepper spray for peaceful demonstrations. The chemical these officers used is more appropriate for attacking wild bears.
*** Stay tuned, but consider the threat the OWS protestors must seem to be to the establishment that keeps inventing new ways to exploit us every day, week, year.--- Doug Wiken
Have you wondered why attacks on the Occupy Wall Strret protestors across the country seemed to be happening a bit too conveniently at nearly the same times? Have you wondered where the media anti-occupier propaganda emanates? Have you wondered why some congrees critters take time to slander the Occupiers? Well, that is just part one or two of the coordinated plan aimed at preventing the TEA Party supporters and the Occupy supporters from joining together to eliminate congressional-lobbyist--contribution corruption.
Read the memo in the link below. It involves a firm with a couple of Congressman Boehner's former staff. The group is trying to instill fear in the heart of bankers and shake them down for around $800,000.
You may not need Lawrence Lessig's recent book on Corrupted Congress if you see enough memos like the above to know that Political contributions tend to corrupt and unlimited contributions corrupt absolutely.
You might also not be grossly incorrect if you think that bank profits guaranteed by government support should not be used to bend and twist public opinion and lobby Congress directly and indirectly.
*** Stay tuned even if your bank has only monopoly money in it and you are lucky enough to be collectiing rent on Park Avenue every time somebody passes "Go"--- Doug Wiken.
If you have noticed that our very own federal government from we taxpayers has dumped $billions into big banks and financial interests and in return these banks have continued to screw their customers in the old ways while trying to invent new backdoor ways to do it, you may very much enjoy the link below.
Georgia Judge Rejects Bank Motion to Dismiss (Phillips v US Bank)
I sure don't know for sure, but it seemed to me that our government bailed out multiple institutions for the same losses multiple times. And our dear friends in the Grand Old Rotten Party don't want to tax the banksters. Wonder why? You think "contributions" might be involved?
*** Stay tuned even if your church-associated credit card wasn't sold out to another really big bank--- Doug Wiken
TransCanada subcontractor public relations people visited Winner for a "hearing" a couple years or so ago. I have some posts about it here at Dakota Today. Since that hearing, they have hired local people to get easement agreements, etc. A question I asked about illegal aliens being employed resulted in them answering that it was not a concern of Trans Canada, it was strictly up to their subcontractors or their responsibility. We were given all kinds of assurances about the slim to none chances of pipeline breaks in any 50 year period, etc.
Well, they built the oil pipeline in eastern South Dakota and last night KELO-TV indicated that the property tax actually collected on the pipeline last year was a fraction of what had been promoted. Apparently in the neighborhood of 30%. If you take a look at Cory Heidelberger's Madville Times, you can find information on other disinformation from TransCanada and South Dakota.
Today I finally started looking for the depreciation rate for pipeline and related facilities. I am not a master of accountant speak, but it appears that pipelines and facilities may be worth less than nothing after about 30 years. A PDF with such information in detail is available. If you have the patience to slog through it and can summarize it, please post a comment. This suggests not only a much lower starting point for property tax, but also a steady decline in such property tax of 3% a year or so. For all I know, South Dakota may have some other system that county auditors use.
Now, Nebraska has awakened from the Sandman of the Sandhills sleep and finally figured out that an oil pipeline through the Sandhills and over the Ogalalla Aquifer is a serious threat to the drinking water of thousands and the federal government has decided to hold up approval until (you guess it) after election day next year. If you look at the map from that webpage at right, you will notice that the aquifer extends into South Dakota. And, if you look at the US State Department maps, the pipeline is planned to run within about 5000 feet of the Winner Water System wells and within a 1000 feet or so of the Colome City wells. My guess is that the Tripp Country Rural Water System wells are also not too far from the pipeline.
This suggests that the pipeline route needs change not only in Nebraska, but also in this immediate area.
Anyway, I am not nearly as convinced of the benefit of this pipeline as apparently are local Winner businessmen and county commissioners who can only see the dollar signs for property tax without regard to the wonderful idea of spening $millions or $billions to regain water fit to drink. Even so, they might want to recheck the reality of TransCanada pipelines with the promises and hopes they are still dreaming about and the bubble they are floating on.
Also, as I indicated to them and other locals here, the State Department CD information also showed that the pipeline might not actually end at Steelville, KS. but might end up with oil or refined products going to the Texas coast for export. If that is actually the case, the pipeline will likely increase the price of midwest petroleauml rather than decreasiing it.
