A bill against teen drivers’ use of cell phones while driving that the Cheif commented on earlier, is headed for the circular file.
Of various reasons reported for opposition, the Chief’s favorite is this one:
“We are taking more and more rights away from parents and putting them in the hands of this body,” Sen. Bill Napoli, R-Rapid City, said. “We are saying that we can take better care of your children than you can.”
Hear, hear!
Eminent domain bill passes first test
The SD legislature is on course to address something that has not been a proble yet – the abuse of eminent domain that has been seen in other states.
Under HB1080, counties, municipalities, housing and redevelopment commissions cannot transfer property to private or nongovernmental entity primarily for “enhancement†of tax revenue. Also, after seven years, if land isn’t used for the purpose for which it was acquired, it must be offered for sale to the original owner of the property.
The Chief heartily approves of this as an act of legal prophylaxis. not unlike the concept of Amendment E (the JAIL amendment).
DISCLAIMER: The following is shamelessly ripped off from SteelDeal.
This actually has a practical use: the Chief teaches H.S. biology, and this could make a great discussion topic for evaluation of possible alternative life-forms: “COULD it really live? Why or why not? Give reasons to support your conclusion.”
Canada takes tentative step to right in election
Canada took a tentative step to the right in Monday’s federal election, ousting the Liberals after 12 years in power and voting in a fragile minority Conservative government, television networks said. Preliminary official figures at 11 p.m. (0400 GMT Tuesday) showed the Conservatives winning or ahead in 122 electoral districts compared to 103 for the Liberals of Prime Minister Paul Martin.
The Chief wonders where the US moonbats will be threatening to go to now that the Great White North has shifted its direction, and what with France’s Chirac threatening to use nukes in response to terrorists. Ah well, I guess Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela are still available.
Dead man rides subway for hours
Urban legend comes to life? No, maybe not THAT, but…well, you get the idea anyway:
It took more than six hours for anyone to realize that a 64-year-old Brooklyn man had died on a New York City subway train. Eugene Reilly, who died of a heart attack, likely got onto a Brooklyn-bound Q train just before 1 a.m. Thursday. He wasn’t found until 7:15 a.m. when a curious commuter touched his shoulder, trying to wake him, the New York Daily News reported.
It brings to mind “Charlie on the MTA” the old Kingston Trio song from back when.
Iranian News Agency: straight from the horses’ as…er…mouth.
Iran Says Palestine is Center of Islam
President Ahmadinejad said Friday Palestine is the center of the final stages of the battle between Islam and arrogance, saying the Palestinian Intifada is progressing. The plots hatched by enemies against Palestine should not be overlooked even for a moment, Ahmadinejad noted in a meeting with leaders of the Palestinian resistance movements in Damascus, Syria.
OK. It looks to the Chief like Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad Ahmadinejad is continuing with the serial version of his Islamic Mein Kampf. Check it out for a direct sampling of a psychotic view of reality.
Iran warns against UN referral
Iran’s top nuclear official on Sunday warned Tehran would resume efforts to enrich uranium on an industrial scale if its case was reported to the UN Security Council, further raising the stakes in the crisis over its nuclear programme.
As ineffectual as the UN has been, it’s hard to understand what the Iranian’s worry is about.
Tehran earlier this month moved to resume nuclear research, including some small-scale enrichment. But Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, which handles the nuclear issue, said in an interview with the Financial Times that a referral to the United Nations would force Tehran to broaden significantly the scale of such work.
Iran is already busting their agreement, so this is just threatening more of the same. Besides, who’s going to be able to see if they are just doing “a little bit” now?
Iran has always intended to develop industrial-scale uranium enrichment, which can be used for nuclear reactors or atomic weapons, but stopped all preparatory work during two-year talks with Europeans.
Sounds like another example of an Islamic “truce” – with just as much validity and with the same goal as the one Bin Ladin offered: string the enemy along while strength is built up before resuming the attack.
