Dakota Today

**Is Bush actually right about something? Ethanol?

President Bush mentioned Ethanol in his press conference. The Farm Journal ever searching for good news about Republicans has the report below.

Bush: Ethanol Not To Blame for Food Prices 4/30/2008 By Jeanne Bernick, Farm Journal Crops and Issues Editor

While some antihunger activists point to the biofuels industry as exacerbating world hunger by diverting crop needs, President Bush said Tuesday he believes corn-based ethanol is responsible for only a small part of rising food prices. Weather, increased food demand and energy prices are the key drivers of current global food inflation, according to President Bush’s remarks during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.

“And the truth of the matter is, it's in our national interests that our farmers grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us,” President Bush told reporters.

Bush said high crop prices should not slow biofuel efforts and that the high price of gasoline is going to spur more investment in ethanol as an alternative to gasoline.

More at the LINK below:
NWLINK Farm Journal Crop News

This is important to corn farmers, but the information needs to also get to food consumers who are getting a figurative line of bologna from food corporations. Bush like a stopped clock with eight years on the dial is actually right about once.

The whole thing is however besides the real point. Bush War, Inc. in Iraq has squandered thousands of lives and enough of the taxpayers, past, present, and future, money to convert about a third of all the US energy used to wind energy sources. That needs to be the "moon project" and the sooner the better. The quicker the US is separated from the lunatic religious fanatics of the mideast, the better.

To paraphrase a Bible saying, "What do we profit if we gain all the oil from the terrorists and lose the whole world to global boiling."

** Some fodder on animal factory stench and pollution..or Pew on pew.

Native Americans in South Dakota protesting a hog farm conveniently stuck into an area surrounded by tribal land might have a little more ammunition for their cause. Highway patrolmen should be required to ride with a hog in their back seat if they think aiding an out-of-state hog factory is such a good idea. I would guess some of the Native Americans might then wonder which is the actual pig, but that is another matter of Highway Patrol public relations problems.

To be taken more seriously than a modest proposal of a pig in every back seat however, are thousands of pigs in your backyard.

Washington, DC - 04/29/2008 - The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves, according to an extensive 2½-year examination conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP), in a study released today.

Commissioners have determined that the negative effects of the IFAP system are too great and the scientific evidence is too strong to ignore. Significant changes must be implemented and must start now. And while some areas of animal agriculture have recognized these threats and have taken action, it is clear that the industry has a long way to go.

MORE BELOW IN CONTINUATION OR AT THE SITE Source. The Omaha World Herald carried the story today with a blurb on the front page pointing to the story on page 5. The paper also had a story indicating the problems with putting personal information about family matters in a personal blog with some of the problems that resulted for Nebraska bloggers.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=38438

http://snipurl.com/26jwk

The complete Pew article is in the continuation of this post. Worth reading if you care about the differences between an actual farm and a factory.

**Stay tuned even if you have never smelled the stench of hogs. It is a stink that can carry for miles and never leaves the clothes of those around hogs--- Doug Wiken

**This and that..

Saw the first dandilions I have seen blooming this year. Must be a near certain indication that spring is here. Also, the end of April is rapidly approaching and that means property taxes are due in South Dakota. Damn, are they ever a reminder of how upside down the SD tax system really is. When RE taxes start pushing $20 per acre, it is time some of the people living in towns and cities and making good money as some of them fill the schools with kids need to be picking up their fair share of the taxes. Perhaps a few of the corporations doing business in SD could kick a few bucks into an education fund too. I don't notice the chain marketers charge less here because they don't have to pay a state corporate income tax as they do in other states.

The schools consolidate and should get more efficient and teach better and cost less. It looks to me that all that actually happens is that administrator salaries go ever higher and the school years get shorter. And, oh yeah, the real estate taxes keep going up even if special assessment op outs are required.

And, unless my eyes are also playing tricks on me, it appears the Rapid City Journal dead tree version has a new format. I don't particularly care for it. Maybe some of the artsy types can explain why a paper that looks like propaganda from a farm credit publication is a better typeface, etc. etc. than some good old newspaperery looking text. The fine fonts must save some of that ink the papers buy by the barrel.

And then there is George Bush. I watched the weasel trying to blame his economic, political, and diplomatic foul ups on congress this morning. And on the war, Bush doesn't just move the goal posts, he makes them dance.
What a bunch of spineless wimps there are in the White House Press Corps. They might as well be the Whitehouse Press Corpse.

Where is the "Mr. President, you are questioning my motives. I am searching for truth here. If that motive is at cross purposes with yours, just what are your motives, sir?" Gutless damn wimps. Speaking truth to the Texas Twit in power is absolutely the last thing on their tiny minds.

Bush goes on and on about the never-ending fight against terror and how we are making progress against it in Iraq and Afghanistan. I must have been dreaming, but I would swear I remember the smirking weasel in a flight suit on an aircraft carrier with a big "Mission Accomplished" sign behind him.

Bob Schieffer of CBS correctly summarized the Bush speech as a political gasp of somekind..an attempt to shift blame. Then Schieffer went on to say that it really was true however that Congress did not have an energy policy.

