Dakota Today

**PUMA but not a Wildcat or Mountain Lion in Sight

If you have paid a bit of attention to the Democratic Presidential primary, you have probably been hearing from the media gasbags about the terrible split in the Democratic Party.  Irate supporters of one of the losers, that being Sen. Hillary Clinton, are claimed to be hellbent on supporting Sen. John McCain.  This sure makes good press even if it makes no sense whatsoever.

There are even claims of a PUMA group which has nothing to do with wildcats or mountain lions, but with irate Hillary supporters. PUMA is apparently an acronym for "Party Unity My Ass".  There is even a PAC apparently organized on the idea that Hillary supporters are so bitter and vindictive they will vote for Sen. McCain.

Well, somebody has done some digging on one of these groups.  It appears that it was started by a McCain contributor, but there are already guesses it is a shill group for a shill group allowing GOP claims that it was actually a Democratic plot.  What a twisted web is tangled by the media now and then.  Anyway, take a look at the site below:

Pandagon on Pumas are "swiftboats There you will find more on this story:

I've been suspicious from the beginning about the existence of "PUMAs": Female Clinton supporters who are so bitter about her loss that they will throw equal pay, reproductive rights, the environment, and a chance at peace under the bus to get their revenge by voting for McCain. I'm skeptical even though they show up in comment threads all over the internet, claiming they're real. I'm skeptical even though they wrote Rebecca Traister letters claiming that they exist. I believe that the Republicans are cheerful rat-fuckers and therefore would not hesitate to set up a secretive operation of people running around claiming to be Clinton voters who are voting for McCain to keep the legend of the PUMAs alive. If you can convince people that there are PUMAs, then you accomplish two giant goals for the McCain campaign:

Some documentation at the site pulled from the required filings of PAC groups, etc. Take a look for more information. Probably not the kind of thing that will gladden the hearts of those heartsick about the odds for Sen. McCain nor support the idea that there are a lot of real PUMAs out there. ***Stay tuned and check old posts here for information on actual mountain lions-- Doug Wiken

**Some links..Non-profit Journalism and some references combined

As newspapers decline in readers and they also reduce funding for independent news gathering and something like that also hits the electronic media because it is cheaper to put on a gasbag talking head, some groups are financing non-profit news gathering...at least that is what I heard tonight on PBS News Hour.  A couple links from that program below:

Pro Publica--Journalism in the Public Interest

Center for Public Integrity-- Investigative Journalism In the Public Interest/

Pulitzer Center-- Crisis Information

Those could keep a person busy for more than a few hours and should germinate an idea or two. If you are scratching for information, you might (according to CPU Magazine) find the link below useful.
 Ref Desk ..Fact checker for the Internet

**Stay tuned even if you are turning pages in a new pixel way--- Doug Wiken

**Drilling us for oil..commentary by D. Newquist

David Newquist at Northern Valley Beacon Blog reminds us of one of the ideological myths that are like fungus on the brains of SD conservative Republicans and which too often block serious consideration of needed government action or especially needed government action to control huge corporations.

Among the silliest things the regressives believe is that big government is bad but big corporations are good--as if corporate bureacracies are virtuous but government bureacracies are inherently evil. Regressives long for the repressions and inequities of the Dark Ages, and huge corporate bureacraces are as close as they can come to the lavish and oppressive monarchies of the time. So, they revere and cherish huge, global corporations. To them, Enron, Worldcom and the merry band in the mortgage business were just exercising the royal prerogative to be stupid, venal, and dishonest. It all has to do with the worship of power, no matter how it is exercised.

David Newquist at Northern Valley Beacon "Drilling for Columbine"

Take a look at the rest of Newquist's post at his blog and get an insight into part of the problem in getting new ideas considered seriously in South Dakota.