Israeli Hints at Preparation to Stop Iran
Israel’s defense minister hinted Saturday that the Jewish state is preparing for military action to stop Iran’s nuclear program, but said international diplomacy must be the first course of action. “Israel will not be able to accept an Iranian nuclear capability and it must have the capability to defend itself, with all that that implies, and this we are preparing,” Shaul Mofaz said.
This is not a surprise to the Chief, nor should it be to anyone. They have a slogan over there that is MUCH more than just a simple slogan: “Never again!”. Iranian and other Islamofascists of similar ilk like HAMAS, al Qaida, and all the other groups may be on the edge of learning a hard, hard lesson – and one which they will have fully earned.
Israel’s concerns about Iran have grown since the election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said last year that Israel should be “wiped off the map.”
Is there REALLY cause for some alarm here? Sure looks like it!
Iran says Israeli threats are a ‘childish game’
Historically, wars have often started when one party misunderstimated the resolve of another. Iran shows evidence that it is going chugging down that railroad in it’s own inimitable way:
Iran on Sunday said Israel would be making a “fatal mistake” should it resort to military action against Tehran’s nuclear program and dismissed veiled threats from the Jewish state as a “childish game.”
None of this is a cause for much optimism.
New super-gun to be tested in Feb
Next month a new high-explosive munition will be fired in Singapore and then tested again by the U.S. Army, heralding what may be a sea change in weaponry: a gun that can fire 240,000 rounds per minute. That’s compared to 60 rounds per minute in a standard military machine gun.
Talk about rock-and-roll with a vengeance!
A Metal Storm gun of any size — from a 9 mm hand-gun up to a machine gun size or a grenade launcher — has no moving parts other than the bullets or munition inside the barrel. Rather than chambering a single slug for each shot – very quickly in the case of machine guns — the bullets come pre-stacked inside the barrel and can be shot all at once, or one at a time, as the shooter decides through the electronic controls.
Metal Storm’s speed allows it to lay down a blinding wall of slugs that can intercept and pulverize incoming enemy fire, according to company CEO David Smith. As long as the grenade or mortar is fired from outside a range of about 50 meters or 162.5 feet and a Doppler radar is in use, a Metal Storm system could be an effective defense, he told UPI.
Pretty nifty! There’s more detail in the article if you are into it.
Teen drivers’ phones targeted
The Chief admits that cell phone use by inexperienced drivers can be a problem. Having said that, he’s NOT at all sure that legislation is the solution.
Methinks it isn’t something unique to cell phone use to be a problem while driving. Many other actvities, (all of which the Chief has personally witnessed) can be serious distractions to driving: eating hamburgers, talking to passengers, lighting up and smoking, drinking beverages (of any type), changing CD’s, reading newspapers, combing hair, (re)doing fingernail polish, etc., etc.
Should ALL of these be subject to legislative review? One would hope not, although some are even worse that the use of the dreaded cell phone. It is probably a good idea to have a “distracted driving” provision that imposes sanctions if ANY distraction results in an accident or other driving violation.
Singling out ONE activity for sanction in and of itself, is really nothing more than another manifestation of that the Chief regards as the attitude of “the nanny state” – micromanaging the details of daily life, of course in the interest of protecting us from ourselves. Enough already!
Bill would allow state to sell guns confiscated from crooks
Sounds good. Why waste perfectly good guns?
This is a win-win. People can get a good deal on guns, and the agencies get a bit of cash to help their budgets.
The R.C. Journal notes the massive and widespread opposition on the part of our elected legislooters legislators to any independent review of legal authority. This reminds the Chief of the old one about the fox guarding the hen-house. Legislators make laws – that’s what they do. If they don’t, then they are prima facie less significant.
Judges are supposed to interpret and enforce the laws. Although abuse of their authority has fortunately NOT been a problem yet in South Dakota there is no restraint in place to prevent the sort of legal abomination like the infamous ruling of Judge Cashman in NH that gave a 60 day sentence to a long-term child-raper because “I no longer believe in punishment in the law.” In this case, the Judge’s personal BELIEF trumps the law – without a regular procedure for imposing sanction for this ignoring of the letter and spirit of the law. In short, this is an example of what constitutes the legal part of a de-facto politico-legal-media complex.