Hmmm. How the hell are we supposed to know what kind of an energy policy the US has? Cheney held secret meetings on energy policy and so far it seems to me that nobody including Bob Schieffer and the rest of us outside of the collection of aiders and abettors in the White House know what that policy is. It seems without knowing of course to just be to drive the price of fuel so high that agriculture and travel grind to a screeching halt.

Bush is just too, too cute by half at least. He reminds me of all the smart ass arrogant prick frat rats I ran into on college campuses and the worst of them pale in comparison to the Texas Twit.

What we need in the White House of course is a dry drunk that all the barflies would just love to sit with and toss back a few. Oh wait, I must be dreaming again.

***Stay tuned, keep your eyes open even when you think you are dreaming--- Doug Wiken

**GPS shows distance between stalker and potential victim

Finally, why has this taken so long?

Police stations in Massachusetts have turned to modern technology to crack down on known stalkers. Those convicted as dangerous individuals are now being attached to satellite monitoring devices that electronically notify the authorities when a stalker is too close to their victim. The messages are sent automatically, meaning that the police could potentially stop an attack before the opportunity presents itself. (Source: topix.com) NWL to Infopackets story on GPS and Stalker monitoring

http://snipurl.com/26ce0

Putting GPS transmitters on parolees, etc. has been available for years. It seemed obvious to me years ago that putting such transmitters on stalker victims and then knowing the distance between them might have made judge's protection orders actually mean something without also bankrupting taxpayers and producing a massive gestapo snooping system running night and day.

SD AG Long has advanced good ideas in relation to keeping drunk drivers out of jail, but also off the roads driving drunk and still working to support their families. He needs to now push for this advancement and the SD Court system should also be very interested in this.

*** Stay tuned even if the BushSpies, Inc. already have your every keystroke recorded somewhere--- Doug Wiken

**Rev. Wright does a pretty good job

I have been reading a lot of froth about the Rev. Wright who happens to be ..wink, wink, nod..Barrack Obama's local minister. So far not much of what I have seen him say that is in the context of more of what he says has been particularly terrible unless Democrats are deeply worried about losing Dick Cheney's vote in the general election.

The controversialists in the press are wringing their hands about the Rev. Wright's terrible impact on the Obama campaign. The "ain't it awful" crowd is just too concerned and upset about this to take it seriously. The Rev. Wright pretty well summed up a lot of my white guy's bitterness about Bush, Inc.

And, while we are talking about strange things said by ministers that we could just get oh so terribly upset about, perhaps we should remember what Jerry Falwell said about 9-11 and then apologized for ..of course, it might not be nice to kick a man of the clothe around now that he has croaked, but take a look at the link below:
Jerry Falwell Apologizes for his 9-11 comments I suspect other rightwing ministers white or otherwise have said equally stupid things about 9-11, etc.

Of course, the Rev. Wright controversy pales into insignificance compared to the horror that are photos of Miley Vanilla..er Cyrus, otherwise known as Hannah Montana...never to be confused with Patsy Montana...that apparently grace the pages of Vanity Fair which might better be called Vanity Fare.

Oh, and apparently Ken Blanchard wants to know how many of the angels dancing on the head of a pin are blessed or damned and what monumental difference that makes in the world of partisan sniping.

***Stay tuned..maybe John Edwards can be the compromise candidate-- Doug Wiken

**What about Janklow and the ARGUS this time?

The Sunday ARGUS and that of today (April 28, 2008) has articles on the "Janklow 36". It is a follow up on some prisoners dumped out of the SD State Prison because of crowding and told to get out of South Dakota and not return some 30 years or so ago.

The ARGUS has followed up on the lives of some of these people. And, to probably nobody's astonishment have found that too many of them ended up following their criminal instincts and getting re-arrested and imprisoned again, etc. etc. Some blessed their lucky Janklow stars and took advantage of the unexpected freedom and made good of the rest of their lives.

I am certainly no apologist for Bill Janklow. But, it must be said about this that he put himself in a position where he could be blamed for his opinion and actions or credited and he may not have had to do that.

But, the more important point that the ARGUS is omitting or fails to recognize is that for their report to have any validity, the life of these "lucky" prisoners must be compared with similar lives of those released after they had served their full sentences back in those days.

My guess is they would have found a very similar recidivism rate and also a similar success rate if they compared this group of "Janklow 36" and and a "Random 36" from those days. The ARGUS is "Willy Horton-ing" Bill Janklow. I hope he now as a little sympathy for Gov. Dukakis and a bit of disdain for the shrill GOP rightwing attack ads like the "Swiftboaters", etc.

And, if I got something wrong in this post let me know. I am writing it without benefit of having the paper in front of me and Janklow is unlikely to be providing me with any inside information.

I have found many things to criticize Bill Janklow for, but I don't think his early release of these few prisoners is something that should be hung around his neck like a permanently rotting albatross.

***Stay tuned...maybe I will come to my partisan senses again--- Doug Wiken

**Closing the deal and no deal

Hillary supporters and press molehill into mountains corporate media controversialists are claiming that Obama "just can't close a deal".