With the delay in the pipeline, perhaps the South Dakota legislature can pull their collective heads out their legislative rectums and set up a $100 million fund for spill cleanups that also increases every year to cover the increased risks of leaks as the pipeline depreciates..
** Stay tuned for colder weather and you guessed it, increasing fuel prices --- Doug Wiken
Last night on Charlie Rose, Lawrence Lessig was interviewed (video) about his book Republic, Lost; How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan To Stop It".
I found the discussion interesting enough that I ordered his book this morning. Lessig made several points, but one was that Congress passes legislation that appears to do things most of us want them to do, but never go far enough to actually change anything or are so effectively gutted by limiting regulations that they are actually just window dressing to make us think they are actually doing something. More information on Lessig at Wikipedia. The broader point of his comments (and book, I assume) is that money has become so much a part of the Congress that there has been a huge shift of influence and power from the 99.95% of us to a very, very rich very thin sliver of the population. This effectively concentrates an enormous amount of power in the hands of very few and destroys the value of a representative government for the rest of us and makes the idea of democracy nearly irrelevant..
In short, to paraphrase Lord Acton's " Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.", I say " Large political contributions tend to corrupt, and unlimited political contributions corrupt absolutely."
Lessig suggests that contributions be limited to $100. In addition to that he advocates that the first $50 of income taxes be refunded as a democracy voucher. This would put about $6 Billion of small contributions into the political system and effectively remove the unbalanced influence big money corruption that exists now. At least then we could assume that Congressional blunders are due to stupidity, ignorance, or incompetence rather than rotten corruption aimed at making the middle class politically irrelevant.
Honestly concerned TEA Party supporters (rather than their crony capitalist funders) and the Wall St Occupiers should be able to find common cause in cleaning up congressional corrruption.
** Stay tuned even if you aspire to be a crony capitalist powerful enough to assist in the destrution of the USA as our founders imagined it.--- Doug Wiken
A letter writer to the Des Moines Register has noted that God must be playing tricks on at least two of three GOP presidential candidates. As you may know, Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain are convinced God has selected them to be President of the United States. At least two of them can't be right.
Well, in the interests of theological consistency of some kind, I would suggest that it was not God playing tricks, or sending the wrong messages to the wrong people (that is another issue), but that the huge vanity and inflated ego that must be part of every Presidential Candidate of every party even including the Grand Old Rotten Party (GORP) sometimes must get in the way of coherent communication.. especially if the message comes in the form of cloud shapes, things that go bump in the night, images in cigarette smoke, and waving grass.
So, charge this one up to God ambiguously dumping out messages urging GORP egomaniacs to be "Presidential Candidates" with no guarantee that any of them become "President."
Even so, the idea of God as a trickster is interesting. Native Americans have a Trickster in their sacred tent. It does remind me of a bad joke however.
A woman walks into a bar and sees a handsome dude at the end of the bar. She saunters up to him and asks, innocently of course, what he is doing. The dude responds that he is drinking "magic beer". She wants to know about that. He takes a good sip and flies around the room landing softly back on the bar stool. He offers her a sip. She drinks it and then she jumps our a window and splats on the street. The bar tender says, "Superman, you are such a jackass when you are drunk."
In closing, God Bless the United States of America. Heaven knows we need it with the ego-maniacal collection of ethical and ideological dwarfs that seem to gravitate to Washington, DC.
*** Stay tuned even if mixed signals never caused you to think you should be President-- Doug Wiken
Note the Speed Test SD button to the right. Take a check and see how your ISP speeds your information up and down. You will have to plug in some required information which I assume is necessary to make the information actually useful in presenting results to federal government agencies and funders. If you know more about this, comments welcome.
I ran the tests for our GoldenWest ISP broadband service. Download was 5.91Mbps and upload "speed"was 0.55Mbps. And whatever it means, latency was 91ms. If you wish, add your own test info in a comment.
Check out the WOW option (Window on Winner) on the menus above. I posted a photo of the large piles of corn here in Winner. I'd guess about $6.9 million worth at current prices.
*** Stay tuned for news from here and there --- Doug Wiken
A handy how-to bit of assistance for those unable to fully display their inner stupid in ways sufficently graphic to be a warning to all of us. All you have to do is wear those expensive jackets with corporate sports teams logos. Get Your NFL Gear Here.