When the peasants voters have the temerity to propose a mechanism for addressing the ARBITRARY abuse exercise of legal authority, the legislature and the legal establishment, along with thier MSM enablers, instantly “fort up”, raise the drawbridge, drop the portcullis, and bar the gates against the threat to The Way Things Always Are Done Around Here.
The legislators are quoted extensively and uncritically in their universal opposition, which is expressed in terms that show that they have either NOT bothered to read the amendment, or else have read it but are distorting and incorrectly stating its provisions:
South Dakota’s legislative leaders said Friday they are united in an effort to defeat a 2006 ballot initiative that would allow judges to be sued by people who believe their rights have been violated. If approved by the voters, Amendment E  the Judicial Accountability Initiative Law, or J.A.I.L.  would strip judges of their immunity from lawsuits stemming from their decisions.
The kernal amendment actually reads:
No immunity shall extend to any judge of this State for any deliberate violation of law, fraud or conspiracy, intentional violation of due process of law, deliberate disregard of material facts, judicial acts without jurisdiction, blocking of a lawful conclusion of a case, or any deliberate violation of the Constitutions of South Dakota or the United States, notwithstanding Common Law, or any other contrary statute.
(The rest of the proposal establishes a Special Grand Jury system to handle the mechanics and procedure for this to be implemented.)
If this is unacceptable to the legal aristocracy, the Chief has to wonder why? Do the opponents really mean to say that “deliberate violation of the law” in legal decisions IS acceptable and beyond independent review? Are “deliberate disregard of material facts, jusicial acts without jurisdiction,…or any deliberate violation of the Constitutions…” REALLY beyond recourse without having to fight against the “good old boy” legal establishment?
According to the Legislature, the SD Bar, and many other political leaders, the answer to this to the voters is clear: “Don’t try this at home. Nothing to do here folks, go back home and watch American Idol, and leave the art of government to your betters. We really don’t need your scrutiny. Just remember to vote for us again in November!”
The stage is set for the argument about this measure. At this point the Chief thinks that the amendment is too radical and fundamental a reform to get past the universal rabid opposition of the politico-legal-media complex, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit.
Does it pass the wife check?
The idea of checking with a mate before purchasing a big-ticket item may not be a new idea, but its name, spouse acceptance factor — usually called wife acceptance factor for the greater number of men interested in electronics — is building steam among technology gurus and electronics manufacturers.
DUUUUHHHH! The Chief could have told ’em about this one LONG ago!
Women control 88 percent of electronics purchases, whether they make the purchase or influence what their spouse buys, according to research by the Consumer Electronics Association. Whether an item passes the wife acceptance factor, or WAF, typically depends on price, design and complexity.
Most women like technology, but in a different way that men do, said Michelle Miller, a marketing consultant and partner at Wizard of Ads marketing firm in Scottsdale, Ariz. Men like hearing about a product’s speed, size, strength and accessories from salespeople, Ms. Miller said. “But if you talk about what technology does for [women’s] lives, they love it,” she said, adding that women relate to technology in terms of how it can make their lives better.
That’s making it FAR too complex (even if it is true, in a way). The Chief can summarize it much mores simply: “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!”
Shocking, simply shocking! A scandal at the UN? Who woulda thunk it!
U.N. procurement chief Andrew Toh has been placed on leave pending the completion of an internal probe into suspected fraud in U.N. purchasing, officials said yesterday.
Oh, wait…the oil for food, the UN peacekeeping forces sex rings, etc. Maybe it is just more (funny) business as usual – YET more reason why the best thing that could happen was to bid a not-so-fond farewell to the whole deal, and get on with our own affairs, conduncted in our own interest.
Germans urged to be more fruitful
The Chief earlier noted the demographic slide that is occurring in most Euro countries, that will result in the Euro nationalities becoming minorities in their own lands unless they act to turn the trend around by raising their birth rates.