Perhaps Obama hasn't had any experience with closing cattle futures hot deals. I would have thought the Hillary apologists might have thought twice about even mentioning the word "deal" in their propaganda.

Meanwhile back on the home front, speaking of deals, the local Pamida discount store passed out some coupons yesterday that offered a 50% discount on Micro Innovations computer accessories.. That sounded like not too bad a deal, so I went back today to check. Buried in the fine text of the coupon was something to the effect of ""excludes clearance items and no other discounts apply". Strange coincidence, every Micro Innovation computer accessory on the rack had a yellow "Clearance" price tag even if there had been no reduction from the regular price or one showed a reduction from $29.95 to "$29.00. Turned out that any of the accessories I had thought useful had already been sold, but this super coupon coupled with an everything clearance-price deal was the most inventive merchandising artistry I have seen.

**Stay tuned even if this line is just a closing deal--- Doug Wiken

**Is there an echo someplace?

I just decided I am awfully damn easy to flatter. Bernie Hunhoff drops a nice note into his Editor's Notebook about two blogs here in Tripp County and one of them happens to be mine and the other belongs to Lowdon Heller. At least, take a look at what Bernie wrote about Ideal News and Views...you already probably know more about Dakota Today than you need to know.
SD Magazine Editor's Notes on Ideal News and Views

Round and Round she goes. Where it stops nobody knows. Echo, echo , echo.........

But what the heck, I feel pretty good today about making a simple set of shelves for canned goods. Maybe I'll get around to putting some photos in here when I finish sanding and varnishing the plain old two by four studs I used to make it. Just the right depth for most canned goods. There they are in all their labeled glory so we don't have to wonder if we really should eat something that has something like "best when purchased by xxxxxxxx" where "xxxxxxx" is a date that was passed an embarrassingly long time ago.

And, the snow in yesterday's photo is just about all gone already here; but, it sounds like eastern South Dakota got a nasty late blast of 14 inches or so of snow. Good thing it wasn't also 20 degrees below zero.

***Stay tuned..and subscribe to South Dakota Magazine...help keep some 5 gallon buckets full of money here in South Dakota--Doug Wiken.

**Wet Snow in Winner April 25, 2008

So much for the mist and light possible chance of snow forecast last night. A couple inches of partly cloudy early this morning and it kept falling until around noon. Photo below shows some of it mostly before sun had done it's work. By now, the ground heat and sun has melted a lot of it. Must have been around a half inch of actual moisture in it. Photo below.

And, the snow shovels had already been packed away. South Dakota of all places...indeed.

***Stay tuned even if you don't think snow and weather is the cat's pajamas----Doug Wiken

**Son, Don't get your math and Physics from the Argus or, busted myth busters.

The ARGUS today April 25, 2008, printed a "Reader Rant" titled "Re:Shooting Bullets". The writer gets his science from cable TV Myth Busters. He says a bullet tired into the air and then coming down to hit somebody was proven not to have "enough force" to cause serious injury. The writer also notes that a bullet returns with the "same rate as any falling object (32 feet per second squared).

Those with a little knowledge can be dangerous. Of course some of us with a little more knowledge might be even more dangerous, but here is a little physics anyway.

Velocity is distance per unit of time. Acceleration is the change in the velocity. Force on an object can be determined by the equation F=MA, or Force equals mass times acceleration. This little bit of physics and math may be about all most people ever really need to know about physics of motion.

So, the writer has confused acceleration and velocity in his comment. The velocity of falling objects in a vacuum will accelerate or increase in velocity at around 32 feet per second squared above the earth. Objects with an initial speed or velocity in an upward direction with no continuing propulsive force such as a jet engine, will accelerate in a negative direction, ie down or decelerate in more common usage.

So, if a car is pushed off a cliff about 600 feet high, using another formula distance equals initial velocity plus 1/2 acceleration times time squared, etc the car would be traveling at about 450 feet per second when it landed if there were no air resistance. Air resistance sets a "terminal velocity" for falling objects depending on the mass, density and streamlining. The falling car would be moving about 300 miles per hour if there were no air resistance. Humans falling out of an airplane don't keep accelerating until the hit the ground. Apparently terminal velocity for falling humans is about 130mph. Here is a link with some more basic information:

Physics site with question on falling bodies

Falling bullets on the other hand are a totally different can of worms to mix metaphors or something like that, but lets not get into chemistry. I do not think I would want to be the test subject for shooting even a 22 caliber rifle perfectly straight up on a windless day. Here is a link with some information on the terminal velocity of bullets, mass, etc.
"Straight Dope on Falling Bullets"target="new"

Then there is "Grandpa" who answers at Grandpa on Firing gun into the air

And finally, there is Myth Busters itself, but revisiting the falling bullet issue
Myth Busters Revisit Falling Bullets issue

Do a Google search for "Terminal velocity of a falling bullet" or body or human and you will get a lot of interesting information that somebody at the ARGUS should have checked before posting the "RANT".

So, "Be careful out there" or beware David Letterman jokes about squirrels."

***Stay tuned even if your eyes glaze over at the mere sound of the word "physics" or you think of "physic" instead and want nothing to do with loose stool..let alone falling loose nuts--- Doug Wiken