 

**Stay tuned even if you are trying to determine the frequency asked of "Kenneth" by listening for it in the buzzing of mosquitoes**** Doug Wiken

**Get the "Methanol Economy" to Sen. Obama Please

Obama and country need to do more talking about the "Methanol Economy" idea. A google search for "methanol economy" will turn up links for the book by Dr. George Olah and commentary on his idea. Methanol unlike Hydrogen is a good "portable" fuel. Hydrogen might work for huge stationary engines however. Below is a link which appears to have a good general and balanced perspective on this.

Chemical and Engineering News on the "Methanol Economy"                          

Wind energy is not a stable source of energy, but if combined with hydrogen and methanol production it can be transformed into a stable uniform level of power which even with energy losses would make for better or more usable energy.

High efficiency wind generators alone would be wonderful if the wind blew all day all night every day at the same speed. It doesn't, so conversion to stable, portable  fuel is required for stable energy production without consumption of fossil fuels..

If you have Obama connections, try to see if this kind of information can be fed into their system if it makes sense to you too.  We don't need another term of Bush petroleum wars via a McCain administration, but Obama needs to get serious on something like a moon project for a better and ecologically benign fuel or energy system.   Methanol may be a way to do it.  It is a way which deserves serious consideration and possibly serious funding.

**Stay tuned even if you are currently working on converting mosquito wing buzzing into energy-- Doug Wiken

**So venture over to Cranium Creek and laugh or groan

Cranium Creek descends deep into the caverns of puns.  Laugh or groan, it is your choice:

Cranium Creek Blog and "Punilingus"

 Not much new in the way of news around here, but about 4pm this afternoon, I was driving the 1/4 mile from our farmhouse to the county highway when I heard a thump and a dark thing with 4 legs hanging down over the windshield for an instant. The old Mitsubishi Eclipse is relatively low and apparently a deer had jumped nearly cleanly right over the top of the car. No window or windshield breaks, dents, or scratches that I could find. Also no broken deer parts littering the gravel. Brome grass has grown up nearly as high as the car. Guess tomorrow will be a good day to try to mow along the road so a deer in the ditch might be seen and perhaps a deer might even see a car coming.
In the spirit of punilingus and Martha Stewart, "Near and deer" is not a very good thing

. ***Stay tuned even if your groan response to puns is far too close to a gag reflex-- Doug Wiken

**About an Argus Reader Rant from Donna M. Price

The Thursday June 19, 2008 Argus Leader had a "reader rant" on the Voices pages.  It was titled "Disappointed with Democratic Leaders".  I have typed it from the dead tree version of the paper, so there may be errors:

I am so disappointed with our Democratic leaders in this state. I will not vote for Sen. Tim Johnson or Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin. Former Senator Tom Daschle never listened to the people of his state, either. I think he is just looking for an appointment. As for former Sen. George McGovern, I can't believe what he did. The Clintons did so much for him and his wife. I can't see what benefit there was for him not to go with the people of his state. I have no intention voting for Sen., Barack Obama, either. Hope there is an independent ticket. Donna M. Price, Sioux Falls

This has to be one of the most ignorant or disingenuous rants or comments I have ever seen in a news paper. Price is either a Republican or one of the most mentally dis-engaged Democrats I have ever read. McCain is trying to persuade women that he is a better alternative to Sen. Clinton than is Sen. Obama. Price has either suckered for this nonsense McCain doubletalk blather  or is a Republican shill to begin with who has probably never voted for a Democrat in her whole life.

 I think there are good reasons for not supporting Daschle, Thune, Johnson, or Herseth-Sandlin, but those reasons relate to their support of the Bush War and that appears to also be a problem for Sen. McCain. The reasons Price appears  to believe regarding Daschle, et al are political boilerplate crap from the RNC and the McCain campaign or other groups supporting him. The ARGUS needs a section devoted to "Letters from the Fringe" or "Hot views from GOP Blastfax or Spam Room".

. ***Stay tuned for news about the US on the 'Wrong Track"---Doug Wiken

**This and that..AP and Bloggers, Sen. Obama and good rumors

Well, it appears that AP is again on the warpath attacking bloggers who have the audacity to quote their stories and give links back to the source.  A site named Drudge RETORT (not Drudge REPORT) has gotten notice from AP in what appears to be another opening salvo.  I know some SD bloggers have also been hassled by AP in the past.  Some bloggers think all bloggers should give AP the obscurity they seem to want.