The new German government, as well as the chief opposition party, seem to have noticed this little problem, and are acting to try\ to encourage larger families.
Ursula von der Leyen, a medical doctor and the mother of seven, wants Germans to have more babies. Since taking the family affairs portfolio in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet, she has been making proposals that have put the family high on Germany’s political agenda.
The Chief isn’t sure about all of the carrots they are holding out to encourage procreation, but at least they are doing something. If they don;t pull it off, the burgeoning Islamic population will be waiting in the wings to take over the show there…hello dhimmicracy if that happens.
Homestake transfer may be done by end of month
The Chief has been following this for some time, with a lot of interest. As a Physics teacher, the science possibilities are deep (heh-heh-heh) and profound. This can opnly be of benefit all the way around.
The transfer of the former Homestake mine to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority should be completed by the end of the January…
Homestake is one of two National Science Foundation sites for a proposed Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or DUSEL….In October, the Legislature approved $19.9 million to help re-open Homestake, make it ready for scientists and to pay for additional employees that Snyder said will be hired this year.
The attitude of the movie “Field of Dreams” (Build it, and they will come!) is apparently at work in this case also:
After the special appropriation was made in October, solicitation letters were sent to the scientific community. To date, there have been 67 proposals for experiments at Homestake from 40 universities, nine national laboratories and 15 other institutions in nine countries, Snyder said. “Obviously, we are pleased with the response from around the country and the world,†Snyder said. “But that doesn’t mean they will be here tomorrow to do experiments. It means they have a collaboration, an interest. We have to evaluate them, and they have to get funded.†A workshop will be held in February during which the proposals will be evaluated by a national consortium of scientists.
Bill would end right to refuse blood test
South Dakota would be the first state in the nation to repeal its implied-consent law for all drunken-driving arrests if a proposal before the Legislature is approved, lawmakers were told Wednesday.
Not a bad way to be a pioneer. The Chief doesn’t have much sympathy for DUI’s. Anything that is so overtly a danger to other people needs to be a crime that is taken seriously indeed.
Under current state law, a person who is arrested for drunken driving can refuse to give a blood sample if it is the first or second offense and if a felony is not involved. If it is the third or more offense or if a homicide is involved, a blood sample is required. But if this proposal passes, “you don’t have a choice,†Hendrickson said. “For every DUI arrest, you will have to give blood.â€Â
“This is the only offense where the offender has the choice to give evidence or to withhold it,†Sgt. Brad Booth of the Rapid City Police Department said.
Go for it Pierre!
Mag: Ted K’s secret love child a secret no more
No one should be surprised at anything concerning Sen. Ted Kennedy, not after he walked away from a fatal car accident without any serious consequences. (Except for an arguably possible chance at the White House.)
A grain of salt may be in order, since the originating source is the dread National Inquirer, but since it’s being carried by the Boston Globe, one would expect that they had some idea that it was true.
What’s to be said here? What’s different today than it was yesterday? Nothing much – Kennedy was a slimeball before, and he still is one – this just re-re-confirms the fact.
F.E.T.E.
Pakistan names 3 al Qaeda believed killed in strike
It seems that the CIA Predator strike in Pakistan that seemed to touch off some protests hit the mark after all, even if the big dog wasn’t on scene.
Pakistani intelligence sources on Thursday identified three of four al Qaeda members believed to have been killed by a U.S. airstrike last week, though they have yet to recover the bodies.
Nice shootin’ guys!
Open borders, closed minds:
What goes on at the border, stays at the border
More on the repeated “incursions” of Mexican Army units on our southern border from Tony Blankley:
It’s not that I expect an orderly, predictable world. I have read enough of history to understand that the dynamics of the human personality in a world of constant change will yield radical, often chaotic upheavals. But still and all, a chap doesn’t expect to find a full-grown rhinoceros in his desk drawer, or a man-eating sparrow on his window ledge.
