Dakota Today

**What scares me around 2006 Halloween Time

When I hear Bush, Inc. expressing confidence that they will win, I am remembering Florida electronic voting results that varied by miles from the polls of voters leaving the polling places.

The push for electronic voting that does not include an unalterable paper trail is frightening. If voters lose confidence in the integrity of the election process itself, we are entering a new and dangerous age.

What little I know of computer programming, I do not trust the integrity of electronic voting that does not generate an unalterable paper trail. It is just too easy to stick a line or two of code into a program that converts every fifth vote from Democratic to Republican..or vice versa, but the head of a number of voting machine companies is not on record saying, "I will do anything to elect Democrats" as he is on record of saying for Republicans.

The assumptioin that there must have been something wrong with exit polls statistics seemed no more valid than the idea that there was something wrong with the computer systems collecting the "actual" votes.

So, if you really want to be scared this Halloween, wake up in the middle of the night thinking about Bush and Rove confidence that their troglydite Republican congressional candidates will win no matter what the media polling indicates.

***Stay tuned. Have another cup of coffee. Take a deep breath.---Doug WIken

**South Dakota PUC candidates 2006

The 30 and 40 mile per hour winds with the 50mph or so gusts have not made putting up 4x8 corrugated plastic signs very easy lately. I finally got one up on my land and even mowed the grass so it wasn't half covered. The first version of the frame was ripped to pieces by the wind before I could get it up.

Considering how grossly inappropriate John Koskan would be for a regulatory commission, it was about the most and the least I could do for Steve Kolbeck, The Democratic candidate for the SD PUC. Below is a photo of his campaign signs. I hope they are spread around SD and they are catching attention.

This is a race that is important to South Dakota consumers. Koskan's ideology has been clearly indicated over the years. He is nearly a libertarian theocrat. These are the kinds of people who view themselves as God's right hand and have a confidence in the correctness of their opinions that have little to do with reality. That kind of arrogance is not what any regulatory commission needs..let alone one that already has two South Dakota Republicans holding the fort for corporations.

Steve Kolbeck actually knows something about utilities and telecommunications. He is also somebody who will listen to consumers and those actually knowledgeable about South Dakota needs for progress in dozens of areas that relate to PUC regulation.

The problem for good Democratic candidates like Steve Kolbeck is the prevailing Republinuts in the SD population who will vote straight Republican or nearly straight Republican no matter how many times that has resulted in regressive programs in South Dakota that leave foreign corporation in charge of major assets and the SD economy and tax system in shambles.

Republinuts watch their children and their neighbors children leave South Dakota because of the dim opportunities for good jobs that pay a fair wage. Then they march like lemmings to the election edge and vote for Republcans who have those same voters' interests as the very last things in their minds and agendas. The don't say "let them eat cake", they feed the population an intellectual starvation diet of "family values" and theocratic and patriotic diversions and irrelevancies.

Of course, we have had Daschle, Johnson and Stephanie Herseth doing their best to fuzz the lines between Democratic sense and Republican nonsense for years and that helps add credibility to the lunacy of the SD Republican leadership and every year makes it harder and harder for Democrats with competence, conscience, integrity, intelligence and common sense to get elected.

Right now in the South Dakota Governor's race, we have an oily smooth Republican insurance salesman oozing and emoting as he finds more places for his family sinecures leading by over 10% a Democratic medical professional with a sensible,rational, realistic plan for a real South Dakota future. That should scare the hell out of anybody who gives a damn about the future of South Dakota and has more than two functioning brain cells.

"South Dakota of all places" really was an appropriate slogan whether or not anybody pushing the idea realized it and State University at Brookings ad with "You can go anyplace from here." is another bright red indicator of the building catastrophe for South Dakota. There are dozens of reasons why professors from New Jersey (of all places) had the audacity to suggest "Buffalo Commons" was an appropriate end for South Dakota.

I hope that 50% plus one of South Dakota voters may demonstrate a new awakening of common sense, but I am just not overloaded with confidence. There seems to be a willingness here to keep doing it wrong because we have been doing it wrong for so very many years. It is a form of political mental illness.

***Stay tuned. Election day will be here soon enough...and then we can look forward to more requests from political hacks requesting money again for the bi-annual rebuilding of the Democratic Party in the same old way guaranteeing nearly a free ride for dozens of GOP theocrats and goons--Doug Wiken

**Michael Fox and Rush Limbaugh...contrast and compare

Michael Fox was interviewed by George Stephanopolis this morning Sunday October 29, 2006 on ABC TV regarding his advocacy for candidates supporting stem cell research and the comments by Rush Limbaugh best known for his anal cyst draft deferment and addiction to pain killing drugs and wingnut loonery.