More on the story here at the Carpetbagger's blog:

Carpetbagger Blog on AP and Drudge RETORT copyright issues That is one issue. Here is another that makes a point in a rather humorous way: SLATE story on Rumors Obama should not correct And, an interesting comment found at Salon Table Talk in the White House Folder concerning the "inexperience" of Sen Obama:

Verbal Remedy - 08:40 am Pacific Time - Jun 19, 2008 - #3134 of 3149 I've just got to say this: Obama had no previous experience running for national office. He had no previous experience in widespread netroots fundraising and organizing. He had absolutely no experience running against the presumptive "inevitable" nominee with 100% national name recognition. No experience whatsoever in assembling a national security advisory board. Not one lick of experience putting together a rapid response team to fight smears. No experience addressing issues of race to a national audience, under fire from the MSM. You know what? All things considered, when you look at how all those things turned out, his lack of experience is working out a hell of a lot better than his inter- and intra-party rivals' combined hundred or so years in Washington, DC. http://tabletalk.salon.com/webx?14@@.773d380a/3130

**Stay tuned even if the weather is strange and TV network "news" becomes more and more trash and hype--- Doug Wiken

**Architecture-- University Grotesque HodgePodge Style and Graffiti

First the graffiti.  I rant and rave about vandalism, but this bit of graffiti is just plain clever and
funny.  Not  sure of the source.  It was emailed to me with no references.

And, graffiti of an architectural kind on the University of South Dakota campus at Vermillion. The appearance may be an artifact of the alumni publication or the computer generated image. Whatever..the new student center looks like a dog's vomited breakfast.
Click on image for a larger view. Source the recent USD Alumni News. This looks like something from Grotesque HodgePodge School of Architecture... Toss together the plans for a confinement hoghouse add on a nursing home design, toss in an exposed stairway and something from the plans of a highschool gymnasium and hot lunch food service....mix in a large nonsense block of decorative brick and WOW!! Your perspective might be better and/or much different than mine, but sticking this building on the same campus with Old Main seems like architectural graffiti or vandalism

. **Stay tuned even if a blog is just a house of pixels blowing in the wind--- Doug Wiken

**Nova runs the Mega Volcano show again

Sure seemed like I had seen some of the NOVA program broadcast tonight before.  I started to see hits on Dakota Today from Google searches for "Lake Toba".

Anyway, tonight I saw the whole NOVA program, but if you want to see the Dakota Today post made
months ago, check

Dakota Today on NOVA's MegaVolcano Show Sept 26, 2006

Breathing sulphuric acid and volcanic ash glass particles is not good for your health. Hope we have no immediate surprise Mega Volcano in the neighborhood such as Yellowstone.

Anyway.. interesting show, but now and then Public Broadcasting "detective-type" shows scientific, historical, whatever take an inordinate amount of time to get to the point. "Building suspense in Science Reporting" is kind of an oxymoronic phrase.
**Stay tuned as we build suspense in the wait for real SD news such as SD Democratic women whining about Tom Daschle endorsing Sen. Obama who will not be the next woman president-- Doug Wiken

**Gore Endorsement of Sen. Obama Reversed by US Supreme Court

You may have heard already that Al Gore endorsed Sen. Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee.

What you may not have heard about this is what the US Supreme Court did today regarding that endorsement.

Check The Really Serious News for the latest:

Really Serious News on Gore Endorsement Reversal

Ya, I know we should get over the theft of an election.  Just look what the 5-4 partisan court decision gave us.  Well on second thought....

Maybe the actual real news is good enough.  Obama is on the move.  I think we have some hope of reversing the dreadful mistakes of the Bush adminstrations and their aiders and abettors.

***Stay tuned, one of these days there may actually be another real News Flash--- Doug Wiken