So you can imagine my astonishment when I picked up Tuesday’s Washington Times and read on the front page the headline: “Mexican military incursions reported: U.S. Border Patrol alerts Arizona agents.” Even in a world gone mad we should not expect to see a headline that Mexico is invading (or even incursioning into) the United States  unless it is in the entertainment section regarding a re-make of “The Mouse That Roared.”
That thought HAD crossed my mind too, but I didn’t use it in my own posting on this topic.
Instead of calling in the Marines (or any other American military fighting organization), U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora confirmed the story but said the agents were given guidance on “how to react to any sightings of military and foreign police in this country and how to properly document any incursion.” He then went on to excuse the incursions as taking place in areas of the border “not marked by monuments or signs.”
Weak, a weak response at best, but meets the test of political correctness.
The spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington did Mr. Zamora one better. Mr. Rafael Laveaga denied the incursions and asserted that Mexican military units have strict rules to stay at least a mile from the border. He then condescendingly suggested that some Mexican drug smugglers “wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles” and might have been “confused” by U.S. authorities as Mexican military units.
I would suggest that Mr. Laveaga might have been confused by the fact that the men were drug smugglers into thinking they were not official Mexican military units.
Touché!
Since 1996, 216 incursions have been documented according to the Department of Homeland Security. But yesterday, a Pentagon spokesman said she had no information on the reported incursion.
Nope! Nothing to see here. Move along folks, go back home and watch American Idol & forget about it!
Blankley closes with these all-too-correct observations:
“What goes on at the border, stays at the border” would seem to be our government’s guiding principle. The facts would suggest that it is the policy of the Bush administration to ignore these military raiding parties so long as they are not driving on toward Sacramento, Chicago or Washington, D.C. (They ignore the fact that an infection may intrude through a crack in the skin, and then proceed inward to the vital organs.)
The powers that be remain close-minded to the ever-growing dangers and national insults that flow from open borders. It is said that pride goeth before the fall. But it is equally true that a nation that has so little pride in its own territorial integrity is also due for a sharp trip downward.
Keep your powder dry! At this rate you’ll need it!
Kennedy quits all-male Harvard club amid criticism
It’s always pleasant to see a sanctimonious and self-righteous libDonk like Sen. Teddy the K do a quick backpedal when their hypocrisy becomes too much for even their own similarly liberal supporting population. Can you say “schadenfreude“?
This article brings to mind a question for the conspiracy buffs: Kennedy was in this “Owl Club”. What’s the connection to the Bohemian Club – that holds the annual Bohemian Grove retreats for the rich and powerful – with their camp site featuring a large central image of…an owl!?
Better call out Art Bell…send in the black helicopter patrol with the M.I.B.’s.
Tom Daschle considers bid for president
Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle is weighing the possibility of running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. “I have received a lot of encouragement,” Daschle said in an email today to the Argus Leader.
From where? Hildebrand?
Larry Sabato, a political expert at the University of Virginia, said Daschle was not in his latest rankings of likely Democratic candidates because he wasn’t convinced Daschle would run. “I wouldn’t call him the favorite, or even second or third. But it’s early,” Sabato said.
The Chief has a LOT of trouble visualizing an ex-Senator and former Donk senate leader, who managed to not get re-elected in his own state attracting anything like the sort of support it would take to make a strong enough run to have a chance. If he truly IS a serious candidate, it can only be a sign of some degree of desparation with the Donks.
Come to think of it, some people are talking about Al Gore again. Maybe there IS a cult among the Donks of undead politicians who just won’t die (politically) with dignity.
Can no one get near enough to them with a crucifix and garlic to use the wooden stake and lay him to rest once and for all? Buffy, there’s still work for you!
H/T to South Dakota Politics.
Mexican military incursions reported
REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers “trained to escape, evade and counterambush” if detected — a scenario Mexico denied yesterday. The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border.
WARNING: ENTERING B.S. ZONE:
Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, denied that Mexican military personnel are crossing into the United States. “I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations,” Mr. Laveaga said. “The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished.” Mr. Laveaga said some drug smugglers headed “both north and south” wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have “confused” U.S. authorities.