The Washington Post has part of the story;

Rush Limbaugh On the Offensive Against Ad With Michael J. Fox

By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; Page C01

Possibly worse than making fun of someone's disability is saying that it's imaginary. That is not to mock someone's body, but to challenge a person's guts, integrity, sanity.

To Rush Limbaugh on Monday, Michael J. Fox looked like a faker. The actor, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has done a series of political ads supporting candidates who favor stem cell research, including Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, who is running against Republican Michael Steele for the Senate seat being vacated by Paul Sarbanes.

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102400691.html

LINK-- MORE at the W Post Site

My wife does some inpatient and outpatient admissions at our local hospital. She was outraged at the comments by Rush Limbaugh. Takes something to get my wife upset about political issues, but with her work she sees people suffering from Parkinson's disease. As Michael Fox said on ABC TV, they must work hard not to appear as if they are stumbling drunks. Limbaugh insulted all the people suffering from this disease.

Limbaugh is despicable. Michael Fox displayed remarkable patience tolerating the fool rather graciously.
Fox displays a level of intelligence and sense that is rarely seen..especially from celebrities.

Fox noted that Bush managed to muster up courage to veto one legislative act. The act which got majority support from both the Republican House and Republican Senate and would have allowed funding of stem cell research using otherwise wasted stem cells.

The consequences of inane injection of religion into politics and the shameless Bush pandering to that nonsense are no more evident than in the stem cell research area. Apologists for the Texas Twit claim he is the first President to express support for such research even is severely limited by hard restraints. Fox noted that such excuses are mostly irrelevant. Bush, the juvenile, was the first President in position to support such research.

Bush as usual speaketh out of both sides of his mouth on this issue.

Returning America to common sense calls for dumping Republicans high and low. In the clouds of drug and alcohol addiction, groping pages, crawling out from under their rocks, abusing public trust by allowing taxpayer's money to be squandered on kleptocrats.. ..wherever. Think great big broom on the front of a voter bulldozer sweeping politics clean of the hypocritical wingnut loons.

*** Stay tuned and if you aren't shaking uncontrollably with some disease, be just as damn glad about that as I am---Doug Wiken

**Nuclear Energy and SD PUC race

What the heck. Let's hype nuclear energy and see who buys into the plans of huge energy conglomerates. Why it's John Koskan. You can dig out John Koskan's name if you search through the pdf file at the site below.

LINK--Nuclear Energy Propaganda source for policymakers (PDF)

Nothing wrong with that I guess, but I think Koskan is making some assumptions about South Dakotans that may not be correct. I don't think all of us want South Dakota to become "a player" in"and an international center of nuclear energy. Wood, SD is kind of in my "backyard", and I don't think I would want a nuclear power plant there even if Koskan lives in the area. I also doubt that Koskan would want one right there either for that matter and he probably wouldn't want a high tension powerline running over his house.

But Koskan has suggested in a SD Public radio forum that he is generally opposed to government regulation and "government should just get out of the way"...so I suppose he wouldn't use a position he might gain on a regulatory commission to prevent a nuclear energy monster from digging up his backyard and adding steel towers with buzzing power lines over his head.

Koskan does favor government regulation when it comes to women's rights. He has been a rather consistent supporter of the SD rapist rights legislation as now embodied in HB 1215 and now subject of referred law 6.

So, he may just want to "get out of the way" for certain kinds of legislation as long as large corporations don't get hoisted on their own petard in the process.

So, just to reiterate a bit, take the Nix on Six advice and Just say No to Six...and then just say NO to Koskan while you are at it and give Steve Kolbeck a chance to bring back a new Democratic voice on the PUC. Yah, I am just having a little fun there ala the recent Saturn car ad.

**Stay tuned for comments on the SD Attorney General race---- Doug Wiken

**Firefox Version 2 is available

I noticed on a downloads site..probably CNET that a new version of Firefox web browser is available. It may be a bit of a betaplus or some such, but it installs easily in W98SE. Just pick "custom" or "advanced" install rather than "typical" for an option and select where you want it if the C: default is not your choice. Below
is image captured with FastStone Capture program from my computer running Firefox2. It includes a spelling checker and has flagged "betaplus", "CNET", "FastStone". That alone might be a feature you might want if you post much on blogs and forums.