With the right jacket, you don't have to wear a dead coyote or dead jackrabbit around your neck to demonstrate your tribal imbalance.
And, if you don't think wrestling is quite queer enough, check out the Penn State Football program. Warning the link might not be safe for office viewing.
*** Stay tuned for more helpful hints-- Doug Wiken
CBS TV news indicates (Nov 10, 2011) that the next Grand Old Rotten Party (GORP) debate will be in South or North Carolina and will be broadcast on CBS next Saturday probably around 7PM here CST.
I predict that this will be the end of three mini-candidates. Yes 3, of the candidates will drop out. The three likely do be gone are Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and er, ah..you know, right on the tip of my tongue. Who am I trying to say anyway?You know one the many. This may be new arithmetic in Texas schools and supported by all religions.. 2=3. And don't you forget it before Saturday.
Anyway, the debate is supposed to be about foreign affairs. I don't know if Herman Cain or any of the others have had foreign affairs. Newt Gingrich has had some strange affairs, but probably not foreign. Guess I better check on what kind of foreign affairs this is actually about before I step in it.
*** Stay tuned for more serious news about GORP -- Doug Wiken.
This morning, CBS morning dribble got past or through their usual barrage of celebrity dribble and ventured slightly into the area of actual news, or at least, the analysis of news. Apparently, over 600,000 people have dumped banks and moved to credit unions or un-banks(video) An "un[bank" mentioned was Simple.com.
Frankly, I am not looking for a new bank or unbank right now. I did notice that Wells-Fargo has started adding a transaction fee of 24 or 35 cents per transaction after the first 25 or 35 transactions..I don't remember for sure. The bank where I actually write checks has so far added no new fees.
But, this got me thinking. Why aren't Republicans dumping their party of the big banks and big finance instiutions and ridiculous fees to switch to the Democratic Party which now and then shows at least some interest in the interests of the unich? If 600,000 people are willing to take the jump from an overcharging bank to a resonable bank or credit union or even an online entity with their own money and business, certainly those who always get the short end of the stick from their Republican representatives can say they too are fedup with the GOP.
Why not abandon the party that has always abandoned you? I'm not saying the Democrats are doing enough these days, they too have become too dependent on bank, insurance, and financial group support, but there is here and there in the Democratic Party a recognition that the Wall St. Occupiers and others may have a valid perspective and not be at all like the unruly mob thugs the GOP portrays them as being.
You don't have to stick your head out of a window and yell, "I'm not taking this anymore.", you can quietly walk into the voting booth and decide you are not going to screw yourself again by voting for Republican office holders and power brokers who could care less if you live or die, starve or get too fat, are forced to hobble on a broken leg, or must abandon your home or your car.. or dispose of them to pay for medical care of a child or elderly parent.
Get over the idea that being Republican will automatically make and keep you rich and so healthy you and your family or friends will never need insurance, or assistance.
*** Stay tuned and remember, I won't tell anybody if you say goodbye to the Grand Old Rotten Party (GORP).--- Doug Wiken
This post may seem a bit "Janklowvian" because it has too much in common with kicking somebody when they are down. That behavior was one of the less attractive features of Janklow in government and politics. Even though I have sympathy for Bill Janklow and his family in this terrible situation, I do not think it is a reason or excuse for rewriting history. In any case, the poisonous political environment in South Dakota is at least partly the result of Janklow and cohorts viewing political and partisan competition as justifying only the rules that characterize bayonet warfare. I am sure that Janklow supporters will expect courtesy to Janklow that he himself never offered his political "enemies" and victims.
The Janklow apologists are on TV already. Janklow former staff member Dave Knutson rambled on a bit with a general statement about all Janklow did for the common people of South Dakota. I guess I was a common person who missed that. Seemed to me Janklow always had some special interest in mind, banks, fossil fuel industry, prison industry, Mexican cement company, etc. I do remember farm loan interest rates jumping from around 4% to something like 23% almost overnight. I never did figure out how that helped me.
Jokers around here claim that if Janklow could have gotten the US Government to transfer the Badlands, or Mt. Rushmore to South Dakota, Janklow would have sold them to the friendiest bidder (foreign or otherwise).