This claim is viewed as absurd on the US side of the border.
“Give me a break,” said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. “Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents. “Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation,” said Mr. Bonner, whose organization represents all 10,000 of the nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents.
The Chief can recall that countries historically have gone to war over less than this! Maybe we SHOULD have troops of our own on the border. If, as the Mexican Ambassador lies claims, there are no Mexican troops involved, then they will have nothing to lose. On the other hand…heh heh heh!
Mexican military incursions reported
REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers “trained to escape, evade and counterambush” if detected — a scenario Mexico denied yesterday. The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border.
WARNING: ENTERING B.S. ZONE:
Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, denied that Mexican military personnel are crossing into the United States. “I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations,” Mr. Laveaga said. “The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished.” Mr. Laveaga said some drug smugglers headed “both north and south” wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have “confused” U.S. authorities.
This claim is viewed as absurd on the US side of the border.
“Give me a break,” said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. “Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents. “Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation,” said Mr. Bonner, whose organization represents all 10,000 of the nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents.
The Chief can recall that countries historically have gone to war over less than this! Maybe we SHOULD have troops of our own on the border. If, as the Mexican Ambassador lies claims, there are no Mexican troops involved, then they will have nothing to lose. On the other hand…heh heh heh!
The Chief has SERIOUS reservations about whether or not this headline really fits the story:
European powers yesterday began drafting a resolution to have Iran referred to the U.N. Security Council next month over its contentious nuclear work, after Russia and the West neared agreement on strategy.
At least they’re showing SOME signs of talking the talk, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will break through their incipient Eurabian dhimmitude and actually DO anything when push comes to shove. As far as the current situation is concerned, talking about “action” in the same context as “taking it to the UN” is about as contradictory as any oxymoron that can be imagined, especially if one considers the following:
Moscow Not Ready to Back Iran Strategy
Russia’s foreign minister indicated Tuesday that Moscow was not ready to support moves by the U.S. and its European allies to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program, while the West stepped up pressure on Tehran.
OK, so that’s Russia, not the Western Euros. Here’s where the overall fecklessness of going to the UNO – United Nations (dis)Organization shows up:
A draft text that was read to AP by a European diplomat accredited to the Vienna, Austria-based U.N. nuclear watchdog agency stopped short of the calls for sanctions sought by Washington and some of its closest backers. Instead, it urges the 15-nation Security Council to press Tehran “to extend full and prompt cooperation to the agency” in its more than three-year investigation of suspect nuclear activities.
Ah, yes – key phrases here “stopped short”, and “urges…to press Tehran…”. THAT will surely impress Iranian President Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad Ahmadinejad & the mullahs.
The wording of the draft text of the resolution was sure to change before it is submitted to the IAEA’s 35-nation board Feb. 2. Still the fact that it was calling on the council to send Iran’s nuclear file back to the IAEA appeared to be the latest indication that Tehran would escape sanctions. Despite the ongoing work on the draft, it was unclear whether the board would even agree on referral or stop short because of opposition.
Going nowhere fast, but making a lot of noise doing so. The UN way!
The Chief commented on this half-a…er half-baked idea at the time it was first proposed by Sen. Kloucek and some of his fellow Donks. This idea hasn’t improved with the pasage of time, and here, even the Argus Leader has come out recognizing the inanity of the idea, but at the same time it reserves enough qualifiers that…well, maybe not this bill at this time, but some bill at some other time….
Let’s be realistic. A bill to regulate hydrogen sulfide emissions – the rotten-egg-smelling gas that comes from livestock operations and causes respiratory problems – is going nowhere. It just isn’t.
No sh-t, Sherlock!
Kloucek’s bill – backed by four other Democrats – would limit emissions to 50 parts per billion, as measured at the property line. The rules wouldn’t kick in when manure is removed from storage facilities or for a week after that. Kloucek says he’s not trying to regulate smell – although that might be part of the impact – but rather protect health.