So, if you are a bit of a software tester and want to try a new version of Firefox with spelling and some tab features that catchup with Opera 9, you might want to check the link below:

LINK-- Firefox Updated features, download, etc.

And, you might want to remember that ABC Nightline is broadcasting a bit of stuff on Free Republic attack on "The Dixie Chicks" and Bush attacking them, etc. Now, perhaps the correctness of the Dixie Chicks early perspective on Bush is being shown as better than that of a lot of the sophisticated "news" professionals and unfortunately better than that of a number of Democratic congress critters we all know by name and face.

I am not thrilled with Dixie Chick music, but may have to buy an album of theirs...or contribute an equivalent amount to a Democratic campaign...say Billion or Steve Kolbeck...All I would need would be some free money. Tad bit short of that after paying South Dakota property taxes.

***Stay tuned even if you can't hear music in the background--Doug Wiken

**Politics got you down-- Check the Periodic Table

Mt. Blogmore attracts a motley mixture of not in my ilk characters. Discussions now and then wander despite the best efforts of net nannies. In honor of the site where some refer to the posters and commentors as blogmorons, I thought it would be nice if there was a mineral or element called "Blogmorite". People with better knowledge of mine on rocks, minerals and the elements made suggestions. In part as a result of
that I started looking for web periodic tables. Below is a link to one of them.

ILINK-- nteractive Periodic Table

Element 118 will not be named Blogmorite. It appears it is a "noble gas". Wonder if it will ever turn up in a crossword puzzle. Not sure if I will ever use it otherwise. There are some interesting links at the site as well however. And, if you want something different in the Dupont area of "better living", do a Google search for "periodic table". Lots of interesting links. The one above is just one of many.

**Stay tuned and don't panic, there will NOT be a pop quiz--- Doug Wiken

**BHSU Bomb threats and SD Referred Law Six

KNBN-TV Rapid City treats their website as if it is a barely necessary evil, so it is somewhat unclear what actually is going on at BHSU. Other news may have indicated that an Ellsworth AFB bomb squad found something ,suspicious, but may not have been a bomb. Details are scarce. Nothing on RC Journal webpage.

KNBN-TV
Oct. 26

The entire Black Hills State University campus in Spearfish is evacuated Thursday night, after someone called in a bomb threat. At around 2:00 p.m. students were sent an email notifying them that the campus would be evacuated and all classes would be cancelled until further notice. Faculty may have received a similar email as early as 12:00 p.m.

Several abortion related activities and displays on campus this week have some students speculating that the threat was related to Referred Law 6.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15434863

More at the site, but kind of muddled. This does seem to suggest that the extemists crawl out from under their rocks when injection of religion into politics appears to provide an opportunity to appear to be the hand of God on earth.

There is a movement to indicate the dangers of taking God concept seriously. It does seem strange that religions pushing supernatural forces myths are taken any more seriously than 'flat earth" advocates.

Of course, it may also just have been some bored student really tired of memorizing stuff and nonsense and any excuse for taking advantage of a warm fall day in the beautiful Black Hills seemed appropriate.

***Stay tuned. We may have more news of the molehill kind---Doug Wiken

**From "Stay the Course" to "We bought the farm"..more Bush Smoke and Mirrors

Wasn't it just so, so very special. Bush, the juvenile, cum war president, anti-terrorism crusader, Bible-beating evangilist decides to send "stay the course" to the junkyard of failed smoke and mirrors.

Bush and his administration are sometimes so very inane and silly that they are truly frightening. The inanity of Bush is so far out, it is best expressed by cartoons. Take a look at them and the sources of the phrases.

LINK-- Phrase "Bought the farm"
LINK--Google search for phrase "stay the course"
LINK--Cartoon by Keefe Stay the Course
LINK--Cartoon..The White House Basement
LINK-- Cartoon James Baker Knows the Way
LINK-- Ben Sargeant Cartoon
LINK--Danziger Cartoon at "The Veteran"

LINK--Daryl Cagle Cartoon "Onward to Victory"
LINK--Cartoon and Commentary blog by "Tifanny Taylor"

Bush, Rove, Cheney, Tony Snow, Rumsfeld, Condoleeza...they have their important daily meeting on "What color smoke and mirrors today". Gotta keep the election priorities straight. Then Bush can campaign..he says he likes that kind of "hard work".

Children, can you all say "Failed Policies"?
Children, can you all say "Failed President"?
Children, can you all say "Failed GOP Congress"?

I knew you could. Take the rest of the day off. Run through the streets yelling, "Failed policy, failed Presidency, Failed Congress". It beats twiddling your thumbs in paralyzed frustration.