Politicos who may retain hopes of political advancement are saying nice things about Janklow or at least only slightly damning him with faint or hedged praise. We can expect that, but should not assume that reflects reality. As a very astute long-time observer of Janklow said here today, "We should not confuse real progress with frenetic activity that bulldozes people and politics."
He was also adept at demonizing common people. He blamed juvenile delinquency on School administrators and mothers. He enabled a system that punished minor juvenile offenses with military discipline…and which ultimately killed a girl. Then Janklow in his typical fashion, took no responsibility for it blaming it all on “rogue employees”. Then he killed the school and the employee jobs. Of course, then all those judges who were hot to dump kids into the equivalent of prison camps suddenly could again find other options.
When I called SDPB-Radio noon forum, and suggested to Janklow that his getting credit card businesses into South Dakota was not all benefit, that removing usury laws cost farmers millions and probably bankrupted hundreds. Janklow's response, "It is guys like Doug in Winner who prevent South Dakota from progressing economically." Up until then, I was unaware that I had more power to cause damage than a 4-term Republican governor.
I have heard Janklow claiming something to the effect he left high school a juvenile bully and got into the US Marines. He claimed he came out a changed man. It always seemed to me he went in as a bully and came out as a bully who knew how to spit-shin shoes and boots. I have heard too many state employees claiming that all they did when Janklow was governor was to keep their heads down and not do anything beyond the minimum. Sticking your head up was to make it a target of the Janklow hammer. Even idle talk in a cafe or bar was handled as if Pierre and Ft. Pierre were in the Soviet Union during the worst of the Stalin years. Others have claimed Janklow called them in the middle of the night after they criticized South Dakota Government or behavior and were told he wanted their resignations immediately, or "Nobody with your family name will ever work in the state of South Dakota again."
Those stories may have been exaggerated or even false even if I heard too many of them. But, the current influentials trying to make Janklow into an angel seem a bit beyond logic, reality and history. But then, my recollection may also be faulty.
In any case, neither Janklow nor anybody else deserves brain cancer and again, I wish him the best in his terrible situation. Maybe now the Republican establishment will consider the need for good medical insurance coverage for all those common South Dakotans Knutson claimed Janklow policies helped. Incidentally, one of those policy ideas was to add sales tax on medical care.
Sen. Tim Johnson who benefited greatly from his nearly free government medical coverage, could also get more vigorously behind expanding affordable medical insurance.
*** Stay tuned even if your Politically Correct yearnings are hurting-- Doug Wiken
I watched John Boehner this Sunday morning on ABC repeating the same tired fraudulent excuses for GOP obstructionism. The economics of John Boehner may involve his rich contributors, but his expressed economic and partisan beliefs have nothing in common with the study of economics or real world data.
John Boehner is a prime example of why the current GOP controllers in Washington, DC are making the party irrelevant in the real world. When a rather conservative publication like TIME magazine drags out data showing that the GOP bullshit blather about controlling regulation and limiting government is the key to economic growth is nonsense, I would hope people in the United States who are not unbelievably high up in the 1% that isn't like the 99% rest of us will decide they have had enough GOP nonsense.
I have not been thrilled by Obama, but it seems he has presented hard facts and made what seemed to me to be unnecessary concessions to GOP partisan nonsense, but has been essentiall slapped in the face again and again in a way that strongly suggests the GOP is ONLY interested in obstructing the economy to eliminate Obama.
Take a look at the image below. It is a butchered version of a TIME magazine graph that could not have been more confusing if they had tried. I cut and pasted a circular graph and made it a simple bar graph. Some of the text ended up upside down. The implications of the data should be obvious anyway.
Click on image for a larger readable version. The data seems to show a nearly negative correlation between the ease of doing business and the economic growth of a country. I would guess some of the differences are due to the stage of the economics involved, but it shows that the GOP fight on behalf of the very rich and tax-advantaged is a bit of class warfare that is being fought on the basis of irrelevant mythology and not facts or historiical reality.
NOTE of October 7, 2011: Cory Heidelberger at Madville Times has found the links to the data mentioned here and has used a spreadsheet to better analyze the information. Take a look. The data is interesting even if not woven into political warfare form.
Madville Times "Business-Friendly Countries Rank Lower for Economic Growth "
*** Stay tuned even if data that does not fit your economic mythology makes you even more convinced of the logic of you irrelevant mythology --- Doug Wiken
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