Typical Donk attitude: you are helpless and incompetent, so it’s essential for us, your wise legislators, to protect you from any real or (even better!) imagined danger.
Hydrogen sulfide is fatal at high concentrations, but at lower concentrations, such as at feedlots, it’s linked to respiratory and other health problems.
This IS true, BUT – does anyone else have a problem with imagining a high concentration, or even serious low concentration given the tendancy of air to move around a lot here on the northern plains?
UNDERSTATEMENT ALERT:
The science is a little messy, though, because studies that find those links haven’t considered exposures to other chemicals. And certainly other chemicals are involved in odors, said Dick Nicolai of the agricultural engineering department at South Dakota State University.
“The science is a little messy” indeed! Any resemblence to a controlled experiment is totally theoretical – with NO attachment to reality. (A controlled experiment is ESSENTIAL in science, otherwise there is NO proof of anything!)
Kloucek’s proposal received almost immediate opposition. “I’m very hesitant when state government tries to start regulating things more than they already do, especially in agriculture,” said Republican Rep. Justin Davis, a crop consultant from Ipswich. “I guess I don’t see that there is really a need for this right now.”
“We can regulate ourselves out of existence,” said Republican Sen. Jay Duenwald of Hoven.
However, the Argus makes its turn to the left at this point:
Duenwald certainly is right. But his comment is out of step with reality in South Dakota.
The Chief agrees with the first of those sentences, but NOT the second.
That reality is that anywhere there’s a public vote on whether to allow feedlots – especially large feedlots – the feedlot loses. And a statewide ballot measure would allow such votes in every case.
There is a logical disconnect here: just because votes have gone against feedlots has NOTHING to do with whether or not we are regulating ourselves out of existance. Voters can do just as much damage as legislooters – and THAT’s the reality!
The other thing is that the votes against feedlots shows nothing except that it’s very easy to generate a swell of a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitude, especially when the opposition has no scruples about distortions, exaggerations, and junk science, of the sort of stuff used in these elections by activist groups like the Dakota Rural Action and others of that ilk.
From firebrand to pussycat: Galloway’s TV transformation
This is one of the wierdest things that the Chief has ever seen. George Galloway has been controversial for some time: he accepted large sums of money from Saddam, and (apparently) in return enthusiastically supported his regime, and has been an outspoken apeasement advocate in the jihadistan wars.
Given all that, this TV appearance shows every sign of some real psychological wierdity inside of that skull.
He purred and mewed, his greying whiskers giving his face the appearance of a Cheshire cat. Next, George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, and scourge of Capitol Hill, got on all fours and pretended to lick milk from the cupped hands of the once-famous television actor Rula Lenska. She rubbed the “cream” from his “whiskers” and stroked his head and behind his ears.
The video (linked above) is even creepier than the descriptions. The Chief’s reaction can only be summed up as “EEEEEEEUUUUUUHHHH!
The poor man obcviously needs some serious meds.
What’s this? A call for some rational consistancy? The Chief is amazed here!
THE SENATE’S decision concerning the confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr. is harder than the case last year of now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Judge Alito’s record raises concerns across a range of areas. His replacement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor could alter — for the worse, from our point of view — the Supreme Court’s delicate balance in important areas of constitutional law. He would not have been our pick for the high court. Yet Judge Alito should be confirmed, both because of his positive qualities as an appellate judge and because of the dangerous precedent his rejection would set.
Hmmmm. The precedent bit…recognition that continued scorched-earth politics could well come back to burn a hypothetical future Donk president.
…he is undeniably a conservative whose presence on the Supreme Court is likely to produce more conservative results than we would like to see.
Which is, of course, just what President Bush promised concerning his judicial appointments. A Supreme Court nomination isn’t a forum to refight a presidential election. The president’s choice is due deference — the same deference that Democratic senators would expect a Republican Senate to accord the well-qualified nominee of a Democratic president.