And, it is about the least we can do to try to prevent more lives being wasted in Iraq. Bush wants to pile more wasted lives atop lives already wasted so those wasted won't die in vain. This seems to be a circling disease.

**Stay tuned even if that doesn't mean "stay the course"---Doug Wiken

**SD Voters Cleaning Up Behind the SD GOP Gov and Legislature

There is an old joke about the guy cleaning up behind elephants in a parade...something like he might not be able to control when or where, but he sure could control their feed. I have no idea what TIME was up to with the rest of this image. A friend mailed me a copy. The image does seem to be nearly ideally suited for comments on the SD Initiated and Referred measures this year.

In our local paper, two full pages of relatively small text were required to provide the attorney general explanations and text of the measures. I have the brazen audacity to do something like the SD newspapers do and that is to suggest a cheat sheet for voting. I guess if you want a really quick thought-free version, just vote "no" on everything --somewhat in the mood of "do no harm", but if you like a bit more finesse in your voting, take a look at the "uncleanup" and "cleanup" cheat sheets below.

First, SD Governor Rounds "uncleanup" ideas found via SD Moderate Blog..

Governor Mike Rounds has posted his positions on the various ballot initiatives on his campaign site---.LINK-- Rounds Campaign Site..The Uncleanup List

* Amendment C (Marriage Amendment) - Yes
* Amendment D (Property Assessment) - No
* Amendment E (Judicial Accountability) - No
* Amendment F (State Legislature) - Yes
* Initiated Measure 2 (Cigarette Tax) - Yes
* Initiated Measure 3 (School Start Date) - Undecided
* Initiated Measure 4 (Medical Marijuana) - No
* Initiated Measure 5 (State Aircraft) - No
* Initiated Measure 7 (Video Lottery) - No
* Initiated Measure 8 (Cell Phone Tax) - No
* Referred Law 6 (Abortion Ban) - Yes

http://www.sdmoderate.com/

And now, the much better Dakota Today "cleanup" suggestions. Use at your own risk. Don't allow children
to play with this in the kitchen or run with scissors.

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* Amendment C (Marriage Amendment) - NO This is theocracy in drag. What threat the wingnut loons see in homosexual unions to conventional heterosexual marriages is beyond me. It appears only to be a discriminatory way to score political points with religiously-impaired small minds.
* Amendment D (Property Assessment) - YES Something needs to be done. Not sure this is it, but Republican legislatures have had literally dozens of years to find better ways to fund public education. This may give a measure of the frustration with paying and paying property taxes that increase every year without regard to income or public need.
* Amendment E (Judicial Accountability) - YES However, it is a mediocre amendment but one hell of a message to the arrogance of judges and prosecutors..of course, they might not get it anyway since they are in a black-robed cloud of privilege.
* Amendment F (State Legislature) - NO, as the RC Journal indicates it makes more sessions closed. It also appears to make private measures possible. It is also just tinkering at the edges of real reform of the legislature. Perhaps we must initiate a SD Unicameral. Something good did come out of Nebraska even if South Dakotans have been mostly studiously blind.
* Initiated Measure 2 (Cigarette Tax) - Yes, gotta agree with the Gov. on this one
* Initiated Measure 3 (School Start Date) - Undecided. I am also undecided but leaning to "YES"
* Initiated Measure 4 (Medical Marijuana) -YES. Any government that allows tobacco and alcohol to be sold should never stand in the way of a mostly benign way to treat pain. Maybe legislators and the governor should be tortured and waterboarded for some attitude re-adjustment.
* Initiated Measure 5 (State Aircraft) - YES. The Governor can stay in his McCastle and work more and jaunt less at our expense. In any case, any governor with the brains of a small rock should be able to find an official function just about anyplace he has any real business traveling to and from in a SD State Plane.
* Initiated Measure 7 (Video Lottery) - YES. I don't like paying taxes, but I like the idea of South Dakotra aiding and abetting gambling addiction and related social problems even less. Making any kind of gambling off limits to cash or checks and only available via a debit card from county treasures might be an alternative to outright repeal however.
* Initiated Measure 8 (Cell Phone Tax reduction) -YES. Why does South Dakota legislature always look for a way to penalize new and better ideas. Next the SD Revenue idiots will be thinking about an internet tax...oh wait, they are already pushing that peculiarly dumb idea with all its complexity and privacy invasion. Cellphones are a real safety feature in the boondocks. We don't need some of the highest taxes in the country on a near essential for safe travel and rural living.
* Referred Law 6 (Abortion Ban) - NO. HB 1215 was truly bad legislation Six Sucks. Kill it dead. Vote no. SD has no business enhancing rapist rights at the expense of every female's right to privacy and control over her own body.
This is a theocratic construction over-riding science, scientific language, and common sense. It is probably also blatantly unconstitutional and the SD legislature had no good reason to dump this load of elephant dung on the election doorsteps. Poorly conceived legislation like this is a threat both to religion and state with the indiscriminant mixing of religious myth and scientific and social fact. This legislation is a recipe for social injustice writ large. It will move from safe legal and relatively rare abortions to illegal and rarely safe abortions. It will not stop SD abortions. This legislation serves no useful purpose. Give it a big hearty NO.