And in conclusion:
While we harbor some anxiety about the direction he may push the court, we would be more alarmed at the long-term implications of denying him a seat. No president should be denied the prerogative of putting a person as qualified as Judge Alito on the Supreme Court.
One wonders who hit them upside the head with a cluebat on this one, since, to give credit where due, they actually made very good sense. This makes it all the more mystifying why, as noted in the previous post, our boy Tim has thus far refused to state his views.
Senator won’t rule out use of filibuster on Alito
When even Senatoress Diane not-so-Feinstein (Donk-CA)has come out opposed openly to both the Alito confirmation and a filibuster to fight it, what’s the message from our boy Tim Johnson (Donk-SD) that he is refusing to announce or significantly comment on his position on both of these questions.
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said he doesn’t believe there is enough Senate opposition to mount a filibuster against the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Still, Johnson said he would not rule out taking part in a filibuster if one develops. “As a matter of principle, I’m not taking any position, parliamentary or otherwise, off the table,†Johnson said Friday. He would not say how he will vote.
This has to read as a definite maybe. The Chief guesses that he hasn;t been able to obtain clear enought focus-group input to know how to vote on these issues.
Randy Frederick, South Dakota Republican Party chairman, said Johnson should let South Dakotans know how he will vote. There is a danger Johnson and others could “get whipped in line by the extreme left of the Democratic Party†at a caucus, Frederick said.
True leadership at work here, eh? NOT!
Public to be shut out of ed talks
So much for the idea of open government. SD Gov. Mike Rounds apparently feels that the public need not be involved in some focus-group meetings involving his education initiatives.
Over the next two weeks, at meetings behind closed doors, more than 100 unidentified people will comment on two objectives of Gov. Mike Rounds’ 2010 Education Initiative.
When Rounds unveiled his 2010 Education Initiative in Rapid City on Jan. 4, Secretary of Education Rick Melmer announced that Technology and Innovations in Education, or TIE, would conduct focus-group meetings to collect comments on two of the initiative’s objectives: providing laptop computers for all high school students and developing an online virtual school program.
The only problem with this is that all too often school reform initiatives have been top-down from the educational administrative establishment, which may or may not bear much resemblance to the reality of what will actually be effective and efficient.
This has worked well so far – right? Isn’t that why schools are in such great shape? (Oh…right…never mind!)
Alito expected to move court to right
Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. is poised to join a tradition of pragmatic justices who have moved the Supreme Court to the right in measured steps.
In spite of the fulminations of the libDonks of the Senate, they ARE in the minority, and this IS the sort of thing that happens when your opponents win more elections than you do.
This is the point of years of effort for numerous candidates. It’s about time!
‘Divine mission’ driving Iran’s new leader
The Chief has been in the habit of noting the current crackpot President of Iran as Pres. Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad Ahmadinejad.
Based on this, it seems like the lined-through appellation is all too accurate:
…listen carefully to the utterances of Mr Ahmadinejad – recently described by President George W Bush as an “odd man” – and there is another dimension, a religious messianism that, some suspect, is giving the Iranian leader a dangerous sense of divine mission.
When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: “What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow.”
In November, the country was startled by a video showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September.
All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour – denied by the government but widely believed – is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a “contract” pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran. Iran’s dominant “Twelver” sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. He is said to have gone into “occlusion” in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.
OK. Anyone can believe anything they want to for their religion. What’s the real point here? Try this:
Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable. The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?
The MSM has said things like this occasionally about Christian fundamentalists in this country, but the last time I looked the neither “700 Club” nor Oral Roberts University had active programs to build a nuclear missile strike force.
As far as Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad Ahmadinejad’s moment of transfiguration at the UN is concerned, a bit of additional context is in order:
In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN. “I felt it myself too,” Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. “I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It’s not an exaggeration, because I was looking. “They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic.”
This IS a possible interpretation of the event, but other testimony would indicate that Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad Ahmadinejad was afflicted with a case of “poor situational awareness”:
Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that “they couldn’t believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad”. Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran’s president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and – who knows – speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.
What elese is there to say, except keep your powder dry!