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Well, there you have it. Mostly just don't vote like our governor intends to vote.. hope that simplifies everything well enough.

Now, don't forget to vote Nov 7. Get rid of the elephant and we won't have to clean up behind the beast.

**Stay tuned even if the circus band left town last summer..maybe just teach high school bands to play "Happy Days are Here Again"---Doug Wiken

**Which is the Real John Koskan?

A few weeks ago in a public radio program with the other candidate for the SD PUC, Steve Kolbeck, John Koskan said something like "I am opposed to government regulations and most of the time, Government should just get out of the way." That was probably the real John Koskan in a libertarian moment.

Koskan's latest TV ads show him with a kid's tin can communicator. He notes the tremendous growth in telecommunications technology as if he had something to do with it. Then he launches into the need for something akin to consumer protection and utility regulation..asking the rhetorical "Can we Do it?" etc.

I have known John Koskan for years. He has been in the legislature for years. He has a record which indicates he is probably completely unsuitable as a member of a regulatory commission.

Steve Kolbeck is not somebody I have known for years, but I am convinced he actually knows something about telecommunications and he knows that subscribers to utility services need regulatory protection and information.

Kolbeck is also not promoting nuclear power generation as a solution for anything in SD. Back in the years around 1970 or before, there were grand nuclear power generation schemes for South Dakota being promoted by large multi-national business and finance. They intended to take advantage of the Missouri water and they saw a huge storehouse of ignorance and naivette they could exploit in the boondocks. That scheme was killed when the details started to get into the press and awareness of the public.

Now we are getting the same kind of hype from Koskan and crew. There may be a place for nuclear power, but it won't do anything good for South Dakota. If nuclear plants are put up here, it will just mean more Missouri River water is used and more high tension power lines will move power out of here to the coasts or make possible diversion of power to those areas. South Dakota will be left with nuclear waste and the continuous threat that the Missouri River water will be polluted or heated to the point of problems for wildlife and domestic water use.

There are better ways to save and use power.

Koskan is not an answer to any problems. He offers mostly easy access to the most powerful special economic interests in the interest of red in tooth and claw capitalism. We do not need any more foxes in the Pierre chicken houses.

Let the real John Koskan stay home and tinker with improving tin can and string communication devices.

Here are the web sites for both Koskan and Kolbeck. How often to we get candidates for the same office with the same letter starting their last names?

LINK -- Koskan for SD PUC

LINK-- Kolbeck for SD PUC

The Argus has endorsed Koskan for reasons which made little sense to me.
LINK--Google Cache of Argus Endorsement

The Yankton P&D notes the importance of the Public Utilities Commission.
LINK--Google Cache of Yankton P&D On PUC Race

If you want more or less unbiased information than you see here, do some Google searching and see if you can find something interesting readers here might find interesting too.

My guess is that if enterprising news reporters actually did some digging into Koskan's legislative record, they would find Koskan votes for limiting the power and authority of the PUC. Legislative experience doesn't mean much if legislators learn the same lessons every year..ie get along to go along with the GOP majority leadership and the theocrats of the right and sell off state recources to foreign companies for a quick fix to serious GOP taxation and spending problems and leadership failures.

So, if you ever have a problem with your local utility and you want help or information from the SD PUC, you may want to make sure Steve Kolbeck rather than John Koskan has a voice in determining the policies and procedures and staffing of the PUC.

And, with the wonders of modern communications, it won't make much difference to you whether or not the PUC commissioner comes from your backyard or not. Oh, and ask both of them what they think about net neutrality and low power FM broadcasts.

**Stay tuned..perhaps if the newspapers can make muddled recommendations on the initiated and referred legislation, I should make a muddled cheat sheet for the convenience of voters wondering why two pages of their newspaper is filled with dense text---Doug Wiken